Efneo Front Gearbox on a Q45?

[GV_Ottawa]

Has anybody tried adding the Efneo 3-speed front gearbox to their Q45?
https://www.efneo.com/gearbox/

I've got close to 400 kms on my Q45 now (awesome bike by the way!!). What I find when I ride my bike is that the lowest gears (1, 2) are fine for the types of hills I encounter in my region. So I don’t need any lower gears. However, I find that even when pedalling on flat to slightly downhill terrain, I can outpedal my highest gears (10, 11). Thus ideally I would like to end up with a few higher gears than what I currently have installed.

Thus I'm wondering if I could achieve this by installing the Efneo??

Any experiences or opinions if this would work with my Q45?

Many thanks in advance,
Gary

 

[Rampa]

It will make your boom a bit heavier, and so have a bit more swinging momentum. How does Efneo stay in orientation? I had a Peterson Metro 2 speed on another bike, and it relied on a stopper against the chain stay to prevent rotation.

 

[Gromit]

I'm not sure whether the Patterson Metropolis 2 speed front gearbox is still being made by FSA.
As Rampa says, it used a lever/stopper against the chain stay to prevent rotation. The same method is used on the Efneo.

This document about Q45 gearing by Jim Parker of Cruzbike might be helpful too.
I believe that to get a 1x12 10-50 SRAM Eagle cassette to fit your Q45 you may need a SRAM XD driver body. Cruzbike tech support should be able to confirm whether this is available to fit the Q45's freehub. Plus you would have to budget for the derailleur, shifter and 12 speed chain.

 

[GV_Ottawa]

I have seen the gearing document - thanks Gromit.

I'm liking the idea of the Efneo. If I'm understanding things properly, their third gear should be 50/38 (31.5%) faster than the stock setup I currently have.

I just want to ensure it will fit / can be installed as I was unable to have a Patterson installed by my bike builder when I first acquired my Q45. (on the Patterson she tried to install there were three black attachments on the silver disk that all need to 'encircle' the BB shell. The attachment bracket of fork to BB is too close to the outside edge of the BB and does not leave enough clearance for them. The fork attachment clamps and not the steerer tube were in the way)

It looks like with the Efneo I have an option of 152 or 170 mm crank lengths. I believe the Q45 comes with 155 - am I correct in assuming I should go with 152 and the 3 mm won't make much of a difference / be noticeable?

Many thanks again folks!

 

[Gromit]

May I offer a suggestion? Before spending more than 500 dollars USD on the Efneo, I would suggest that you fit a 42 tooth narrow/wide chainring to your Q45 and see whether that works for you. You'll raise your lower gears a little but gain 10 gear inches or so in top gear. Yes, you'll also need a longer chain.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gear-calc.html

In addition, the Efneo is at its most efficient in the lowest gear setting (direct), the 2 higher gear settings are indirect gears, so some loss of efficiency will occur as the internal parts rotate.

I don't have a Q45 but I believe that the standard cranks are 155mm, so yes 152mm on the Efneo.