Box One MTB Derailleur & Shifter - What's the deal?
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- Опубліковано 16 чер 2024
- A lot of you guys have been waiting for this-a close look at the Box One.
Just the derailleur and shifter would set you back about $250. That’s not cheap, and with their very established competitors offering a wide range of options in 1x11, consumers are going to want some tangible reasons to go with the relatively unproven Box One.
Well thanks to you guys, Box sent me a derailleur and shifter to test out. Let’s take a close look at the Box One, install it, and go for a ride. We’ll start with the derailleur, which seems kind of big and heavy. Still it feels rugged, and I could see it taking a lot of abuse. It has a clutch, which is always engaged, and a cable stop which pivots when impacted. They call this “Pivot Tech”. While this does seem like it would absorb side and rear impacts, it’s worth mentioning that Sram’s cable stop doesn’t stick out in the first place. Of course, it also needs this little plastic wheel to get the cable going in the right direction. Shimano’s solution is to position their derailleur further under the chainstay to keep the whole thing out of harm’s way. All three companies have significantly different approaches to protecting their derailleurs, all of which are quite innovative. Because the Box One is meant to be used as a 1x11, there doesn’t appear to be a long or short cage version, just one size. It has less ground clearance than my Sram XO, but only by about half a centimeter. Yeah I went metric for you guys.
So at first glance the major plus sides to the Box One derailleur are that it’s simple and robust. The downsides are that it’s pretty big and kind of pricey. Let’s move on to the shifter.
This is where things start to get really interesting, because the Box One “Push Push” shifter only has one switch. Shifting into bigger gears is done just like Shimano or Sram, by pushing the lever forwards with your thumb. To upshift, you push that same lever laterally with the tip of your thumb. I don’t know if this is better or just different, but it’s certainly innovative. Alright let me show you guys something really cool, but first I need to rebuild my Sram GX shifter. I’ll just remove these little screws and take this little plate off and ghhaaaa!!! I’d rather buy a new one than open this can of worms. Now let’s say you’ve had a particularly rough season on your Box One, and you want to get it running like new. The whole assembly literally drops out of the shifter into your hand. Presumably, you could recklessly clean this entire thing in degreaser, re-lube it, and get it working like new. A user serviceable shifter will certainly win Box some brownie points.
When installing the Box One, I needed to take my grip and brake off to get the shifter on. It doesn’t have a two piece clamp, but no big deal. It nested under my Sram Guide brake lever nicely. I should have brought a new cable housing though, because I needed a few extra inches to reach the cable stop. So, my cables will be a little messy today. The rest of the installation went ridiculously smooth. I set the limits, adjusted the B screw, and tightened the cable to find it shifting perfectly. I’ll chalk this up to good luck. Time to hit the trails.
Most experienced mountain bikers could tell the difference between Sram and Shimano with their eyes closed. Shimano has a heavy clunky feel, while Sram has a light clicky feel. I actually like both of them with a slight preference for Shimano. On down shifts, the Box One feels more like Shimano than it does Sram, but the long lever feels totally different than both companies. Needless to say the lateral upshifts would be a new experience to anyone. I found it effortless to prod at it with my thumb, however I wouldn’t want to push it any harder. If things weren’t working optimally I could see this being annoying, but I don’t know for sure if that would ever be an issue. I got used to the Box One almost immediately. At no point during my ride did I reach for an invisible lever. Maybe it was because I was excited to use it and consciously thinking about it, or maybe because I’m used to demoing lots of different components.
The clutch seemed to work fine, and my bike wasn’t any noisier than usual. I had no problems shifting, and no regrets about putting the Box One on my bike. That morning, it performed as well as anything I’ve tried from Sram or Shimano. I liked it. It just feels fun and enjoyable to use.
For the full transcript, turn on closed captions.
Check out the Box One here: www.boxcomponents.com/custitem... - Навчання та стиль
They're really thinking out of the box with that shifter
Danny Rice *silence*
Doge Dont Care they weren't silent anyway. Their thought processes were not boxed in
Danny Rice hahaha
Spencer Han you got one up on me there
It also helps that the shifter is nicely serviceable, not just a blackbox...
yup, user serviceable shifter. that is dope.
This is not that unique, actually. "Broken" shifter action is often just a matter of removing old, hardened lube, and regreasing the thing with some thin oil. You'll find YT videos on various models from Shimano and yes, SRAM. The general idea works for virtually all of them.
