NuVinci’s Genius Inchworm
Everyone loves an inchworm. As invertebrates go, they’re pretty darn cute the way they hunch up to crawl. Well, NuVinci has now taken the happy-go-lucky inchworm and put it to work in their continuous variable transmission system. That’s right, they’ve developed a drivetrain that involves no clicking, no indexing, no need for pedaling while shifting gears. And to illustrate just how hard you’ll be pedalling once you start up again on that hill, their inchworm indicator changes shape according to gear ratio. A tall, hunched-up worm? Well, it looks like a hill, so think easier pedalling like you would want on a steep grade. A long, flat worm? Think long, flat, fast roads and a tougher gear ratio for moving along swiftly.
Avelino Rivera of NuVinci told us that he was easily able to communicate how this system works to non-English speakers at Interbike, and we believe it. We gave it a try, and found the shifting to be smooth and easy. This could be a great drivetrain for an Xtracycle - no more getting stuck in the middle of a hill with a heavy grocery load, mashing the pedals while trying to change gears. A belt drive, rather than a chain, is also an option, and the hub is completely enclosed and comes with a six-year warranty.
NuVinci recently won a Eurobike Gold Award for this innovative drive train. With a strong market all over Europe, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands, we asked Rivera why he thought there was such a difference in commuter bike culture between the U.S. and Europe, and how he thought this might be changing lately in America. “It’s a very different culture in Europe. They didn’t build there around the car like we did here in many cities. And biking has been a way of life in much of Europe for a long time.” He cautioned that “the majority of the world’s population is going to be urbanized over the next 20 years, and bikes make excellent sense in that world. When you think that most people drive five miles or less when commuting, and those miles are the most polluting miles [due to traffic, stopping, and starting], it just makes more sense to switch to biking for most short rides.” He had hope, however, for the future of bike commuting in the U.S. He told us that, “among my friends, I’m the ‘bike guy’ so they always ask me to build up and work on their bikes. And I’ve been working on more bikes lately than I can keep up with.” Sure, this is anecdotal evidence. But the fact that NuVinci is selling to the U.S. market and making a good go of it is also heartening.
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