DilbertMuc, Youtube comment:

This is only a showroom prototype. From the engineering standpoint I can see some severe problems: 1.) There is only 1 point of contact at any time with the small bearings to 1 tooth. 1 tiny bearing has to transfer up to 1000 Watts peak performance from a strong sprinter/MTB guy which leads to short lifetime of the bearings and tooth material. The problem is not the Ceramic ball inside the bearing, but the steel bearing outercase and the steel tooth of the discs that have to transfer all power within a 1mm² contact area. 2.) Is the carbon shaft torsion resistant to a strong sprinter? How long does it last? 3.) The power transfer to the disk again is done with 1-2 tiny bearings on a huge disk. The further away from the center the more lever there is which means the light disc will bend inwards unless it is made from very solid aluminum (too soft), titanium (expensive) or steel (heavy). 4.) To best save weight the 2 discs would have to be made from aluminum, which wears down quickly due to 1 point contact with 1 tiny bearing. A regular chain can spread the load on many aluminum/steel teeth to avoid that problem. 5.) I'd like to see the shifting between gears, as there is no smooth chain overlap among cogs but a sudden step between the gears. The slightest misalignment (tooth on tooth) would lead to catastrophic failure of the gearing. That's why he is talking about 5 channels and computer controlled movement in those channels. The disc needs to be high precision manufactured (CNC machined just like the SRAM Eagle) and therefore very (!) expensive. 6.) Unprotected ball bearings are a maintenance nightmare in the open environment. Even sealed bearings will accumulate dirt over time, just ask any inline speedskater. Dirty bearings drastically reduce performance. 7.) Bearings in this system are waste material due to heavy abrasion as a single point of contact of power transfer. The tiny outer steel case will be gone pretty soon when 300-1000 Watt peak performance is applied by the athlete. So the most expensive parts, the bearings, are to be replaced quite often whereas on a conventional system the cheap chain is being replaced regularly. Do I see a flaw of logic in here? 8.) Similar to Carbon Belt Drive bikes, where the frame has to be super-stiff in the back for precision alignment, this CeramicSpeed system needs very precise alignment and a very stiff back triangle. I can imagine a very harsh and unforgiving ride. And due to its very high cost it's for pro-riders only who get it sponsored. However these pro-riders generate abnormal peak-performance and thus need a super-super-stiff back triangle. But that contradicts a comfortable ride to allow for a longer ride performance. The only good application would be indoors on a track. But those guys generate up to 1500 Watts peak-performance and would quickly destroy that system. So far it is only a design prototype and no working real-life product. We'll see. If it's made from adamantium then all will be fine. And its true purpose might be attention grabbing for CeramicSpeed and that worked out beautifully. It's all over the internet now. :)