<story><title>Chainless electric drive system “Free Drive” for bicycles (2021)</title><url>https://www.schaeffler.de/en/news_media/press_releases/press_releases_detail.jsp?id=87716736</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dhosek</author><text>I don’t know about you, but I pretty regularly have my chain derail on my bike (at least a few times per season). Then I end up with grease on my fingers as I fix it which can be a big inconvenience.</text></item><item><author>jskrablin</author><text>So... a generator, an electric motor, few microcontrollers, bunch of sensors, a battery with it&amp;#x27;s own management circuits, wires, a bunch of code running on everything... is supposed to be &amp;quot;less complicated&amp;quot; than a chain and two (sometimes more) sprockets? Or did I misunderstand the press release?</text></item><item><author>sandgiant</author><text>&amp;gt; The Free Drive system works by converting the rider’s pedaling power into electrical energy via a small generator housed between the pedals. It then delivers this energy to the rear wheel (or wheels) via cables strung inside or outside the frame of the bike, rather than sending it mechanically through a chain or belt. Excess energy created by pedaling is fed back into the battery. The end result is a power system with fewer moving parts to complicate construction.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.theverge.com&amp;#x2F;2021&amp;#x2F;9&amp;#x2F;2&amp;#x2F;22653697&amp;#x2F;schaeffler-free-drive-e-bike-system-chainless&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.theverge.com&amp;#x2F;2021&amp;#x2F;9&amp;#x2F;2&amp;#x2F;22653697&amp;#x2F;schaeffler-free-d...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>olyjohn</author><text>Do you regularly run out of power on your chain powered bike though? I get the feeling this system requires a battery (it even mentions battery in the article), and most of the actual power comes from that. The question is, will the generator make enough power to get you moving if the battery is totally flat? I kinda feel like no, you&amp;#x27;d have to sit there and pedal it just to charge it up, and then it would move you a few feet. Or you&amp;#x27;re going to be pedaling really fast, and moving nowhere.</text></comment>
<story><title>Chainless electric drive system “Free Drive” for bicycles (2021)</title><url>https://www.schaeffler.de/en/news_media/press_releases/press_releases_detail.jsp?id=87716736</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dhosek</author><text>I don’t know about you, but I pretty regularly have my chain derail on my bike (at least a few times per season). Then I end up with grease on my fingers as I fix it which can be a big inconvenience.</text></item><item><author>jskrablin</author><text>So... a generator, an electric motor, few microcontrollers, bunch of sensors, a battery with it&amp;#x27;s own management circuits, wires, a bunch of code running on everything... is supposed to be &amp;quot;less complicated&amp;quot; than a chain and two (sometimes more) sprockets? Or did I misunderstand the press release?</text></item><item><author>sandgiant</author><text>&amp;gt; The Free Drive system works by converting the rider’s pedaling power into electrical energy via a small generator housed between the pedals. It then delivers this energy to the rear wheel (or wheels) via cables strung inside or outside the frame of the bike, rather than sending it mechanically through a chain or belt. Excess energy created by pedaling is fed back into the battery. The end result is a power system with fewer moving parts to complicate construction.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.theverge.com&amp;#x2F;2021&amp;#x2F;9&amp;#x2F;2&amp;#x2F;22653697&amp;#x2F;schaeffler-free-drive-e-bike-system-chainless&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.theverge.com&amp;#x2F;2021&amp;#x2F;9&amp;#x2F;2&amp;#x2F;22653697&amp;#x2F;schaeffler-free-d...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jandrese</author><text>You need to get your derailleurs adjusted.  I bike almost every day and it never happens to me, even when I do inadvisable hard shifts.</text></comment>