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TECH NEWS
SRAM Red electronic rear mechVideo of new SRAM wireless groupset in action
The big news in the cycling tech world this year could be the potential release by SRAM of its brand new wireless groupset, which it has been working on for several years and was first spotted in the wild early last year. The prototype groupset is currently being raced in the Tour Down Under by some of French AG2R squad, which is where this video comes from.
This is the first time we’ve seen a video of the new groupset actually in action. The video shows an AG2R mechanic setting up a team bike with the wireless groupset. Now, it's clear that the mechanic is setting up the limit screws on the front mech causing some dropped chains, but apart from that what we can determine from the video is not only does the groupset work, but it provides very sharp and quick gear changes.
Also apparent from the video is that the rear mech doesn’t appear to have changed much from the first photos we saw last year, suggesting that SRAM was pretty close to production last year. The parts might even be production level, they certainly don't look like they've been hastily knocked up with a CNC machine. There’s the same large black unit at the back of the mech, which we must assume houses the battery and communication sensors.
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When is SRAM going to release the new groupset? Our guess, given its debute at the TDU and how ready it looks, would be a rollout at the Tour de France. That's the obvious place to launch it, but they could launch it sooner - some of the teams can be hesitant about using new and untested kit at such an important race as the TDF. The groupset certainly appears ready for production, and the fact a few of the AG2R team appear to be using it, with no problems so far reported, is a good sign of its readiness.
SRAM is late to the electronic groupset market, but it does look to have made up for that with the introduction of arguably the biggest advance in groupset technology: the elimination of gear cables and wires. Reliability is going to be the key to its success though. Ever had problems getting your heart rate monitor to sync with your Garmin, or a flaky WiFi connection when you're trying to send an important email? You don't want to be in a bunch sprint and your wireless groupset being unresponsive do you now.
[Source: Bikerumour]
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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Riding with due care and attention is surely always a consideration when riding in public spaces, even for wannabe racer types "making a statement"...
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Let's face it, he'd still be leading the Giro right now if he was riding an aluminium frame with mid-spec components priced under two grand.
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46 comments
Yes, I remember the fake wires, but we weren't talking about the rear mech and the newer photos of the front mech still show a wire from the top of the mech motor and the clip on battery (look in the photos linked). If it's using an internal battery (which was discussed at the time) then it will still need some connection from the motor to that (see e.g. a Di2 front mech where the wire comes out of the front of the mech)
Yes indeed, but I don't think you'd want the battery for the motor and the comms to be as small as the one on the rear of the motor. Might be wrong on that one, but seems on the wee side to me.
4 tiny batteries to charge. Didn't work for Mavic.
Not sure the battery was the reason Mektronic didn't take off 15 years ago (if that's what you mean). I'd also hazard a guess that the comms battery won't be the reason this one succeeds or fails.
@fukawitribe it's not just comms is it. If it's wireless then the actuation is also battery powered. That's the promise of 'bolt it on and go' if I'm not mistaken. And battery-powered actuators was one of the problems of Mektronic. My nephew has a NOS set on his vintage Look KG196, no end of problems. Underpowered, basically.
I'm not sure I follow... i'm assuming you're not saying that battery operated actuation of the mechs might be an issue per se - years of sucessful use of EPS and Di2 with amateurs and professionals would give the lie to that.
If it's specifically this groupset then if I understand things correctly the front mech is actuated by an internal battery and the comms / local logic etc is handled by the clip in battery - and if so, that's not really any more power/hardware requirement than current EPS/Di2 + a couple of ANT+ sensors. I may be wrong on that, so if anyone does know for sure the actual hardware specs i'd love to know any details they have.
The rear mech does have more to do - both comms and actuation - but the battery looks pretty chunky. Also, as PaulJ said, batteries have also come on a long way since the '90s. We'll get to see what the lifetime looks later this year I guess, but as far as actuation quality is concerned I think the fact that Bissell ran the groupset without incident in the ToC 2014 and AG2R have agreed to use it during races indicate it's probably up to spec.. at least for the race duration.
I didn't say it didn't have battery issues, I said it wasn't the only reason it didn't take off. I have no direct experience of it but from what i've read/heard in the past there were also mechanical issues (e.g. recharge peg in the chain) and usability issues (e.g. pedalling required to shift).
To maybe answer my own question, found this on the recent CyclingNews report
..so looks like I had it wrong on the front mech and that battery is doing both comms and actuation - odd, as there still appeared to be a wire off the front mech heading toward the frame in recent photos; perhaps they weren't so recent or something. Mea culpa.
No probs @fukawitribe.
All you others with faith in tiny batteries: how long does your iPhone battery last if you are using it full time?
Coming soon to a sportive near you...
Yup, I'm holding off my next frame/groupset upgrade until this comes out with hydraulic disc brakes then I'm good for a few years. Do I need it, no, but that's the beauty of cycling in the 21st century.
Because the way that technology is moving it'll be frikkin awesome 5 years.
"frikkin"!!....you been watching too much "Gold Rush"
Is it just me or is there something that causes cyclists to be really negative. It's not unique to this website although it does seem strangely prevalent here.
When groupsets went from 7 to 8 to 9 to 10 to 11. At every stage if that there were naysayers and doommongers predicting broken chains every shift, "7 gears is good enough for [insert name of famous cyclist]" style comments. When electronic shifting appeared, the same sort of people predicting flat batteries, riders being stuck in top gear. Now with hydraulic disc brakes, people predicting mass pile ups, amputated fingers...
Wireless is no different to a mobile phone talking to a transmitter except that its not doing it over a range of 2km, it's less than 2 metres. It's not exactly new technology. Do your phone calls get jammed with other people's? No. So why is there a problem here?
Honestly, the hysteria that goes with any new invention, it's wonder some of you are not still riding round on penny-farthings saying "ooh, I'll give it a few more years yet, want to avoid any of these new-fangled fads".
I know everybody's heard this complaint many times before already but: why?
Wireless is useful in places where the risks - accidental or delibrate interference with the signal, the cost of extra hardware to deal with that, need for multiple independen power sources - are offset by the ability to move components relative to each other by an amount wires could not deal with. That's pretty much it. (okay, or if it's over long distance and you don't have the money for laying wire).
Erm, I don't need the components here to move relative to each other AT ALL. And they're removed by less than a metre. This is like putting wireless between a computer's RAM and its CPU.
Aside from the normal marketing bollocks, I think few of the perceived benefits are
- consistent shifting, e.g. no effects from wire degradation or stretch, housing compression, grit/rust ingress and so on
- potential for more simplified maintenance (less often, more technical/expensive)
- potential for simpler frame design
Clearly all of those have flip sides even if some of the benefit turns out to be real, and it seems maybe a bit of overkill to me - but it might turn to be good.. be interesting to see how it pans out. Whatever happens it's hardly likely to be made mandatory so it's just another choice.
I really don't think the relocation thing is any part of the design decision.
Oddly enough, stuff not too dissimilar to that has already been done...
I guess it will be battery powered. The question is how long will it last and are they replaceable.
Given the apparent lack of wires leading into the mechs from anywhere *, i'd say you're possibly on to something
* Well, and also the bit saying "There’s the same large black unit at the back of the mech, which we must assume houses the battery and communication sensors" might give a bit away maybe.
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