By Andrew Liszewski
Besides the wheel the invention of the chain is probably what made the modern bicycle possible but ironically it’s also the bike’s biggest downside. The chain usually needs a lot of maintenance and care to keep it functioning properly and of course there’s always the risk of pant legs or loose shoelaces getting caught. If the Dekra D-Drive (Direct-Drive) system works as well as they claim it does we could be seeing the end of the bike chain as we know it.
Power from the pedals is transferred to the back wheel of the bike via an enclosed shaft that works alongside a bevel gear system. The shaft itself is made of a lightweight yet durable aluminum alloy and should survive even the roughest of rides. The setup even allows for a three-speed Shimano gear system for ‘optimized pedaling efficiency.’ The biggest advantage of having all the gears and drive shaft enclosed is that the D-Drive system never requires cleaning, lubrication or maintenance.
The Dekra D-Drive bike is currently available from the Dynacraft online store in a men’s or women’s model for $300.
Geen fietsketting meer?…
Een fiets zonder ketting? Dat klinkt als geen gesmeer meer en geen gedoe met onderhoud! De D-Drive van Dekra is een nieuw systeem dat werkt met een aandrijving in de buis tussen de trapper en de achteras. Bij de achteras……
Old news,
Chainless drive has ben araound for a decade atleast. Biomega wasn’t even first, but remains the best.
Cool! I wish I’d had one of these when I was a kid. I was always fouling my chain (sounds dirty, eh?) in my jeans (even dirtier, huzzah!).
I should look into getting one of these for my da. He loves to ride the back country roads, but he looks ridiculous with all those rubber bands around his ankles.
I love my new chainless bike! They’re offering free shipping through July 15th. They also offer a lifetime warranty on the frame, forks, and the D-Drive chainless internal operating system.
I ordered a Dekra bike for myself last week. It was fast, easy, and I got confirmation it will be delivered to my home tomorrow. I tried a Dekra bike a few months ago, and the ride was smooth and surprisingly quiet. I’m looking forward to bike riding all summer long!
Nothing new here. http://www.dynamicbicycles.com is another seller of chainless, shaft-driven bicycles, and has a much wider selection of bikes (and has been around a while, as well).
i would love to buy a shaft drive bicycle. they dont give an address or phone to get intouch. dont make it easy.
1897 was when shaft driven bicycles were first introduced.
Major problem with the tech is non-variable distance from bb–drop-out so it’s neigh impossible to retrofit a frame. Anyone can solve this jazz could get a sweet patent.
I have a Dekra chainless bike that I have put 2,200 basically trouble free miles on it in about a year. Shaftdrive doesn’t offer the range of regular (30 / 27 / 24 or 21 speed) gears so pedaling efficiency is restricted to choice of 3, 7 or eight gears. Also the shaftdrive system seems to have more “power loss” when compared to the regular chain & sprocket combo. On the other hand, the shaftdrive system didn’t require any maintenace except to tighten a loose nut!