Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Homemade Electronic Shifting Bicycle From Germany - Part I


Here's a toast to cheap.

Rumor has it that this German person named 'Norbert' made this rig under 50 euros (ha!). Not only did he make all the servomotor associated shifting mechanism himself, he also built the aero bike from bottom up including the wheels.

Pay close attention to this servo setup. Here are the pics, obtained from WW Forum. Credits to you guys out there.

What looks to be an 8 speed Dura Ace rear derailleur combined with a servomotor!






Norbert. One question. When will you start your cycling company? :)

Please read about how he made this setup in Part II.



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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is this a "Me too" at Di2?? Lol...

mojo said...

Wow I'm speechless! Is there a video of how it works? Love to see it in action.

Darryl said...

50 euros? Unless the bike is made out of cardboard... or did you mean just the shifting?

Yokota Fritz said...

I love it! Conceptually this doesn't seem to be much of a stretch. Calibrating it to be just right must've taken a lot of time, I bet.

Chris Valva said...

Agree partly with the commentor above, although there's no indication if it works well.

Anonymous said...

I think those wheels are the most impressive part of the bike

Kieselghur said...

I wonder if he removed the springs from the derailleurs & just used the servos to move them both ways.
From my limited experience with RC planes when I was young I don't remember servos in that size having that much torque. Especially at rest I'd imagine the springs could overcome the friction in the servo.

Ron said...

Frtiz,

I'll be posting something on his design. Gimme a few...

Anonymous said...

Commendable job but I'm not going to ride this bike! Look at the derailleur side rear dropout!