Sometimes innovation comes in strange bursts. Take disposable razors for instance. For most of my life it was standard to have two blades. Then a few years ago they suddenly went to three, then four, then five. The blades were increasing geometrically, such that The Economist showed that we were on pace to have an infinite number of blades in just a few years. So why did that suddenly happen? And why has it stopped? Is a six-blade razor really that much more far-fetched than five?
Now the same thing seems to be happening with automotive transmissions. It used to be you got no more than five gears, probably only three on an automatic. But now six-speed automatics are commonplace, with some luxury brands offering seven or eight. Now Ford and GM have announced that they're collaborating on a ten-speed transmission. Yes, cars have finally caught up to bikes. Well, bikes from thirty years ago anyway.
I'd make some joke about this leading to infinite-speed transmissions soon, but that's essentially what Continuously Variable Transmissions are. So how does something like this happen? Did the manufacturers suddenly develop a new technology for making gears? Or maybe they always had the ability to have huge transmissions, but only now were they satisfied it wouldn't completely blow our minds? Or maybe some transmission engineer just said, screw it, I'm putting a bike chain and a derailleur in there.
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