€8,395 (excl. import duties/taxes) • 29in • zerode.eu
After riding, racing and testing mountain bikes for decades, this is the first bike where I’ve received instructions on how best to change gear. And there’s me figuring I had a pretty good handle on what all the buttons and shifters do by now…
It’s fair enough though, considering Zerode uses a completely different drivetrain and shift system to the vast majority of bikes. You don’t need to squint to see what form this takes, either: a Pinion gearbox replaces the chainset and bottom bracket, a rotary shifter looks like something from a bygone era, then the futuristic drivebelt and tensioner pulley sit where you’d normally see a chain and rear mech.
Pinion’s system seals cogs in a CNC’ed aluminium housing and they are permanently bathed in 60ml of lubrication, which is not too dissimilar to the gearbox in my van. The gear range
