Pompetamine Monstercross/tourer

I'm mildy obsessed with Ted James' centre mounted gearbox 29er at the moment, I really like the concept of the heavy part being in the centre of the bike, with nice light wheels.

A Pompetamine frame could be adapted for this, with the disc mount swapped to the (conventional) drive side.

I admit my motivation is mainly "thats' cool", however.

I dont see the attraction. When the alfine came out, and more people started putting heavy hub gears on MTBs. I thought brilliant a bit of extra weight over the rear contact patch, so you can get a touch further forward when climbing.

It's not a new concept though...Nicolai have been mounting their hub gears centrally for years...then GT also tried it. Both were tidier executions of the idea.

The crank based gear boxes are the cleanest looking. I've even seen afat bike version. Not cheap though.

Humph. Just had a look and neither the trigger shifters or the twist grip, which I've decided would be perfect for my needs, will fit over the Midge bars :(

Can't see a way the grip shift could be modified either (to work on the tops, not hanging off the drop).

There are a number of solutions. They are all ugly. Buy the J-teks.