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interesting! they not only moved to gearbox/beltdrive but also to an hp/idler design.
It's a similar layout to the Pivot overall.
still a dw6 apparently, which jives with the rumors. I'd assume the idler was a necessity due to suspension layout and the nature of a belt driven gearbox.
A few more shots grabbed from the Atherton’s insta:
Nothing super clear of the non-drive side yet
Similar to the Pivot but with added Horst
Interesting shock mounting position.
I LOVE to see the gearbox finally rising in the gravity bikes. It is going to be a real test this year, with many fast riders putting it on the limit..
BRB buying Pinion stock 🤣
IIRC the Pivot DH bike uses the flex of the stays to eliminate the pivot at the dropout. There is only a few degrees of movement there.
that would be bombardier
What are the cranks? 🧐
https://northshorebillet.com/products/talon-crankset
I like how the idler is tucked up nicely on the Atherton bike.
Where's the alternator on that Atherton?
If no one said it so far, in Germany they call them “click”pedals…
Same in Norway
Those are our Pinion specific Talon cranks: https://northshorebillet.com/products/talon-crankset-pinion-gearbox
You gave Pete a punch in the arm from Spearfish lately for me?? Thanks for popping in here!
That makes sense, German is a very literal language.
Atherton on Pinion. Do we know what gear boxes the other 3 belt teams are using?
I wonder how it happens that everybody seems to be forgetting about the Chromag Pilots. They are my absolutely favourite Pedal out there because of their SPD compatibility and they last forever. The seals are amazing, the first pair now has 2 seasons on it with one containing pretty much daily riding in Whistler and they didn't develope any kind of play or roughness in the bearings. Having 2 pairs running on 2 bikes right now and so far the second pair keeps up with the first one, kind of a no brainer. You just hop on and they never disappoint. They roughly weight a 100 grams more than the OneUp's but that's worth it IMO as they re basically indestructible. And they look dope as well.
They're using Pinion.
Let’s be honest Rachel will make a comeback on the belt driven bike and snap up the $100k before anyone else
I’ve got a fresh set of 155s sitting in my garage for my Kavenz VHP-G that is on the way. 😈
Just to confirm, is that another 2, HP/Idler bikes (Vampire, Atherton) to add to that list of "fad" bikes.....
Side note, I took delivery of a V2 Dreadnaught very recently, Absolute weapon, unless of course youre trying to pedal it up a hill, its just an excuse for better fitness.
It would be a solid ROI for her and the team. If she put in a couple months of hard work, she could easily be battling for that win pretty early on in the season. Its a pretty incredible incentive honestly, willing to bet the other 3 teams are questioning their investment to go after that prize.
I can’t be the only one to hope the belted purse goes on at least into the 2026 season. All these gearbox teams pooping up have made the anticipation for this season so much stronger!
Vampire is not really a "fad" bike in the sense you're making it to be. Chris has a patent on multiple pivot locations and you get 3 bikes in one - classic low pivot, medium height and proper high pivot.
Those 100k Gates put up show one hell of a return on investment already🔥
(and they even didn't need to spend it yet)
That "patent" alone is the best justification to burn the US patent office to the ground.
I wonder if Pinion is sponsoring any of the teams running gearboxes also.
Potential 100k from gates + whatever sponsorship $ Pinion is putting up could be very attractive at a time when other sponsors are pulling back investments.
Was kind of thinking the same thing, honestly the smartest move by Pinion may just be to not sponsor anyone and have the teams buy the product outright or just give them free product in exchange for a jersey logo? They are kind of forced to run the gearbox to take advantage of the belt and everyone already knows they are running Pinion so why pay to actually sponsor?
Hard to transfer a Pinion sponsorship to customer sales as well since its not like a consumer is going to go out and buy a gearbox, its probably going to already be on a bike they buy.
Saw that the atherton gearbox proto has its top shock mount flipped. Kinematics effected by where the gearbox shifts the lower mount to ?