Prototype Hardtail With Electric Pinion Shifting + Belt Drive: A First Look at the Priority 600hxt

[@hardtailparty]

A few more clarifications: Pinion states on their website that the smartshift battery pack "provides well over 20,000 shifting operations, which corresponds to about 100 pure operating hours." I have a feeling this is going to need to be charged more than once or twice a year. If you only ride 100 hours a year, then you may only need to charge once or twice a year, but for most of us, it sounds like we're going to have to charge it considerably more than that. Also, the Priority website states: "The Smart.Shift electronic shifting on the 600HXT can snick between gears in 0.2 seconds, and will bang through shift after shift reliably regardless of riding conditions and pedal pressure." Unfortunately that has not been my experience with my pre-production prototype. It does NOT shift under load well, and certain gear changes take far longer than 0.2 seconds. I'm actually really excited for smartshift, but I'm concerned that these claims are inaccurate. I'm concerned that people are buying smartshift bikes based off these claims, which do not match my experience. Need help deciding which hardtail is right for you? Become a patron today and you can pick my brain on over 100 different modern hardtails. Patreon.com/hardtailparty

[@rekamniar]

The toys that are reviewed in this channel that doesnt have exposure on big bike medias are a breath of fresh air.

[@benjaminkennedy3913]

34 lbs is actually not bad at all for an alloy trail bike. Very excited for the ride video Steve!

[@haussolutions6244]

Now this is a bike / gearbox combo I'm really interested in. I'm a Rohloff owner and just love the gearbox theory, especially for our 6-8months of slop we get here in Scotland. 'If' this was comparable with Pinions E-Drive unit I'd be buying one tomorrow! Looking forward to hearing how this rides....

[@ThunderStruckMTB]

Awesome! While other brands are putting cables through headsets and hiding shocks in the downtube all in the name of "innovation", this brand is actually innovating. So excided to see where this leads and I am a huge fan and will be keeping a close eye on them.

[@shaunbailey1561]

Man that’s the bike of my dreams.

[@frbrable]

I've had the 600X for a year now and love it. I've become spoiled by not having to clean it very often or lube it ever. The first oil change was easy. Yes, the Pinion adds a bit of weight and is slightly less efficient than a derailleur. But I'm not racing. I'm in the market for a gravel bike now and when I look at gravel bikes with derailleurs I don't feel excited thinking of all the maintenance, replacing chains and cassettes, etc.

[@cycling_plurality]

Right on! I am intrigued to hear your thoughts on the Pinion engagement on technical trails.

[@ilovephotography1254]

Thanks for providing a great preview of what appears to be an interesting and unique option for that rider looking for a bullet proof bike.

The next big step will be a bit lower drag in the gearbox. If they manage to pull that off, many will never look back to traditional derailleurs

[@ianferch7970]

I ride an INSTINCTIV Kodiak 140 on big rides, example Into the Mystic in Whistler and I don’t notice any extra drag.

[@mikehewson576]

I feel like the drag from the chain, pulleys and cassette would be very much similar

[@hardtailparty]

See my review of the priority 600x. Its not drag per se, it's rotating mass.

[@ianferch7970]

@@hardtailparty The rotating mass can be reduced a pair of 3D printed titanium cranks from Carbon Wasp saves 170 grams.

[@hardtailparty]

@@ianferch7970 see my other video. All 12 of those hardener steel gears rotating all the time is exhausting and FAR less efficient than a traditional derailleur and chain.

[@thomashelander6753]

Oh Wow Steve! That is a really impressive and intriguing bike. I can hardly wait until you give it a review on the trail. I have a feeling it will be enjoyable to ride. It may even have some characteristics no other bike has so far. I really look forward to hearing your review.

[@jonthomas8487]

Just having experience with buying a Classic Plus cruiser for my daughter I love Priority’s buying experience Ave service so far. The bike was under $400 and is light years better than anything else at that price

[@chuckfessler2652]

I’m very excited for this bike. Preordered mine back in August

[@TrailFeatures]

After I buy myself a new hip, this is gonna be on my short list to test out!

[@hardtailparty]

MaNn, that sucks about your hip. Sorry to hear that.

[@TrailFeatures]

@@hardtailparty I mean, now I kinda have to get a Ti frame to match my Ti hip.

[@djsonfire0001]

Priority bikes are awesome! The 600x adventure is an amazing bike. I'm sure this one will be just as awesome! They also have great customer service.

