Automatic Gears

 Spring's coming, and I've got a new bike.  It's an electric gravel bike, a type that I have found to be very successful, and it's very similar to my old Jolly Green Giant, an excellent bike that has taken me on many enjoyable adventures.

The reason for the change is Dave Brailsford's much vaunted 'marginal gains'.  You don't see much difference in a year, but the Jolly Green Giant is a 2020 model and this is a 2024. Over that time you'd expect some improvements, and there are.

Simple but effective ones first of all - the frame is made of lighter tubing, with a slightly more relaxed geometry.  Giant's riders and customers have ridden thousands of these bikes all over the world, and Giant has evidently decided that a gravel bike doesn't need to be quite so tough.  The new frame has a nice spring, and new handlebars, too.  They're a bit like the old 'randonneur' bars, with a slight back sweep, and they work well for gravel.  They've got a bit of spring, too.

But the big change is a new motor system.  Giant has changed from the very powerful Yamaha mountain bike motor to a Shimano system, which seems to me to be less powerful.  I don't know if this is intrinsic to the motor, or if it's the way it is tuned for this application, but that's how it seems.  It's plenty powerful enough for a gravel bike anyway, and the net of less output is less input, and it uses less power than the Jolly Green Giant.  Using the same battery the range estimator shows 110 miles rather than 85, and there's a range extender, too.  Two sizes are available, and using the smaller, lighter one you should expect 150 miles or so.  That's further than I have ever ridden in a day on a bicycle, so all good there.

The change to Shimano means that the Shimano Auto-Shift automatic gears can be used.  This bike will automatically change gear to match your speed and pedalling effort.  It changes if you are pedalling hard uphill, or if you are coasting downhill.  When you stop, it changes to a low gear to start off smoothly - it's quite uncanny.  

As an example, behind my house is a short cul-de-sac called South Rise.  As the name suggests, it's a not very steep hill.  Starting from the house, whatever gear the bike may be in, it switches immediately to a low gear to climb the hill.  If I'm being picky, the gear it chooses is a little lower than I might have chosen myself, but it quickly changes up and sets the right gear as I go up the hill.  Getting to the end of the cul-de-sac I turn in a semi-circle and can hear the gears changing up as I turn.  I set off again down the hill in the right gear, and the bike changes up to match the speed until I turn again at the bottom.  Once more, it changes to suit the speed and I set off up the hill again in the right gear.  If I stop on the hill it will immediately, and automatically, select a low gear to restart.

Now, technical requirements.  This is new stuff. It is e-bike only, as the motor does part of the changing.  It requires either the latest EP600 or the EP801 motor.  It can't be retrofitted.  It needs Di2, it needs one of a small range of compatible derailleurs and it needs a special type of cassette called LinkGlide.  But it is a standard part of the new Shimano Cues groupset, and I expect that we will see more of it over the next year or two.  Basically, a customer for a relatively upscale e-bike this summer in, say, Germany or Switzerland, will have Auto-Shift as standard and will probably not give it a second thought.  It would certainly have been very handy in Zermatt, bringing the groceries up the hill from town.

If you'd like to know more, the Shimano web page is here, and there's loads more information on the internet.

In these straitened times, it's very good to see that the bicycle industry is continuing to innovate.

Mark