If I had to pick one thing that I personally hate the most about mountain biking, it’s bike maintenance. Without fail, I am in a constant state of breaking/wearing out parts and components, fixing said parts, and then breaking others. It’s a constant war that, despite having been a serious mountain bike for quite a few years now, I’ve never been able to win.
Apparently Gregory Zielinski, a Polish ex-pro downhill racer, has had similar thoughts. To help combat the woes of trail nastiness and drivetrain damage, Zielinski has designed a completely-internal, permanently-lubricated drivetrain that he’s dubbed “Inner Drive System (IDS).”
According to Nuseti, Zielinski’s brand featuring the IDS:
Nuseti features the Inner Drive System (IDS), which is a completely encapsulated drive unit designed especially for mountain biking. It is permanently lubricated and impervious to mechanical malfunctions and weather factors. IDS allows Nuseti Bikes to go through any terrain, even muddy, sandy or rocky trails, with a complete elimination the risk of any drive’s failure. The IDS is also waterproof and environmentally friendly.
“Anyone who enjoys mountain biking will be stunned by the IDS’ potential. With this drive, you will simply discover mountain biking once again in a new, better way – free from any drive’s malfunctions and free form frequent maintenance. Whatever you were afraid to do with your bike on trails just because you thought that something could go wrong with your bike’s drive, now you can do it—and that makes a huge difference in riding comfort,” said Zielinski.
Not only is this drivetrain insulated from the elements, but it also eliminates a variety of shifting woes, too:
Nuseti Bikes’ IDS is very low maintenance and allows to ride without any interruption at any terrain. Not only can riders switch gears during full pedaling power, but they can also switch gears without pedaling.
While the luddite in me wonders whether or not this system will be that radical of an improvement over traditional drivetrain designs, it does look fascinating, and the potential benefits sound superb!
While everything sounds great so far, the Nuseti brand is still in the startup phase. They’ve launched a crowdfunding campaign to “help finish the development stage, begin production of the bikes, and establish a global network for after-sales service and support.” Campaign supporters will get a completely-built Nuseti bike for a contribution of £3,750 (approx. $6,321), or a Nuseti frame for a contribution of £2,045 (approx. $3,447).
For more information, you can check out the kickstarter campaign here.
I could see this being really nice for fat bikes.
Ah didn’t think of that at first, but now that you mention it, that would indeed be pretty sweet! No more frozen derailleurs, and most fat bikes are, and will probably always be, hardtail frames.
So less maintenance will be required. That is indeed swell.
But when maintenance is required, how difficult is it to perform. It looks like breaking into that thing could be fairly involved.
I once test rode an internal gear box up front (bike still had a rear der) which was going to make the front der obsolete. Unfortunately, gear with the equivalent of the large chainring up front had noticeable drag, which I think prevented it from really catching on in the market. With the new 1x drivetrains, I thought such an idea was completely dead . . . until now. Hopefully, Nuseti’s design is able to avoid such drag across it’s entire gearing range.
Seriously, just think about trying to do some trail side repair because even as glossed over as this bike sounds it will break and probably at the worst possible time.
Also, what about mods and projects — I like the ability to convert to single speed or increase decrease chainring size, modern bikes are a tickerers dream.
I agree i converted my iron horse DH( full suspension) bike to single speed and are always changing parts to improve it performance its a good idea just hope u dnt break any spokes or trash the hub ,brakes while u out and about
Nice looking bike. Would love to test out this system…
I agree with maddslacker, this would be amazing for fat bikes. No more worries about ice and sand. Wonder how much heavier the frame is.
Why not a hydraulic drive? Surely that would be lighter and simpler if it could be done?
Looks pretty cool. If only I had $6000 laying around…
Only 26″ hoops or are 27.5 and 29ers in the works. Looks interesting!
Several years ago, I read about a father and son project on Pinkbike. They’d built a downhill MTB, featuring an internal drive system and a rear shock using tank (as in battle tank!) suspension technology. I’m waiting for a commercially available internal drive system ever since… but for some reason the wait continues 🙁
Anyway, I found the link to the article: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/allen-millyard-part-1-2008.html
Interesting idea-I have right around 1400 singletrack miles in the last 4 seasons and have worked on my drive system maybe 4 times………..not sure I buy the “frequent repairs and adjustments” argument. Weight would be the other question about the system.
Well if you’ve only logged 1,400 miles in the last 4 seasons, that would be why you’ve only had to work on it 4 times… Some people easily log 3,000+ miles per season, meaning they’re riding 8 times as much as you are, which would then be closer to 8 repairs per season instead of 1 at your rate of damage. And for people that log 10,000 miles of riding (or more) per season? Yeah, it just keeps growing…