Interesting on the Rocky interface. I didn't know that about their ebike set up. Schwinn did something like this in the 70's on their cheap road bikes with a fixed rear and freewheeling front, and some recumbent manufacturers (forgot whom, sorry) did as well. The dangerous part has little to do with digits in drivetrains, but things like pant legs or chords/laces getting sucked into it. I still think it's an ideal situation. Being able to shift while coasting definitely carries some great riding merits, like cooking down a steep chute into an abrupt climb or being able to get on the gas immediately out of a corner. I think chain management would be the biggest design concern and then get customer education out of the way. No baggie jeans, secure your laces, be a reasonable human. Hub-wise, I'm not sure there's too much weight to be lost, but holy heck could you make it simple. Two spline interfacing 'freehub' bodies for Shimano and SRAM and two bearings instead of four. Hub companies would have an easy time adapting current designs to fit, by removing ratchet rings and either threading hub bodies or having a matching spline interface to their current shells. Might require using the same axle and bearing set up, but it'd be two new SKU's instead of a whole new hub.
June 13, 2017, 8:20 a.m. - JT
Interesting on the Rocky interface. I didn't know that about their ebike set up. Schwinn did something like this in the 70's on their cheap road bikes with a fixed rear and freewheeling front, and some recumbent manufacturers (forgot whom, sorry) did as well. The dangerous part has little to do with digits in drivetrains, but things like pant legs or chords/laces getting sucked into it. I still think it's an ideal situation. Being able to shift while coasting definitely carries some great riding merits, like cooking down a steep chute into an abrupt climb or being able to get on the gas immediately out of a corner. I think chain management would be the biggest design concern and then get customer education out of the way. No baggie jeans, secure your laces, be a reasonable human. Hub-wise, I'm not sure there's too much weight to be lost, but holy heck could you make it simple. Two spline interfacing 'freehub' bodies for Shimano and SRAM and two bearings instead of four. Hub companies would have an easy time adapting current designs to fit, by removing ratchet rings and either threading hub bodies or having a matching spline interface to their current shells. Might require using the same axle and bearing set up, but it'd be two new SKU's instead of a whole new hub.