"Ezookiel/Trentus" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:On a radio show one of my clients was listening to this morning, they had
people ringing in saying when they first came across automatic gears on
bikes.
One caller had them on a 1990 Huffy.
Coincidentally on tonight's edition of "Beyond Tomorrow" they showed the
latest Mercedes Benz, which you can get for under $5000. But they claim
to
Quoted message said:have the "World's First Automatic Bike"
Yeah, it was a niceish bike, with some amazing features, but "World's
First"
Quoted message said:for Pete's Sake, even HUFFY apparently had them in 1990.
So just when did the first automatic gears appear for a bike?
(mind you, that Merc still had some REALLY spiffy features considering it
wasn't a Mtn Bike)
Ezookiel
Still going strong on the new Giant VT2 and loving it - even in winter
Most of the "Automatic" bikes I've seen personally have been garbage. The
(in)famous "AutoBikes" that were around in the mid/late 90s were
Pacific/Murray/Huffy quality frames with the automatic contraption (weights
on the back wheels that pulled the mechanism as they spun further and
further out toward the rim) was connected to a sub-shimano tourney quality
derailleur. Several years ago some bikes were offered with Shimano Auto-D,
which has a microprocessor that would cause a 4 speed internal geared hub to
change based on your wheel speed. It had a button control to override the
computer and shift. Never had the opportunity to try it out.
Very easy to use manual shifting trumps automatic systems every time.
