Derailer systems only absord energy in the chain and bearings, and a well maintained system can maybe lose 1.5% of energy. Internal hub gearing can lose around 15% energy.
The shop keeper won't tell you this, he just wants to sell you a bike. If he starts talking difficult things, buyers might just go to the next shop to buy what they had already chosen.
Funny, I thought it was my three young kids that did that.
I always had a mountain bike growing up. Having now transitioned to more of a road bike, the difference in rideability is pretty stark.
I guess it could be the derailleur, but I assumed it was the tires and gearset that made it a pain to get places. I also have noticed a night and day difference when my tires are properly inflated. I just replaced the tubes and tires so maybe I'll have better luck now, but previously I needed to refill the tires basically daily to keep them in the right range.
1) using latex inner tubes. They’re lighter, but don’t hold air so well. Fine for racing, impractical for normal use
2) a slow puncture
4) badly seated valve tip (dirt?)
If you actually take a look at your derailleur system, you'll notice that a) the chain is not straight in all but a few settings, b) it has a somewhat complicated arm with an extra sprocket to keep the chain tight. And it is harder to protect it with a guard, so you end up with more dirt in the system if you use it every day.
But yes, internal hubs are heavier, generally somewhat less efficient, and better protected against the elements.
Maybe the "gripper plates" align themselves perfectly with the tooth at a time when the connection is still not under load yet? A conventional roller won't need much aligning, but it won't do that, it won't settle into place before load is applied. Friction scales with force. If that's how they teased out a minor delta then it's truly very clever (but likely still highly impractical outside the laboratory/indoor track setting)
[1] idea came while taking a shower, were else. Shower after churning that old Campag 12s chain a little, unfortunately only on Zwift these days
> The future apparently isn’t far away, as New Motion Labs has developed a new Dual Engagement chain that is supposedly able to transfer high power on both sides of the tooth, over nearly all the teeth available to the chain.
Yeah, I'm also wondering about how much energy it takes to "lock it in place", and then, of course, unlock it.
I've been a cyclist for 30 years now, and there's always been a steady stream of 'amazing! revolutionary!' things like this, but mostly it's incremental improvements. If it pans out, great, if not, c'est la vie.
Also note that this is only for track bikes with a perfectly straight chainline (technically speaking it would also work for internal gear hubs wish are increasingly driven by belts in the upper price range). The shifting chain that is deployed diagonally more often than straight is an entirely different beast, in theory much worse in efficiency and durability. Pretty much all practical durability limits stem from compromises done for that diagonal capability for sitting. Which basically goes ruthlessly against all mechanical engineering rules, like the old adage about how bumblebees were supposedly unable to fly. Yet even they work quite well, given that challenging background they work just awesome and track chains already work better than that.