[@mikej1348]

I’m glad to see you back👍

[@dandunn8216]

I added an Apollo 11 Gravel to my bike stable two years ago and have come to like the unique drivetrain on these bikes. Kudos to Priority …and to you for this great look at the 600HXT. Looking forward to seeing your review on how this bike rides out on the trails. Good to see you back on the bike too.

[@clay_not_dirt]

How do you like the Appollo? Anything you'd change?

[@dandunn8216]

@@clay_not_dirt The Apollo is my first gravel bike. I can’t compare to other gravel bikes. I found The gearing was just a tad high for climbing in my area. I rode it with the stock gearing for about two thousand miles but recently changed the front sprocket from 50T to a 46T. I’ve put on another 500 miles on it since and it’s a better climber now. Last September I Rode the Katy Trail (rail to trail) there and back with three friends. We put in about 500 miles and I had no mechanical issues. …Sweet.

[@clay_not_dirt]

@@dandunn8216 appreciate the reply. Been eyeing one for a while.

[@superawesomefuntimego]

So happy to see it does not have the twist shift. Pretty interesting prototype, I like it. I've used the GX AXS on two bikes and both were flawless, so I have no issues with electric shifting although both my current bikes are not electronic. It is cool to see the gearbox still getting improved and refined. I'd like to see that weight come down though, my Nukeproof Scout RS (Large) is 30.5 lbs and that is with pedals and DD tires, heck my full on 170mm Enduro bike with DH casing tires is only slightly heavier.

[@mitchwarren1600]

My Deviate has the pinion gearbox like dropper post and tubeless this gearbox tech is the way forward! Oil change once a year only!

[@jackcarter233]

Love ya man! Good to show a variety and thank you. But sorry, I’m pretty done with bicycling getting more complicated, less compatible, and increasingly insanely expensive. The industry has been moving this direction for too long.

[@yetisiedzinski1007]

Nice review. Lots of good info as always in your videos. Thank you

[@50whatnomadtravelnursemtb5]

I really like the idea of the Pinion gearbox, less maintenance is great! I wouldn't mind buying a touring bike with this set up. Wonder about the bearings with the cranks?

[@EndoMTB]

We need more gearboxes on more bikes! The tech will only get better and the benefits absolutely are worth it even where pinion is now. Bring it on!

[@hardtailparty]

The best way to ensure this happens is to vote with your wallet and support this technology. Im excited to see how gearboxes continue to improve. I love the idea of them.

[@taknname]

Excited to see Priority sent you the HXT. You did a great job with the 600x but its shortcomings are obvious as you pointed out. Hope you're well!

[@chrisclapp7631]

Been waiting for this next step. I literally just finished a ride that I nearly lost my derailleur on, several times. There is constant tree and branch debris on our trails due to a beetle invasion thanks to climate change. I love the concept of an electric pinion and carbon belt but as many others have noted the friction/ efficiency has to improve. I am hoping in a few more years we can see many other frames, some carbon, integrate electric gearboxes so that the price and weight come down and the efficiency goes up. One can dream until then. If I were doing a long distance ride like the continental divide this the rig I would want.

[@William.N]

Hope you had a wonderful break!

[@ohiomoto]

Looks pretty cool. I can't wait to see the ride review. I love how they rotated the case. It would be cool if they could integrate an electric dropper post "shifter" into the smartshift systems. Wireless of course. And make the system modular and let me add an e-bike motor to the shootin' match. I'll take a 50nm unit with mine but I see no reason not to offer more powerful options. 🙂

[@RuezgaDaniel]

That paint job and color combo looks awesome!

[@hardtailparty]

Agreed, its really sharp in person

[@JuiceBox801]

When is the review coming out ? :) we re the same size, their small is too big as well, I’m really interested on your take!!

[@alexkerpe930]

wish you would get some Nicolai bikes for rewiev

[@GHinWI]

Cool bike. Electric shift could make Pinion realistic for people-grip shift is just no-go. @12:10…I shift A LOT more than 10 times per hour…1000 hours sounds really optimistic.

