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This isn't really a gearbox in the traditional sense, they're just using the word because it makes sense to people. What their "gearbox" does is increase/decrea
by digdugdirk 4y ago
This isn't really a gearbox in the traditional sense, they're just using the word because it makes sense to people. What their "gearbox" does is increase/decrease the lever arm acting on the string. This serves the same function, but the frictional losses would be mostly constant across all the "gears".
There will absolutely be some losses due to rope deformation (squish, not stretch) and heat, but I imagine they would be relatively consistent across the lifetime of the rope - there's not any grease to degrade over time, for example.
- rich_sasha 4y agoRight, but the actual % efficiency does matter. Derailleur and IGH achieve easily 90+% efficiency with low maintenance. Is this in the same ballpark? 80% ? 60% ? Also the string will definitely pick up grime off the roads, especially when wet, so efficiency will almost certainly drop as a result.
- enragedcacti 4y agothe FAQ says the string is technically more efficient but in practice they are both extremely efficient when properly maintained so the difference is academic. They don't mention losses when the string is wet or dirty so I'm not sure about that. https://www.stringbike.com/stringbike_support_questionsandanswers.html https://www.stringbike.com/stringbike_support_questionsandan...