Andrzej Sawicki thanks for that info, man. in fact i checked some vid after reading your suggestion. cheers.
i agree. but the Sram shifter is not a hard as everyone makes it out to be. i service them in my shop and i have troubles with 1-2 of 10 shifters. where the springs have been bent by the owners so i have to really be careful putting them back together. that's it tho.
and cluch
I just busted my shifter lever... I was like: "I have to be able to fix this thing... at least enough to limp through one more run this weekend."
bro I destroyed that thing, it sprang apart as soon as it came apart and I spent all day trying to get it back together. I finally just ripped the shifter off, pulled the wire off, zip tied my derailleur into low gear, and sent it... >:P
Competition is always a good thing! I've got a dream to build a bike that has as many American-made components as I can get my hands on, so I had a silly hope that this would be made in the USA. That'd be a sure-fire way to differentiate yourself from the competition (and make it way pricier). I'll keep dreaming!
That would be great, but yes very expensive, and I'm not sure if you could even get every single component you need to build a bike that is manufactured in the US
The component part is especially troublesome. It's easy enough to manufacture a simple product "Made in ". It's quite different when you combine so many different pieces while trying to go for mass production.
really ? if box want to go world wide they will move their production line sooner to asia
@@mazditzo Sensa Microshift or rather Micronew and L-too are already formidable competitors there with a full range of well build quality products.
any one else here watching in 2019 when we already know box is his sponsor
Not anymore
Yh
@@RealMTBAddict sad
Wait box stopped sponsoring him?
Have a like for metric units :)
Oskar Elek no
***** so...how's the weather in the States?
wet or moist or maybe dry
@@Gythem tell me your weight in Kilogram
@@skizz2272 right now, I am 60 - 65 kg. When I made that I was probably around 50 kg
But guys lets be honest here. We all know the grip shifters are the best
that would be a negative ghost rider..
mikieson yeah
Superfox Office xrays ftw!
totally. once i was hitting a jump shifted the gears and landed simultaneously breaking my derailer
Keanu Rosal yup it happened to me too
I like the way you do your videos, detailed, non-bias and most specially very clear speaking of words. Thanks mate
I wish I could give a second thumbs up just for using metric like a sane person.
It's a measuring system you dick. The imperial system is sane too.
@@lavabite No it isn't.
@@lavabite No it isn't... if you have 10mm and double the thickness you have 20mm. what do you have if you double the thickness of 11/16 of an inch?
@@matthewmontgomerie7302 22/16 LMAO
@@daydodog Or inch and 6/16. Go and find 22/16 marked on a tape measure. Point proven.
Seth, loving the style of these videos! Keep 'em coming. It has been fun seeing you develop your style and your videos become more and more pro, good job!
I just busted my shifter lever... I was like: "I have to be able to fix this thing... at least enough to limp through one more run this weekend."
bro I destroyed that thing, it sprang apart as soon as it came apart and I spent all day trying to get it back together. I finally just ripped the shifter off, pulled the wire off and zip tied my derailleur into low gear and sent it... >:P
Congrats Seth for reaching 200k subscribers. I hope this channel continues growing every second and that you keep making amazing videos.
Im very happy BoxOne has sent you a shifter and derailleur. ive been contacting them to send me a test set as well. but no luck with that.
im stoked to see your review in a month or two Seth!
happy and healthy riding!
Cheers!
Great review. I haven't even heard about Box One yet, so thanks for cluing me in. I think it was a fair, unbiased, thorough review of the system. Very nicely done.
@Reid Gilmore Before you insult my intelligence, learn to spell "sponsor" and "genius," fuckwit.
I'm not up on his bio--I just watched the review, which was good.
I'm not that into bikes and not really sure how I ended up here but I wanted to say that the MTB community is lucky with a guy like this. Nice videos man!
So stoked you tested these out! I might have to try these out on my plus bike!
Congratulations on your 200,000 subs. Well deserved.
Dude, first video I have watched in a while that i was able to watch all the way through. Learned something new today, thank you very much!!!
Good stuff Seth, actually the best review I've seen of this gear.
I'm stoked that they took on the task! Seems like a great company and people. The have a good presence on IG too which is nice and personable. Next time I have to purchase a derailleur I'll definitely try a Box.
Thumbs up for metric system!
YourNickIsTaken I give thumbs down
Parker - Happy holidays you to :)
Joe Weber how many feet are there in a mile?
