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Honda's deraileur-in-a-box patent has recently expired https://patents.google.com/patent/US7503862B2/en. I had another look at DW's "adjacent drive assembly" patent that looks similar to the specialized and have seen that there are fillings that have been withdrawn and amended with different claims. The latest is pending with the US and has been withdrawn from the Europe patent application process, probably because it's difficult to make a unique claim when so many bikes with gearboxes and jack shaft arrangements have been on the market.

Very definition of a Chinese wall...

I'm guessing with the uncertainty around DJI and imports to the US, I imagine they are trying to make them as legally "separate" as they can, while still having the benefits of shared technology and of course profits....

It’s Sea Otter my dude. It is far less of a race than it is a place to check out new products. I loved the og slalom course, but the dh run has always been trailbike territory, the xc in Fort Ord is legit, but that’s about it. The organizers most likely don’t care about the courses, they care about vendors renting footprints and consumers paying entrance fees.

I saw somewhere (can't remember where) that there's a full-power TQ bike coming this year...