Pinion’s gearbox gets more dropbar road & adventure tour capabilities thanks to component maker Cinq’s Shift:R setup on a few new Tout Terrain gravel & touring bikes. We’ve seen the Shift:R before in several iterations from prototype to Rohloff shifting to a gearbox crowdfunding campaign, but the new Tout Terrain Scrambler is the first to put it on a proper adventure gravel bike, with a 5th Ave tourer and City commuter available too…

Tout Terrain Scrambler, Pinion gearbox gravel bike

What started off as an in-house gravel touring project prototype for one of Tout Terrain’s team has now developed into the Scrambler Xplore GT, a Cinq Shift:R drop bar gravel bike setup ready for your next mixed-surface adventure.

Cinq is actually the component wing of Tout Terrain, making a number of alt-drivetrain shifter solutions and the ever popular but rare ‘The Plug’ USB charging port that hides in your steerer tube. We first saw a prototype of the Shift:R a couple years back at NAHBS, and this March it came back with the announcement of a Kickstarter campaign. But you don’t need to crowdfund the shifter or wait til September to get one if you hop on a Tout Terrain bike.

The Shift:R setup works by using a set of TRP Hylex disc brake levers to the Cinq Pinion shifting mechanism. Push the right shifter to shift to a harder gear, then the left shifter to go back (or to be fair, you could set it up the other way.)

The gravel bike itself is the Scrambler, Tout Terrain’s 4130 steel 650b all-terrain bike with space for up to 650b x 2.25″ tires. It gets quick mixed-surface geometry and includes plenty of proper adventure touring details, like fully external routing, tons of braze-ons for racks, fenders, anything cages, plus an integrated steerer stop.

In this Scrambler Xplore GT setup it gets a Gates belt drive and a Pinion gearbox with Tout Terrain’s tensioner setup at the BB for use with regular 12mm thru-axle dropouts.

The double butted, TIG welded bike comes in just two sizes M or L, but each Scrambler is built up to order so there is plenty of fit & fitout customization possible. A complete Scrambler Xplore GT starts at 3590€ with a carbon bikepacking ready fork, a Gates Carbon Drive CDX-SL setup, flared Black Label Longhorn dropbar, and 2.1″ Thunder Burt tires. Plenty of optional accessories are also available to outfit your customized off-road touring rig.

Pinion + Cinq Shift:R drop bar city & touring bikes

Besides the gravel Scrambler Xplore GT, Tout Terrain also offers a traditional loaded tourer – the 5th Avenue Xplore GT – and an urban commuter – the City Xpress GT, both of which also take advantage of the low-maintenance durability of the Pinion gear box.

The 5th Avenue is a more classic steel disc brake touring bike, updated to the Pinion gearbox now that drop bar shifting is sorted out. Fully expedition rated, it is a bike truly ready for adventure at 3990€ outfitted with full racks, fenders & lights and 700c tires up to 35mm wide.

The City Xpress GT is meant as more of a premium urban commuter bike that won’t ever really need much maintenance. The 2890€ townie gets built up with the Gates+Pinion drivetrain and configured with full coverage fenders, a rear rack & a kickstand.

Tout Terrain Pinion + Cinq Shift:R availability

Tout Terrain’s first three dropbar pinion models are available to order now with the new, second generation Cinq Shift:R, pairing a TRP hydraulic disc brake setup with Cinq’s own shift mechanism that bolts up directly to the Pinion C-Line gearboxes. All three of the new bikes can be now configured through their online customization tool, and are available in the Tout Terrain dealer network. Availability of the early pre-production runs of the new Cinq Shift:R dropbar shifter are still limited, so act fast if you don’t want to wait until the full production run is ready next autumn.

Tout-Terrain.de