Just smack your keyboard like this- 1686482!
How many meters in a kikometer? 1000 lol
Jayden I think you need to chill, it literally doesn’t matter
👎
nice review and awesome vids as always Seth!!
it's amazing that you're riding the trails in December. Here in Canada the trails have been snow covered for over a month.
seth your so close to 200,000 subs ive been with you since 4k
thanks seth another amazing video. you really have a passion for biking.
I've got mine coming in the mail, the whole drive train. And then I see your video. Thanks seth
Just installed Box Two 1x11 last night. Love it so far
Good to know about the Box system Seth, thanks for the video
Hi Seth!😉I'm a eleven-year old kid, I'm quite a beginner here when it comes to my MTB and I learn a lot from you when it comes to upgrades,repairs it helps me all the time you're a big help to me so,I just wanna say thank you Seth😀
I'm all for Shimano, I can't live without bidirectional upshift
I really like that feature.
Any body remember those cheap walmart bikes where you had to twist the handle bar to change gears? we've come so far.
@@diegovillacrez8349 My dad's 2012 1500$ Merida has them too. Sram used to make really expensive high end grip shifters
Almost at 200K subscribers!! Nice work!
Cheers for the good look at Box Seth. Been looking for info on this for so long as I want to try it. Different is what I wanted. Hopefully it lands here in Aus soon.
Gongrats on 200.000 subscricers Seth!!!
Congrats on 200k subscribers!!!!!!!!!!
Seth when you said "rebuild my SRAM shifter" I was like there's no way, so I laughed my ass off when your reaction was the same as mine was
Seth this was an awesome review and tottally unbiased don't listen to all the other people when you are just giving your opinion a companie could give you the best product ever and you could say it's awesome and they would still say it's biased
You guys seem really nice and chill.
"Yeah, I went metric for you, guys"
This is so caring, Seth, thank you
Looks like a pretty exciting trail you have there.
nice video seth keep up the good work !!!
Just got mine this week. I like it a lot so far. No complaints at all🤙🏻
Nice review!
The track looked nice as well.
The only reason I hate watching videos like this is because I don't have close to enough money for any of the stuff you review but I enjoy watching all your videos as they interesting and fun and I never get bored from them
Enjoying the videos. Keep'em coming
SETH CONGRATS ON 200 K SUBS!
Hey Seth, congrats on reaching 200k subs been here since 150k can't wait to see you get to 1M
He got it xD
Great review Seth.
Good review, nice and honest almost yelled at my TV when you opened up the sram shifter. Been there done that bought a new one:(
Love it, was just considering Box for a new build and then i see this vid, nice one Seth, look forward to hearing of your update.
Being this vid is from 3 years ago and i live under a rock and hadn't seen this vid till now, was there an update to how you got on with it and if so where do i find it?
200k subs woooooo. Congrats dude
Nice trail! and great review!
congrats on 200K!
I started riding road about 2-3 years ago and switched to BMX a year ago and this very much makes me want to get into working on and replacing my current road derailleur with a box one! I don't know if I'll switch asap, but definitely soon enough!
please keep us updated on the Box. I've been interested in them, and have put off upgrading my Nomad to 1x11 till I hear some real reviews of them.
awesome video Seth, I've been wondering about these guys since they announced earlier this year, you should do more reviews on components man, also you should do a video a out carbon fiber mtbs vs aluminum I'm very on the edge with this, my previous bike was a diamondback mission and it was awesome but I want to upgrade and don't know if I want to take that leap into carbon frames, but they're are so many gorgeous carbon frames it hard to resist, again thanks again Seth awesome vid
very interesting concept on the shifter.
Seth, thanks you for an awesome video once again, especially for subtitles :)
I'm russian and i learn enlglish so it's always nice to see subtitles available!
Also, you have a nice voice :D
+bYJKEe thanks!
Close to 200k subs bro! Early congrats
ah, I remember those days
congrats on 200k Seth
Fabulous bit of kit
Awesome review!
Thanks seth all your videos are entertaining
Nice video, I like all of your videos that you have made you are one of my favourite youtube video makers😃. I like all of your bikes. Thank you for making all of your videos it gives me something to look forward too👍👍👍👍.
good job seth keep it going my dude
hey Seth great videos they are awesome and useful
Nice video seth!👍
Love the look of the handmade trails
User serviceability wins me over, especially if they're willing to supply any lost or broken internal parts, or if they can be found at a hardware store or easily modified or fabricated.
