Bike Hugger 

I read an article about the Browning family in our local paper www.bainbridgereview.com a while back.  (keyword search for Browning, then scroll down to “Browning brainpower boosts pedal power”. Sorry, couldn’t find how to link to it)  They’ve been working on automatic shifters and have provided them to the bike cops on the island.

Browning (same family as the gun) has been trying to market an electronic, and/or automatic shifting system for over 20 years. Unsucessfully.  In my opinion, their main failure is not making the system retro-fittable to existing bikes.  Their shifter requires a special mount and they do not make an adaptor for an existing frame.  Their website is very out of date.  I am still listed as a dealer and get emails every week or so about it.  My former employee Chad Palmer went to work for them.

Their system works great and is very durable and is what most people need/want in a bike/drivetrain.  Both front and rear shifting, up and down, can be done while standing up on the pedals.  You can even be climbing the steepest hill and shift to the granny gear.  They current system is either automatic or manual, but both ways it is electronic and requires batteries. 

A Browning drivetrain would be great for Seattle/Utility because it offers lower gears over an internally geared hub.

Their first system was marketed by SunTour and called the Beast.

I have retrofitted a Suntour B.E.A.S.T. to my touring bicycle (originally 12-speed with Sachs Commander 12, now 63-speed). It doesn’t work very well in the winter, and it often wants to restore the original gear after downshifting.