Tactical Shifting

[Sidewinder Jerry]

Most states have an automatic tranmission clause in their laws. Some even go as far as to say no manual clutching or manual shifting of engine driven gears. A shift kit turns your bicycle gears into engine driven gears. In my state if you manually shift gears without a manual clutch its considered a semiautomatic but still can't be operated on the public roadways as a motorized bicycle. There's nothing in our law which says it can't shift fully and completely automatically. A legal loophole.

Here in my state when I meet others I tell them the cops probably won't bother them if they obey the traffic laws. Where a problem can occur is if you're in a multi vehicle accident. This happened to my brother and x-brother-in-law. They ran in to one another both had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital. Both were charged with operating an improper vehicle on the public roadways. The judge said the bikes were improper due to a manual clutch. I will tell my fellow riders where I live whether their bike is legal or not. That is a common question I get while out riding and meeting other riders.

 

[The_Aleman]

A shift kit drives the crank, and that portion of the drive system is single speed. SBP's shift kit has always been a crank assist device.

You have to understand that a bicycle having shiftable pedal gears cannot make it illegal regardless of whether the bicycle has an engine or not.

Otherwise you'd be implying a shift kit on a single speed bicycle is legal but a shift kit on a bicycle with gears would be illegal. Either way, the shift kit is still a crank assist device. It's the clutch actuation itself that dictates whether a shift-kitted bicycle is illegal or not regardless of having 1 gear or 64. If you have a shift-kitted chinagirl, it's technically illegal if it has a manual clutch.

In any case, most MaB laws say no manual clutch. It doesn't matter if it has a shift kit or not it's technically illegal if it has a manual clutch.
The shift kit does not dictate legality or lack thereof.

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

Yes a shift kit on a single speed would be legal and illegal if the operator manually shifts bicycle gears driven by the engine. There are many states which say the operator can't manually change gears driven by the engine.

I used to run 3 chain rings on my bike the rear 7 shifted automatically. My land lord told me I needed to change that. He is a 94 year old retired judge and is still a practicing attorney. Here's what he told me that the motorized bicycle/ moped laws were meant to limit the speed of the vehicles by only allowing a single drive ratio. That's where the automatic clause came in. Some years latter ways were figured out how to shift gears without having a manual clutch. The courts ruled since the operator had to manually shift gears some states added to the law clauses to stop this. They said it wasn't an automatic transmission system but rather a semiautomatic. A shift kited bike with a centrifugal clutch but requires manual shifting is a semiautomatic. The setup I have now shifts 5 gears fully and completely automatically. My land lord told me what I have now is considered legal until someone decides to write in another clause stopping it.

 

[KCvale]

My NuVinci auto shift is heavy, uses a relatively complicated shifting system, and is less than 90% efficient.

I agree with Jerry, the NuVinci developers kit auto-shift was a complete failure but I still have all the electronics and now useless hub.

Jerry does fine work with his auto shifting parts and an innovator which is a gold star in my book, I just think a truly useable automatic bicycle shifting system needs to look at 3 factors, not just wheel RPM but engine rpm and throttle position.

NuVinci tried but only looked at wheel speed despite my repeated pleas to add a sensor input for engine RPM which should have been easy considering their elaborate controller programing software.

For the casual rider or living in place that does not allow manual MB shifting Jerry has a great solution, but since that is not the case here is AZ I haven't tried one yet as I find tactical shifting a learned skill and will always out perform an automatic in real like riding.

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

Don't misunderstood me, I'd love to manually shift I could do so very much more with it. KC the LandRider derailleur does have a cadence adjustment screw. Which can adjust at what wheel rpm the gears change. The way it shows on my tach is upshifts occur at 7800 rpm and down shifts occur at 5800 rpm.