Better suspension, more grip

For us the significant reduction in unsprung weight is the most important reason to design our bikes solely around gearboxes. Low unsprung mass ensures suspension performance that is undeniably better than any mountain bike equipped with a rear derailleur. Get noticeably more grip and rail faster through corners and rock gardens!

Enjoy just the sound of your tires

A gearbox with belt set up avoids the noises chains and derailleurs make, since there's no chain bouncing around and hitting the frame. The only slapping you'll hear is when you're high fiving your friends at the bottom of another epic descent.

No need for oil, regular maintenance or adjustments

There’s no denying that the majority of your bike maintenance is done on the drive train. No shifting adjustments or maintenance means you don’t have to worry whether or not your bike will shift properly when you pull it out for your next ride. No derailleur - No worries! Just got back from a muddy ride? Just spray the bike clean, forget about chain lube and enjoy a shower yourself.

Choose those tighter more technical lines

There’s nothing worse than being in the backcountry, or even on a local trail - your drive train lets you down and you either stuck on the side fixing it, wasting precious time, or you’re committing to a long walk out. The Pinion gearbox removes the derailleur which is most likely to break in a crash or bail. The bulk of the drivetrain is contained inside the gearbox and is protected from impacts. The clean set up of our bikes gives you the peace of mind that it’s all going to work, even on those technical trails that are littered with big rocks or in the occasional crash.

Through mud, dust and whatever the world throws at you

The Pinion gearbox offers up to 600% gear range. Can you imagine a 10-60 cassette? And this is all on the inside of a small gearbox, so it has no exposure to the elements and shifts seamlessly every time. Run of the mill derailleur and cassette systems shift poorly when things get muddy, wet and mucky. Unlike a derailleur, you can literally bathe your gearbox in mud and it will still function the same.

You’re ALWAYS in gear - Never not

Unlike derailleur systems, where the chain needs to clunk it’s way up and down a cassette one painful sprocket at a time to reach the new gear you want to select, the Pinion gearbox will engage the new gear as quickly as you can move your hand on the shifter. You can also shift without pedaling, giving you the freedom to instantaneously drop as many gears as you would like—through corners, while transitioning from a fast descent into a steep climb, or even while in the air. The electronic SmartShift version also adds the possibility to shift under load like no other system does.

Save time and money replacing parts

There’s nothing that sucks the cash out of your wallet and the hours you could be riding, like having to replace drive train parts. Because the Pinion Gearbox is internal and super durable, it means your drive train components won’t need to be replaced regularly as they do with derailleur systems. The gearbox itself can be expected to reliably cover many tens of thousands of miles with only periodic oil changes. Effectively your Pinion gearbox drive train wears IN the more you ride.

Thanks to the single speed hub, a symmetrical spoke angle with symmetrical spoke tension ensures a very strong and light rear wheel that further improves suspension performance.

Since the belt on the Zerode drivetrain never leaves the single front & rear sprockets, it stays exactly where it should be, even during the rowdiest descents.