Why Chainless?
The freedom to design the future of Active Mobility
By CIXI Team5 min read
Why Chainless?The freedom to design the future of Active Mobility
By CIXI Team5 min read
The easy answer: eliminating grease, rust, and constant maintenance. But for CIXI, eliminating the mechanical transmission is the starting point for a much bigger idea: Bringing the benefits of pedaling into a scalable block to build architectures beyond the electric bike, keeping the ease, intuitiveness, and benefits of human pedaling. Whatever the style, the load, the speed, the wheels: one, two, three, four… Pedaling as a driving force.
The easy answer: eliminating grease, rust, and constant maintenance. But for CIXI, eliminating the mechanical transmission is the starting point for a much bigger idea: Bringing the benefits of pedaling into a scalable block to build architectures beyond the electric bike, keeping the ease, intuitiveness, and benefits of human pedaling. Whatever the style, the load, the speed, the wheels: one, two, three, four… Pedaling as a driving force.
The Evolution of Pedaling Haptics
Haptics, in simple terms, refers to any form of interaction that uses tactile feedback (such as forces or movements) to communicate with the user. Think of the vibration on a phone when switching a toggle.
But can it feel like a normal bike? We believe that the chain, the gold standard of cycling engineering for a century, deserves more than a basic "virtual" imitation when the chain is being removed. Our PERS system Haptics gives riders a new level of control while moving actively.
We call our pedaling system PERS ( Pedaling Energy Recovery System), a device that converts human pedaling energy into electricity that gets you moving, enhancing your pedaling experience.
- Easy to Use: No gear shifting. The system automatically and continuously adapts the ratio between your cadence and the wheel speed, adapts to your riding style and intention, delivering a smooth, uninterrupted power flow.
- Responsive: The exact torque at the exact millisecond. It intelligently translates your intention to the vehicle, and you feel connected. With up to 185 Newton-meters of resistive torque, there is no room for lag when pedaling.
- Robust: The system features regenerative braking, which extends range by recovering energy.
- Reliable and durable: Removing exposed and vulnerable mechanical parts means cost-effectiveness above marginal efficiency gains. We define this as long lifecycles (tested for 50,000 km). Chainless means fewer components, minimal maintenance, no greasy parts, no broken chains or belts, and no being stuck on the side of the road while everyone is looking at your broken bike.
- Efficacious and scalable: The system converts human energy into electricity in real time and uses this energy to grant full control over your vehicle. Its high integration, flexibility, and simplicity make it possible to pedal in many other architectures focused on the rider's needs beyond the bike.
- Evolutive: The system is cloud-connected via its integrated IoT box for over-the-air updates, smart features, and safety improvements, allowing it to get better over time.
"Pedal-by-Wire" vs. "Serial Hybrid" vs. "Chainless"
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It’s all the same! There are nuances, of course, so let's clarify:
Pedal-by-wire is a term that media outlets like Inside EVs have described as a system where your pedals do not mechanically move the wheel. They act as an intelligent sensor, sending a digital signal to a computer.
A Serial Hybrid is how a "pedal-by-wire" system is built. It’s the same thing: An engine (in this case, your legs) moves a generator feeding the wheel motor, while the battery adds extra energy as needed. There’s no mechanical connection between the pedals and the motor.
Chainless is the easiest term to understand. At CIXI, we use "Chainless" to refer to any system that does not use any mechanical transmission at all, whether it's a rod, a chain, or a belt.
The concept of haptics and force feedback is important for the user to feel comfortable and connected to the vehicle - up to nowadays, it has been too often overlooked.
CIXI's PERS Chainless Pedaling System is a "pedal-by-wire" system that uses a "serial hybrid" architecture.
A Clear Trend Across the Industry
CIXI's vision is part of significant, industry-wide solutions that are evolving towards fast and Active Vehicles. Part of this is the growing interest in chainless systems for their ability to eliminate historical constraints and diversify design.
This shift is visible across the ecosystem. Mando (although they’re out of the market) and its Footloose brought the "drive-by-wire" concept to life. In parallel, the industry has long explored purely mechanical "chainless" solutions. Innovators have experimented with shaft-drive bicycles, or "cardan bikes." These systems replace the chain with an enclosed driveshaft to deliver clean, low-maintenance power. While this approach effectively solves the "grease" problem, it remains a mechanical solution with its own set of engineering trade-offs.
Lately, B2B technology like Schaeffler (with its Free Drive) has appeared. In parallel, others are reinventing transmission from different angles, such as Valeo/Effigear, E2Drives, and the Motor Gearbox Unit (MGU) from Pinion. The list is huge; the market is in the midst of disruption, full of proposals beyond the traditional chain.
Now this trend has been recently embraced by both new and legacy automotive giants. Honda, for instance, is implementing "Pedal-by-wire electric powertrain" technology in its 4-wheel FastPort active vehicles. On the other end of the spectrum, ALSO, a company derived from the electric vehicle giant RIVIAN, uses its "DreamRide" pedal-by-wire system as a clear signal that the "passive mobility" world is betting on Active Mobility for everyone, meaning that the digitally led transformation helps people to embrace a new way of traveling.
New Possibilities for Active Mobility
The PERS system, with its proven scalability from a 25 km/h bicycle to a 120 km/h active vehicle, demonstrates that pedal-by-wire is the heart of a new generation of Active Mobility. Opening new horizons for different applications, tailor-made to bring people back into moving: On their own terms, fit, beginner, with and without effort, to rediscover the benefits of moving. At the end of the day, this is what matters for us.
PERS is ready and powering a wide range of Active Vehicles. Ready to build yours? Contact us:
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Alexander Knoll PERS DACH Lead alexander.koll@cixi.life +43 (0) 664 4363347 | Florian DES GARETS PERS International Dev. florian.desgarets@cixi.life +33 6 24 96 66 47 |
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Nicolas KESSLER PERS Business Unit Lead nicolas.kessler@cixi.life +33 7 62 05 83 78 | Maurian MARNAY PERS Sales Development maurian.marnay@cixi.life +33 7 81 67 29 81 |
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