[@kirkthibault3204]

Pinion does not make cranks shorter than 170; however Carbon Wasp does, in 3D printed titanium, specifically for the Pinion input shaft. In theory they can make whatever length crank you want. I run 165mm on my Zerode. According to Pinion, the new SmartShift gearbox has the same mounting pattern as their mechanical shift gearboxes, so they are interchangeable, in theory. But you would need to replace the entire system to switch from one to the other. You say that Priority modified the gearbox to provide more clearance for the shorter chainstay - what happens when you need to replace your gearbox because of a failure? Does Priority plan to offer modified replacement gearboxes? Thanks for covering the SmartShift!

[@benoosthuizen4961]

Nice looking bike, although the Turner Ti is still my favourite, I think. 🙂 Yes, bike sizing can be a tricky one when you have a long torso and short legs (like me too)… I always try to demo a couple of sizes. I’m 5’7 and switched to 165mm cranks about a month ago.. really loving them and don’t think I’ll be switching back to 170s. Can also recommend the OneUp dropper… could only fit a 75mm Fox, but a 120mm OneUp works fine in my frame.

[@jeffreyhaas2052]

Can you discuss the advantages of a short chain stay? Appreciate the video - bravo!!

[@hardtailparty]

Its coming in a future video

[@garysmith643]

Maybe I missed it what rear hub are they spec ing ! Would like to see a silent hub !

[@pbandjosh]

Curious if you have more content about this bike coming or if you'll do any kind of ride review video / followup?

[@hardtailparty]

@@pbandjosh my shifter was faulty and gave me all kinds of issues (it was a prototype) so i sent it back to them.

[@pbandjosh]

@@hardtailparty Gotcha. Hope you get a chance to review a production bike at some point here. The Viral Skeptic would be another mega bike to review when it's in production! Cheers and hope you're well.

[@shaunroach7829]

Alright great seeing you back with a fantastic first look!!! Really interesting tech on this one, the ride review will tell us so much more about the bike!!! I hope you had a great holiday Steve and I hope your starting to feel better ❤️‍🩹!!!!

[@fpeter01]

Please, next time serve us some napkins. We are drooling all over the place!

[@bradnorthcott7507]

How do we get hold of this in the UK?

[@stanley909]

For the dropper cable: I'd love it if there's a ziptie mount just to keep it from flopping around or shorten the hole where it comes from or even better, put hole inside the triangle so it doesn't flop sideways. As for the rear hub: make it ratchet type for easier maintenance since their going for the low maintenance theme, might as well do it with the hub. Extras: an extra belt out of the box would be nice. Availability: make it available in Asia and I'll be all over this thing. Colorway: custom colors would be nice I do hope that whatever is inside the smart shift is robust enough (the PCB or whatever is controlling the shifter), one thing you don't want as a consumer is failing components and nowhere to source them.

[@hardtailparty]

I think we'll see something different on the production model. We'll see...

[@JasonRostro]

Priority for the win

[@AbeAlSaleh]

Hear me out: dynamo charging for the battery.

[@CaptainShiny5000]

My main issue with something like this is the added weight in addition to the reduced efficiency of a pinion drivetrain. MTBs have gotten heavier over the years anyway with larger frames, increased wheelsize and wider tires and so far it has been give and take imo but I doubt that the benefits of this drivetrain negate the added weight, reduced efficiency as well as higher price. If it was just a bit more weight if you consider the weight shift to the center - maybe - but the rest seems too much on top of that, especially the efficiency.

[@ericpmoss]

I'm not sure the best use of the pinion is a hardtail -- it WOULD improve rear suspension by reducing the unsprung weight. OTOH, not having a rear derailleur to tear off with a rock strike... maybe.

[@streddaz]

@@ericpmoss It's more efficient than you think. Some independent tests were done on different drivetrains and the Pinion came in around 90% efficient. A 1x drivetrain was 96% efficient in the middle of the cassette but if you dropped to 92% on the extremes of the cassette. Add in dirt and grit and you lose even more efficiency. Sure, you aren't going XC racing on it, but if you just want a good reliable bike and not that much maintenance, the pinion is a good alternative.

[@bashem938]

Please review the marin san quentin 1

[@vijayanchomatil8413]

My question is, can i convert my FUSE to pinion? I like the idea of just changing the oil once a year!

[@hardtailparty]

No, unfortunstely. The frame has to be designed around the pinion mount

[@MichaelRobibaro]

Do you feel any drag? Better or worse than an IGH?

[@GHinWI]

Seems like the dropper routing could just be a continuous aluminum tube that comes out of the frame at the BB. It’d be better if it was just completely external up to the seat tube than how it is now.

