Company
Sam Patterson was the inventor of Gripshift™…the first handlebar mounted indexing twist-shifter. The US Patent Office awarded him the Entreprenneur of the Year Award in 1996. Shimano soon followed by locating STI ™ indexing shift levers on roadbike handlebars. Rapid Fire™ and other indexing handlebar shifters are now standard. Sam’s Gripshift™ was the founding invention of the Sram Corp, now a major bike components supplier.
Sam was the lead inventor for SRAM’s R&D group for 12 years. He left the company 10 years ago to get back to his true love…independent, blue sky inventing. The Patterson Transmission is his latest creation. He partnered with Full Speed Ahead to develop, manufacture and distribute under the co-brand “Metropolis Patterson Transmission” — see FSA’s website for more scoop about them…they are well known in the bike industry as suppliers of robust, beautifully designed cranksets and bottom brackets.