What a total nightmare this is for SRAM/Shimano. It changes a lot not just from a technical perspective, but it also changes the marketing side a lot:
- MGU is probably going to be perceived as the new premium product, which makes even the nicest rear derailleur and cassette look like a second class product. Who needs XX1 anything when it's all replaced, hidden in a case around the BB?
- It kicks them out of the drivetrain entirely since the cranks/chainring/chain/belt/shifters/bb are all either part of or integrated with the motor.
- It breaks the bundled sales model of drivetrain+brakes+etc. as a package deal for the bike manufacturers entirely.
It'll probably not impact TRP or Advent, and Shimano can probably do OK on the lower end stuff, but I'm really curious how this impacts the ebike component landscape long-term. I know I just stopped shopping for an ebike entirely; I'll wait to see how these shake out.
Side note; friend of mine and all around brilliant engineer (who invented the Supre drive system) wrote a bit about yet another kind of bike ecvt from a technical perspective a few days ago:
eCVT e-bike hub motor It's not about either of these new mainstream ones, but it gets into the fine details, including talking about the issue of torque slip, which we haven't heard from the bike news yet.