[@hardtailparty]

I have a feeling the production model may fix this.

[@steveedwards5280]

How many points of engagement on the final drive?blast time i test rode a Pinion is was about 30° 12poe.

[@PatBK]

I think the problem with "true" wireless shifting is that Sram holds a patent on that. That's also why Shimano DI2 is still somewhat wired (from the battery to the derailleur) as far as I know...

[@dasoptics6706]

Love the crocs!

[@hardtailparty]

Haha. There have been lots of Crocs and sweatpants days as i try to recover from this illness

[@ongmymap]

Since no ride test, I guessing it didn’t go well?

[@ctsingletrack]

It looks like the cogs for the belt drive are smaller than the ones from the Rocker review.

[@jonmeek3879]

Do they have a release date for this ?, have they told you ?

[@glen3509]

Have you used any of Thomson's 7000 series aluminum Elite or Masterpiece stems, posts, their 7050 riser bars, and their rather expensive (almost 💰600.00🍁) Titanium riser bars?

[@porschephiliac4356]

I'm so very curious how these pinion drives work and feel. This bike seems like it might be the sleeper in preview. Time will tell.

[@X41N3]

Now imagine RSD making a middlechild pinion..wouldn't that be flipping awesome?

[@martinshortt7750]

Strrange cable routing. Starling do it best IMO all on the top of the down tube and brake on the chain stay.

[@icantgivecredit871]

I'd love to see this bike built with components to get the weight down from the advertised 34 lbs. for the medium.

[@JohnSmith-pg7eo]

It would be cool if they could charge the battery from your pedalling.

[@sethrich5998]

Better yet, charge from your braking.

[@johnnykramolis7469]

Nice one!

[@devincook3278]

I know it would cost a small fortune, but i wonder how much they could lower the weight with ti. Ti is heavy, but you can use a lot less material to reach the same level of strength as steel. With that being said, im not sure how much weight could actually be saved. Maybe an alloy would be the way to go for weight savings. I apologize - I'm a weight weenie. Hopefully, that doesn't hurt anyones feelings.

[@michaelmann3636]

Cable routing like you suggested and rear hub is to noisy.

[@geoffsimons1235]

Low center of gravity, no derailleur to rip off or come out of adjustment ,,belt drive hmmm 🤔 👍

[@KoyotBravo]

Make it with mechanical shifter, and I just found my next bike. For real

[@cjohnson3836]

The grip shift is mechanical. This can't take a cable trigger shifter because the mechanical pinion requires 2 cables to shift.

[@streddaz]

You want the 600X version. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYnUpndqfdCJbZIsi=AvLurTBSytyHXRoi

[@dodecahedron1]

@@cjohnson3836 they can(multiple companies are already making mechanical trigger shifters for pinions and rohloff hubs), they don't want to make a mechanical trigger shifter because that would mean they can't use the trigger shifter as a selling point for the electronic shifter version

[@seanhornchek6440]

Had this on order, cancelled when I saw that they changed the downtube and added a huge kink

[@jonthomas8487]

Hopefully they made the battery a LifePO4 instead of a lithium ion polymer. Lipos need cycling on a charger to start healthy. LiFePO4 are more stable

[@letsgoletsgoletsgoletsgoletsgo]

hey buddy how you doing ?

[@notice_fpv]

"Change" sealant? I treat it as an additive process. LOL

[@roamingwolfpack]

Pinions intrigue me, i wanna ride a mechanical shifter first.

[@davidh7414]

pinion 12 speed range is 600% according to google.

[@ah-duck]

They need to learn more about routing cables. The dropper cable on the wrong side of headtube and bottom is ugly. The front brake hose on the outside of lowers is a no no.

[@DirtTrailGuy]

It will be wireless soon.

[@ANTheWhizkid]

Haaaa! Finally!

[@KestrelYI]

[@qualm43]

I wouldn't use an electric drivetrain if you gave it to me for FREE.

[@ericpmoss]

Good -- pass it on to me. I'm not pedaling 100 miles from a bike shop or charger.

[@mircea5013]

Hello sir, we would like to give you an electric drivetrain for free.

[@martinshortt7750]

I'm not fan of electrics on bikes but this could change that.

[@ohiomoto]

I felt the same way until a year ago when I got e-bikes. Now I'm all in! lol

[@phillevin6651]

Exactly. Never had so much fun in the woods.