2018. Eurobike. A video of a new chainless transmission system has gone viral. Do you remember? Well, a year later, what just seemed like a crazy invention, already has its advanced prototype.
Ceramic Speed, the company that introduced it, has been working day and night for 10 months to perfect this more efficient, lighter and aerodynamic transmission system called Driven. How do they do it? Eliminating all possible friction, eliminating the chain and the conventional change system takes advantage of all the force generated by the connecting rods.
We would like to know the mechanism of the change, but according to the words of Martin Banke, head of the Cycling division at CeramicSpeed, we will have to wait to know it: “We have exceeded a speed of 45 km/h during the load tests of the cyclist at the velodrome and we have made significant progress in a mechanism of change that we are eager to disclose in due time.”
As Martin Blake indicates, they have exceeded 45 km/h in the tests in the wind tunnel of Specialized. And with that CeramicSpeed and Specialized have allied in this project. Mounting the system on a Specialized S-Works Venge-bike has improved the aerodynamics of the bicycle by 3% compared to the chain model, which means 8 seconds less in 40 km. It seems little, but this is only aerodynamically. The final result will have to be taken into account once the final system is mounted, counting the lost weight and the lower friction in relation to the conventional system of the current bicycles.
At the moment, it’s still a prototype, but elements as normalized as suspensions, disc brakes, telescopic seats, electronic changes or the use of carbon also went through their prototype phase at the time. We will remain attentive to the advances in the CeramicSpeed Driven system.