There's potential for tinkering!
I dig it.
I was watching your video and I got the alert this video came up so I came to this one
Really dig your reviews seth. I like how you are honest and talk about things that I actually want to know about instead of just talking about tech bullshit ( cough pinkbike cough). Anyway, thanks for the awesome videos!
One day, you should come over to the UK to ride, it's not always warm, but the riding is great! Especially, the Lake District and my personal favorite, the Surrey hills.
+NathanielMTB the UK looks rad!
Seth!!! As you know, winter is coming up, and you need to build a ski bike and make videos about it
Now fast forward to the point where Seth's got a new Diamondback with all Box components
Gonna get the sram x4 deraileur at the end of this month, looks great and i want a new one.
Love the fact there is a new cool company out there. I also love their branding and design of their shifter
I would like to se some variety of what they can come up with. Though it seems they are going to cleaning stick to the MTB crowd.
I have twist shifters at the moment so i'm pretty sure any other type of shifter is going to be an improvement.
I used to race utility quads in AMA district 6 hair scrambles. As you may know we have thumb throttles. After a very long hard ride it isn't uncommon for your thumb and palm to be in pain from steering while using your thumb for throttle. Out of curiosity do you think this new design shifter control could eventually cause similar issues? Thanks I love your show and hope to get on two wheels and two pedals again soon.
Those look like fun trails.
I love how he puts the script in the description
I had a shifter that didnt have a spring that returned the upshift , so I had to pull it back with the side of my thumb, boy am I glad to not have that anymore
Hey seth, I was curious as to what trails you are riding in this video. I live in Florida and have never ridden these trails before and they look really fun. I've never seen berms like that here before.
Awesome video! Btw, where is that trail? Pretty cool . What state?
CONGRATS ON ALMOST 200000 SUBS
There is another drivetrain that is purpose built with mountainbiking in extreme conditions in mind. It's called the Rohloff Speedhub. It works without a derailleur and is extremely bombproof and maintenance free. You can even run a Gates carbon belt on it for even less maintenance. But it is prohibitively expensive and a bit heavy.
I so regret selling my Super V, loved the fork on that thing lol
So close to 200k!!
at 2:23 that 'little plastic wheel' is actually a rollmajig. it should say avid on it as a nod to them as they first produced it until fairly recently, after sram bought them. they are designed to make shifting smoother and apparently used to be/are very popular.
Awesome Review. Thank you. Were on earth is that Single track? I have to ride it.
I have an old suntour xct derailleur. The one I have sucks, and I generally get the whole assembly mis-aligned by light street riding, however has always been easily put back into place. But considering it has lasted over 20 years with hard shifting, and other things I'd say its a tank. I might switch to box though, it is a very compelling option.
thanks, great video as always
You finally got gloves! Love the fox digit btw. When I first saw the box on shifter I thought it would be weird to have a single push lever. I guess not though, I wouldn't dish out 200 bucks though for it, I'd rather stick to the affordable shimano SLX and Deore sets XD.
I was laughing so hard that my face was blue at frickin mid night when seth saw the sram shifter and screamed
Interesting. I'd try one on a demo bike say but it would have to be pretty special for me to switch my sram out or even change to it after my sram wears out. But like Seth said, the more there are the better it is for consumers. That's for the videos Seth and Merry Christmas!
Wanted to go with Box on my last build (last month). However, Eagle 10-50 12 speed is wonderful. Had Box made a compatible 10-50 12-speed setup I would have gone in that direction. Perhaps when this drive train wears out I'll be able to make that jump? Seems like really great stuff.
thanks for taking the time to respond
Seth got 200K for Christmas! Merry Christmas Seth!
I don't know if you are already doing this but you should strava some times on a track you know by memory that requires quick shifting in many parts of the trail. That's usually the hardest part about shifting when you have to very quickly while manuevering the bike at the same time shift through a lot of the gear range. Usual example is pedalling into a short technical uphill with a high gear and then having to shift to a very low gear while pedaling and maneuvering the bike. You need the strava times to have some urgency, meaning on a normal ride you don't shift perfectly it's whatever but when racing you need to hit those shifts to reach the best personal times.
Agh the waiting for my bike is killing me, anyways it should be here tommorow in the morning, I can't wait.
2 vids in a row!
wow i didnt expect to rewiev box components