Screw the transmission... That bike's wheels are spokeless! That is hotness! :)

"As you can see, there is a microscopic space between..."

Oh, sorry, i wasnt watching the video with my microscope.

Very... very clever design. I'm curious to find out:

1) What fluid they're using to both lubricate and create friction in the transmission.
2) How the fluid in the transmission reacts to cold/heat.
3) How a failure in maintaining pressure within the transmission manifests.

I love new ideas for old, accepted, concepts.

I dont understand, where are the hover bikes?

Will be as colourful as it is in the video? That makes a lot of difference to me...

mopeds have been using CVT transmissions for over 30 years now - it's good to see the automotive industry catching up!

http://www.mopedarmy.com/photos/brand/1/4985/
3k is cheep for a "cutting edge" bike...
wait, what was innovative about this bike?
i'll take one!

How does this compare to the Apple iPhone?

will we have to use our own balls or does it come with its own?

Yeah, how come there are holes on the wheels for spokes, but no spokes? Did they photoshop them out?

This is confusing. Ellsworth makes really good bikes so my initial reaction of "oooh more bike crap that no one will buy and even less people will service" is a bit tempered. But This isn't that huge a jump from the Rohloff hubs. Sure its CTV but I don't know how good of an idea that is. It looks like a cruiser, which would work with CTV gearing, but road biking and mountain biking is about rhythm and although a CTV has the potential of keeping you in the same rhythm no matter what the terrain, I'm not sure that it would be accepted by the riders.

And it's not like the technology is catching up. Bicycles are the most efficiant formes of mechanical transportation that we use. If only we could get the distance we get per calorie out of cars that we get out of bikes.

wonderful.

I remember studying this once and, although I don't remember much about the actual design, I vaguely recall that it's greatest failure was a lack of gear-ratio ranges. Although there are no gears, so technically no ratio, the difference between the lowest ratio and the highest was not significant enough to make it worthwhile for most applications. Perhaps this might work as a replacement for a 3-speed bike, it might not be suitable for a 21-speed mountain bike.
Of course, I might be completely wrong. Now I have to reseach this more when I should be working... Damn you gizmodo! Always distracting me!

This transmission uses something called traction fluid. It becomes very hard when pressurized, which creates a very thin hard layer between the contact points. These fluid work from around -40 to 40C.

The problem with this is they need a lot of fluid to fill the hub and this makes it weigh 9.2 to 9.4 lbs.. Geared transmissions weigh around 2 lbs... Traditional gears are also much more efficient..

If they could cut 7 lbs off of it, it would completely take over the market..

I'd take the iphone

When does this prototype make it out of the world of TRON?

I'm a bit concerned about the effect turbulence in the fluid migh thave on efficiency. The gear-ratio problem is interesting as well, maybe if they make it bigger?

the_caveat:
I can think of such a liquid off the top of my head: SILLY PUTTY!!
after all, it is the solid liquid.

The cold/heat question - BADLY!!!

And the Manifest question - I think it would leave a puddle of greasy silly putty on the floor of the garage...

How efficient is this design. On current geared bicycles there a a chain that acts to connect the gears in the front to the gears in the back...and no slip. Likewise in a car belts are used, but with age they lose the friction needed and we hear squealing. So, how do we get friction between these balls? They look like ball bearings...and last time I checked ball bearings were used to create a frictionless surface. Is this liquid they fill it with revolutionary or are we going to lose grip in the CVP every time we push too hard?

The problem with automatic shifting bikes (and this one as well) is that it's still inefficient compared to higher end road groupsets. What is more interesting is that both Shimano and Campagnolo are working on race ready electronic shifting groupsets for road bikes. They have been in pre production for a few years and are currently being tested in the field in the classics races in Europe by a few in the pro peleton. Check out the link below for a some pics and a more recent interview with one of the riders testing out the new Campy group.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=4772&status...

"gundark says:

Yeah, how come there are holes on the wheels for spokes, but no spokes? Did they photoshop them out?"

Those are vent holes, to keep you from burning rubber.

