> This is a gimmick. It's gimmick engineering, really.

Is it a gimmick (I dunno)? Their apparent goal, a more robust and less finicky alternative to front-derailleurs, seems pretty much in tune with what you want...

> It's a market designed around either enthusiasts...or parents...

Look outside the U.S. for very different approaches, e.g. Japan, where bikes are ridden by everybody (bike mode-share is an order of magnitude greater than even bike-friendly cities in the U.S., and far more evenly distributed amongst sub-populations), and generally not fetishized (there's an enthusiast market, but it's very small by comparison).

I agree that the U.S. market historically resembles your description, but that's started to change in recent years as the overwhelming obsession with automobiles has cooled, and we start to enter the "post auto age" (very slowly in the U.S. of course!). American biking culture is still very influenced by older patterns, but this is changing too.

A significant aspect of the Japanese market is the prevalence of $1,200 electric bicycles, which now appears to be at around 30% of bikes seen around in Tokyo. Automatic gear shifters on standard bikes are fairly common too. Also pertinent is the fact that Japanese tend not to repair their own bicycles - not even a puncture. Rear brakes are typically not user serviceable anyway. So I suggest they should try to ride the EB wave in Asia to market this system at first.

> A significant aspect of the Japanese market is the prevalence of $1,200 electric bicycles, which now appears to be at around 30% of bikes seen around in Tokyo

Electric bikes are a somewhat popular niche lately, but there's absolutely no chance they account for anywhere even near 30% of the bikes in use in Tokyo. The number of bikes, and biking population, in/around Tokyo is immense, and the vast majority of them are not electric (nor new, nor particularly fancy). Even amongst the recently popular small-wheel-two-kid-seat bikes, most don't seem to be electric.

But you're absolutely right that the Japanese bike market would be a good one to target; it's very big, more upscale than many other countries, and oriented around practicality.

Perhaps my observation is skewed by the fact that I see so many mothers dropping kids at the houikuen (nursery) are using them. Also at my suburban station bike park, I estimate 30% are eb. If you count bikes in use, as I do, rather than those static outside a mansion, you get into the 30% ballpark in my neighbourhood. I am not sure whether this new gear tech suits EB, but it seems it might be good for them to ride the eb trend , which is large and growing.

What about shaft-driven cycles? I've never tried on, but wanted to, as they seem like they would require a lot less maintenance. And I'd get less grease on me.