It's So Obvious Its Embarrasing

[Tenacious Doug]

So the whole of the biking world has been mulling over what actually goes on with the Honda for a few months now. But it was all a secret, but of course it had to be patented, and patents are available for public viewing.

So I give you......


http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=EP1366978&CY=gb&LG=en&DB=EPD

http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/bnsviewer?CY=gb&LG=en&DB=EPD&PN=EP1366978&ID=EP+++1366978A1+I+
http://www.clarkie.f2s.com/michael/honda-cvt.jpg

And credit where it is due to the guy that dug these up
http://www.descent-world.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=14118.0

[BostonBullit]

yea..that's pretty much exactly how I figured it worked :rolleyes:

[binary visions]

Or, you could thumb through the most recent MBA which has some pretty pictures along with the same information, which they say straight off they got from the patent application.

Of course, the patent information is free, but you can do what I do - stand there and read the articles you're interested in, then put it back on the shelf...

[911]

Hmm... other companies might be waiting for patients too. Anyone want to see if they can dig something up on the new Yeti DH bike or the Fox downhill fork?

[crashing_sux]

Listed under relevant patents is a Nicolai patent. What's the relevance?

[Repack]

Hell yeah that was obvious. And I bet some poor sap out there reading that doesn't speak Japanese. To that person: You are a dumbass.

[Stiff]

Patents are all on-line. Check out Shimano's 14spd cogset.

[gonzostrike]

Originally posted by crashing_sux
Listed under relevant patents is a Nicolai patent. What's the relevance?

in Patent Law lingo, "relevance" would mean designs that are close to the Honda design, but from which the Honda patent will be shown different ("distinguishable"), therefore warranting its own separate patent.

if Honda could not demonstrate that its design is sufficiently distinguishable from the Nicolai design, the US Patent & Trademark Office would deny the application.

that's the nutshell description of "relevance" in the Honda patent application

[crashing_sux]

Well what do you know, I ask a straightforward question and I get a straightforward answer.

Thanks.

[chicodude]

any one up for building one of those bad boys?

[SpuTTer916]

the new MBA has a big article on it. I havent had a chance to get into it yet.

[binary visions]

Originally posted by SpuTTer916
the new MBA has a big article on it. I havent had a chance to get into it yet.

It's an alright article. I get the impression, from reading it, that they are talking about things that they have only a vague idea of how they work. I'm not sure the guy who wrote the article understands the CVT. But it does have some nice photos of the bike and some interesting concepts within the CVT. More of a thumb-through-it-in-the-grocery-store article, rather than shelling out the $$ just for that one article.