GAMUX – A WorldCup Downhill Team and Bike Manufacturer
The “GAMUX guys” are well known in the gravity scene. The names Dominic and Pascal Tinner, as well as Romeo Cairoli are synonymous with DH Racing in Switzerland. For years, they have shaped the sport on national and international stages as athletes and organizers of downhill races and events. The GAMUX team has worked with numerous bike manufacturers through their years of downhill competition, but in 2019, the decision was made to put their accumulated knowledge into their own products. Today, GAMUX is not only a World Cup downhill race team, but also a distributor of various MTB brands for the Swiss market.
Recently, GAMUX has started offering its own line of bikes comprising of two models. It was in 2020 that the Swiss trio launched the “Runi” trail bike and the “Marca” downhill bike. Even with two brand-new models on the books, GAMUX co-founder and chief developer Pascal Tinner wasn’t going to rest on his laurels. The shortage of raw materials due to Covid-19 presented a real challenge, especially due to the lack of tubing for frame construction. Consequently, the guys looked for alternatives to conventional aluminum tubing. It didn’t take long for them to find their flow.
At the UCI DH World Cup in Les Gets in July 2021, GAMUX unveiled a prototype of the GAMUX CNC gearbox DH bike. The entire frame is CNC-machined from a single block of aluminum. This manufacturing process, familiar to fans of the Pinion P-line gearbox, made our collective hearts skip a beat.
We talked to Pascal Tinner in July and asked, among other things, why he relies on Pinion for this bike!
GAMUX CNC GEARBOX DH BIKE
Development and testing go hand-in-hand at GAMUX. Feedback from the GAMUX DH team flows directly into the continued development and refinement of the bikes. The fact that Pascal Tinner hasn’t lost any of his downhill skills was proven by the pictures from the UCI WorldCup in Les Gets in July 2021. With GAMUX team rider Loris Michellod injured before the start of the season, Pascal decided to take part in the race himself and ride the CNC gearbox-equipped prototype down the demanding course.
GAMUX BIKES, Pascal Tinner: 5 questions, 5 answers
1. You were on derailleur-equipped bikes in the World Cup for years. Without exaggeration, you can say that you rode the bikes hard and put them through their paces, around the world, on the most demanding courses and through all weather conditions. So what made you want to develop a Pinion-equipped bike?
The advantages of a gearbox have been the decisive factors for us. Less unsprung weight and more freedom in the design of the rear suspension have made a significant contribution, and convinced us in the use of a Piniopn gearbox. Minimal maintenance and better weight distribution also play a role. It is not the total weight that is the main criterion here, but the bike’s weight distribution. In downhill racing, the descending ride dynamics are 99% of the equation, and that’s exactly where a transmission shines compared to a conventional 7-speed gearbox.
2. What are the special features of your bike? Purely visually, it already differs drastically from other Pinion MTBs?
We deliberately chose CNC for various reasons. The quality is more constant and due to the lack of welded seams, we can calculate and simulate the strength and stability of the components very precisely. This means that we find significantly fewer correlation errors between simulation and the real world. Apart from the fact that it looks cool (in our opinion), CNC also gives us much more freedom in the design of the frame without resorting to expensive tooling or specific tube shapes. We can develop the frame in our digital design environment exactly the way we want, and place material exactly where it is needed. This results in a unique riding experience and a bike with unique flex characteristics and an almost perfect weight distribution.
3. What area of application do you see for the bike? Do you offer different variants? (World Cup Team, End User?)
The bike is clearly a DH racing machine and is designed to get the rider down the mountain as quickly as possible in the roughest terrain of the UCI DH World Cup can offer. This is the first prototype. The next iteration should come in September – closer to the World Cup series. We think that over the course of the first months of 2022 we will be able to start production and pre-sale of a limited number of bikes.
4.You are clearly committed to Pinion in the gravity scene. In your opinion, why are Pinion gearboxes not more prevalent on the slopes?
There are actually only two reasons: The grip shift system and the very good performance of the Shimano and Sram DH groups. Since the contact points on downhill bikes are very important, the grip shift and the associated limited selection of grips along with the unconventional shifting process are probably not suited to everyone. Should Pinion come onto the market with a “trigger system” or even an electrical shift system, nothing should stand in the way of the transmission box in the gravity arena. The performance already speaks for itself!
“You have to get used to shifting with the Pinion at first. After a short time, it becomes intuitive. Above all, changing gears without having to pedal has massive advantages in racing. You can change gears in the air or while rolling and are well prepared for the next sprint.” – Pascal Tinner, GAMUX Bikes.
5. What’s next? What are your long-term plans? Can interested customers test the bike? When will the bike be available for purchase
As mentioned, we will present a final bike in September. Customers and interested parties will then have the opportunity to pre-order their GAMUX DH Bike. Interested parties can also contact us today. There will also be opportunities to test the bike with us. We are committed to using the bike with a Pinion gearbox next year with our GAMUX Factory Racing Team throughout the World Cup, and thus help our athletes to succeed in the long term. We will also compete with a new Pinion-equipped trail bike, but more on that later…
Thank you very much for the interview, Pascal!
The bike will make its next public appearances at the UCI DH WorldCup in Lenzerheide Switzerland (03-05 September 2021) and at the Pinion stand at the Eurobike Friedrichshafen (01.-04.09.2021). Here you have the opportunity to see the bike in person!