Is there any mechanical advantage to this, is work actually being done by the device. It seems to me like a variable clutch not a system for leveraging mechanical advantage. I can run my car in 4th gear (1:1) and feather the clutch to get my car rolling, driving and then flying down the freeway, but it's not efficient (or good for the clutch). Technically, no work is being done, but energy is being expended.

but how much does it weigh?

and will it be cheap to fix parts of it when it gets hit by rocks and rammed into trees. with my current groupset I can pretty cheaply replace/upgrade individual components..

i believe the fluid is a non newtonian fluid (ie a fluid that while under slight pressure acts like a fluid, but with greater pressure acts like a solid) and is the same type found in the limited slip diff, LSD in many cars. those fluids do break down with heat and wear but after several years of regular use or abuse from track use. and i also believe that you can add more friction by adding more balls to increase surface area, ie more gripping power.

oh yea, you can make your own non newtonian fluid buy mixing a lot of corn starch with a bit of water. if you stab your finger in it fast it shouldn't get caught, and comes out dry. but if you slowly put ur finger in it should dip in, ie acting like a fluid.

An Ellsworth with a NuVinci for only $3000??? Probably more like $5000. An Ellsworth by itself will run you $3000 at LEAST!

Cool idea for a cruiser bike. Getting the equivalent ratios to a 27 speed road or mountain bike from this would be, um, quite a challenge. Unless you really like 35 pound bikes...

Ingenious!!!! Imagine the maintenance costs saved!

I prefer the Cannondale Jackknife concept bike

@dickrhee

Mavic had two electronic semi-groups a few years ago...both were duds (Zap and Mektronic). The wireless signal was analog and too weak, so power lines and anything else RF could and would reek havok. Even if they found a way around this, they had an old problem resurface: That of the Simplex piston R. Derailleur - sideloading would lock the piston. So enough force and this thing coudln't shift. If the piston was reinforced by a traditional parallelogram, it might had had a chance, but would have been heavy as hell.

Im all for alternative drivetrains....anything to get rid of cables is fine for me. Rohloff hubs are amazing, but I detest the push-pull throttle type shifter....if they made a trigger shifter, I'd buy two right now! I've riden Shimano Airlines quite a few times, and that was GARBAGE.

Lizard King

Yeah, the same Pez article I linked mentions Mavic's old drivetrain, and how it tanked due to it's constant problems. The new Campy system supposedly works loads better, although I am still skeptical that it will ever make it to market because it doesn't appear offer a benefit over ergoshifters and STI systems. That being said, a lot of people were hesitant to replace their downtube shifters as well back in the day, so I am all about both companies trying out new things.

Personally I would rather Shimano and Campy focus their time on other ideas, such as: carbon cranksets without the aluminum spline (ala Clavicula, FSA), integration of Ceramic Bearings, use of Nokon style cable housing for cleaner shifting, etc.

You guys need to have a look at the Rohloff Speedhub. It's an internally geared hub that will run you up about 1200 clams. Never used one but apparently have incredibly smooth shifting with a bigger range than a traditional derailler. Plus you don't have to worry about keeping all those cogs clean and that garbage.

do those balls have to be spherical? can't they be somewhat elliptical to provide a greater range of gear ratios?

the weight thing seems to be a big problem, of course... i hope they can get over that.

The "zero" bike

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://emresaglam.c...

a concept of a true spokeless/hubless bicycle. too bad its just a concept.

Too friggin' cool. I agree with earlier comments that there may not be a wide enough range of "ratios" for this to be extremely effective, but I doubt they gave us every detail of the design. There's likely some more info that may help alleviate this issue.

After watching and waiting for a bike to be manufactured with the innovative Nuvinci hub, I was ecstatic when Ellsworth made the jump. Imagine my disappointment to find that this fabulous technology has been targeted at wealthy, status-conscious consumers ($3-4K, made in China) rather than a demographic to which it can make a difference, the bike commuter. Time and again, history has shown that true innovation takes hold only when it can reach the largest possible market at the most affordable price.

After further "research" I am happy to report that Seattle Bike Supply is importing Nuvinci-equipped BATAVUS (Batavii?) bikes from Holland. They will retail for ~$1500 and can actually be used for commuting (lights, racks, fenders and chain guards).

Go to http://www.fallbrooktech.com/NuVinci.asp. It will answer tons of questions about the Nuvinici Hub. Also note that this technology scaleable for applications from wind turbines to heavy equipment.

Regarding ratio range, why not 2 sets of balls and 3 drive disks? To save weight & space, balls could have flats where the disks don't contact. The fluid volume could be decreased by filling dead space cavities with light weight, polymer fillers. Heat degradation won't be a problem at the low power outputs that a human is capable of.

How about an electronic shifter that senses the rider's pulse and varies cadence to maintain a desired selectable pulse rate?