To both the avid and occasional bike enthusiast the drivetrain can seem as confusing looking as it is to operate. For the average Joe who rides three times a season selecting the proper gear ratio can turn into a flurry of cross chaining, chain dropping madness. That’s where the Synchrobox comes into play. It was a little more than two years ago when we first reported on the self adjusting drivetrain system. It takes shift inputs from the rider and adjusts the front and rear derailleurs to the appropriate ratio, without the crunching of mismatched gears. It’s not currently available, but it’s good to know it’s getting closer to market…
The Synchrobox is a one of a kind system being that it is 100% mechanical. There’s no battery to charge, no programs to tune, and no shifters to pair. The gearbox is manipulated by a single twist shifter, and coverts the input into an ideal gear ratio. There isn’t a clear shot of the shifter unit, but based off of the gear mapping it seems like there are 13 pre-set shift positions. I should reiterate that this isn’t for peloton riders or downhill mountain bikers. Their target market is the entry level (sub $600) consumer. As they state in their web post, “A simple comparison of entry-level bikes in 2016 with an equivalent bike from 20 years ago shows very little evolution.” This is pretty accurate when considering the drivetrain on base level hybrids has seen the biggest changes in form and branding. Hopefully there’s an easy way to replace cables. The current expected retail price is €100.
