US Patent 11572135 Bicycle gearbox having segmented sprockets

A gearbox may include a drive spindle and several interconnected gear clusters arranged in a housing. A first of the gear clusters is coaxially fastened to the spindle, and has an outboard gear and an inboard gear. The first gear cluster drives a belt or chain to operate one or more of the other gear clusters, and the inboard gear is physically divided into a plurality of segments. A shifting system for the gearbox includes an actuator configured to urge the segments of the inboard gear of the first gear cluster into and out of the plane of the belt or chain via a toggle and slider mechanism, such that a gear ratio of the gearbox is changeable without displacing the belt or chain out of the plane.