Shimano Airlines- wtf!?

neil_sheehan2000

Sorry if this is old news- and as it's been around for years I'm sure it is- but I thought some of you might be as delighted as I was to hear about the stupid/inspired idea that was/is...




Shimano Airlines!

Basically, a pneumatic shifting system. Designed for downhill bikes, and only allowing you 7 gears (no front mech, as you needed two shifters just for the rear mech). Apparently it wouldn't work if it was too cold, and you had to refill the canister after 300-600 shifts. I never knew this existed until today. Here are some reviews of it if you're interested.

njee20

You're only a decade late...

It was used by some WC DH riders, who didn't use front mechs anyway, and 7 gears was fine. Was never going to be a commercially viable system though.

Acros hydraulic or XTR Di2 however...

warpcow

There's a full set for sale on my 'local' forum. It caused quite a discussion; especially the 'collector's item' pricing (guy wanted about £1500 for it).

jayson

Ive seen this before but it is still quite a rare find. Speaking of rare bike tech does anyone else remember Browning automatic shifting for the front? it had 3 rings as usual but when you wanted a different gear the ring itself would pivot abit like a point system on a train track, i never actually saw it in the flesh but i do remember seeing it on a top of the range specialized at the time in the catalogue although im not sure of the year but it was sometime in the late 80's to early 90's.

nicklouse

warpcow wrote:

There's a full set for sale on my 'local' forum. It caused quite a discussion; especially the 'collector's item' pricing (guy wanted about £1500 for it).

HappyMTB or? would not be Swebikers!

pilch

I once flew on Kingfisher Airlines in India...

pastey_boy

jayson wrote:

Ive seen this before but it is still quite a rare find. Speaking of rare bike tech does anyone else remember Browning automatic shifting for the front? it had 3 rings as usual but when you wanted a different gear the ring itself would pivot abit like a point system on a train track, i never actually saw it in the flesh but i do remember seeing it on a top of the range specialized at the time in the catalogue although im not sure of the year but it was sometime in the late 80's to early 90's.

in remember the suntour/browing system, it appeared in the old ron kitchin catalogue back in 90/91. from what i remember it was around £350 although ive never seen one fitted to a bike. the best ever invention i saw was a braking system that consisted of left an right twist grips an a cable from each one that attached to the brake lever, braking was achieved by twisting the full length grip towards you. for some reason it never really took off. i also have a full set of new hydraulic v-brakes from starbike, they have a piston where the noodle should be and they take magura blocks, they came out just as discs were getting popular so they never really took off.

allen.coulson

pilch wrote:

I once flew on Kingfisher Airlines in India...

fit waitresses. I asked for a Heineken - did not get one though.

t0pc4t

pastey_boy wrote:

jayson wrote:

Ive seen this before but it is still quite a rare find. Speaking of rare bike tech does anyone else remember Browning automatic shifting for the front? it had 3 rings as usual but when you wanted a different gear the ring itself would pivot abit like a point system on a train track, i never actually saw it in the flesh but i do remember seeing it on a top of the range specialized at the time in the catalogue although im not sure of the year but it was sometime in the late 80's to early 90's.

in remember the suntour/browing system, it appeared in the old ron kitchin catalogue back in 90/91. from what i remember it was around £350 although ive never seen one fitted to a bike. the best ever invention i saw was a braking system that consisted of left an right twist grips an a cable from each one that attached to the brake lever, braking was achieved by twisting the full length grip towards you. for some reason it never really took off. i also have a full set of new hydraulic v-brakes from starbike, they have a piston where the noodle should be and they take magura blocks, they came out just as discs were getting popular so they never really took off.

I post on a drum and bass forum and we were talking bikes and a chappy had just built up some old pace with those on

ddraver

Magura Hydraulic brakes are still popular over here (ever wonder why they re still on CRC?) - but then, you don't actually need any brakes here... :?

Raymondavalon

ddraver wrote:

Magura Hydraulic brakes are still popular over here (ever wonder why they re still on CRC?) - but then, you don't actually need any brakes here... :?

Yup they're still around and I use them on my rigid commuter HT, I love them, so much feel and adjustment on them, but like most rim brakes, the wet weather and mud be your enemies!

pastey_boy

ddraver wrote:

Magura Hydraulic brakes are still popular over here (ever wonder why they re still on CRC?) - but then, you don't actually need any brakes here... :?

i never metioned magura rim brakes i was on about a hydraulic v brake that uses magura pads.

Markmjh

pastey_boy wrote:

ddraver wrote:

Magura Hydraulic brakes are still popular over here (ever wonder why they re still on CRC?) - but then, you don't actually need any brakes here... :?

i never metioned magura rim brakes i was on about a hydraulic v brake that uses magura pads.

Something like these?
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/294/82011jd9.jpg/
Can't find any details but i do remember them being about.
Think the HS33's just made more sense so sort of ruled the roost until disks took over

warpcow

nicklouse wrote:

warpcow wrote:

There's a full set for sale on my 'local' forum. It caused quite a discussion; especially the 'collector's item' pricing (guy wanted about £1500 for it).

HappyMTB or? would not be Swebikers!

Yeah, on Happy. It ended up on their Blocket thread of weird and not-so-wonderful second-hand finds.

Anonymous

pastey_boy wrote:

the best ever invention i saw was a braking system that consisted of left an right twist grips an a cable from each one that attached to the brake lever, braking was achieved by twisting the full length grip towards you.

What's the advantage of that? :?

pastey_boy

yeehaamcgee wrote:

pastey_boy wrote:

the best ever invention i saw was a braking system that consisted of left an right twist grips an a cable from each one that attached to the brake lever, braking was achieved by twisting the full length grip towards you.

What's the advantage of that? :?

no advantage whatsoever but some moron actually put money into the venture and brought it to the market place as a serious product. they were actually reviewed in mbuk.

Anonymous

Then how is it "the best invention"?

pastey_boy

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Then how is it "the best invention"?

sarcasm ?

Anonymous

Maybe you should practice your literacy skills.

pastey_boy

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Maybe you should practice your literacy skills.

im outta here im not getting into another slanging match with an obese bi-polar pot head.

supersonic

Back on topic please, lets have no bickering.

leaflite

Surely combining a cadence meter with a di2 setup and some extra wiring could create an automatic shifting system-eg you program it to shift when your cadence goes above/below a certain level?

Anonymous

Excuse me?
This doesn't need to be explained to most people, but here goes...
When talking with someone face to face, subtle gestures, inflexions facial cues and so on convey the meaning, or attitude of a statement.
In text, none of that is available, so your writing has to convey your intentions.
go back, and read what you wrote, and see if YOU can pick up anything to suggest you're kidding.

RevellRider

leaflite

Shimano have already done an auto shifting gear set

http://cycle.shimano-eu.com/publish/con ... ter-3.html

If you hooked a Di2 system up to a cadence sensor and you programmed it to shift between 75-95rpm it'd probably struggle with such things as downhills and slow grinding climbs where you cadence differs

FocusZing

RevellRider wrote:

leaflite

Shimano have already done an auto shifting gear set

http://cycle.shimano-eu.com/publish/con ... ter-3.html

If you hooked a Di2 system up to a cadence sensor and you programmed it to shift between 75-95rpm it'd probably struggle with such things as downhills and slow grinding climbs where you cadence differs

I wondered how long it would take before they started to make them auto shift, clever buggers. With a few evolution of this no doubt it will be fully customizable to various preferences; the stress (watts) created on the crank I can see happing.