This is a story about oil-bathed, trigger-shifted, any-shop-can-service, shift-without-pedaling, <350 USD, 409% gearboxes, that are available right now. They’re heavy, but they’re robust. They have some drag, but you get a perfect chainline in all gears. They don’t like to shift under heavy loads but give it two weeks and that will make you a better rider. Beautiful. And yes, you did read that right, it’s less than 350 USD. For comparison sake, just the cassette from a SRAM Eagle XO1 drivetrain is around 380 USD.
The only thing missing is a frame to put them in but thanks to the re-awakening of beautiful, brash, and bold high-pivot bikes like Forbidden’s Druid and Deviate’s Highlander there has never been a better time for Gearboxes to rise. Not in a beautifully engineered, proprietary mounted, limited-service-center-options, twist-shifter, fashion that is so massively cost-prohibitive that only the true believers can commit to it. No gentle reader, I’m talking about personal choice. Frames that can simply and easily run a gearbox or a derailleur, whichever you choose.
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