SRAM are launching R2C bar-end shifters and Aero Chainrings to work with the Red Yaw technology that they introduced on their top-end groupset earlier in the year.
The R2C (Return to Center) bar-end shifters for time trialists and triathletes have been around for a couple of years but they have now been redesigned to work with the SRAM Red Yaw front mech.
The left shifter – the one that’s linked to the front mech – is now trim-less. That’s because the Yaw design means the chain will never rub on the front mech’s side plates no matter what sprocket you’re using at the back. The action is also said to be lighter than before.
As the full Return to Center name implies, the shift lever automatically moves back to the centrepoint once you have changed gear so it lives in the same place regardless of which chainring you’re using. Although SRAM call it the centrepoint, you can actually set the position yourself within a 40° band.
The shifting blade is made from unidirectional carbon fibre and the bolts are titanium. SRAM’s official weight is 175g and the shifters will be available from 1 December at £299.99.
The SRAM Red Yaw compatible chainrings will be available in two ratios: 53/39t (130mm BCD) and 50/34t (110mm BCD). There are two options for each of the outer rings because the chainring bolts are ‘clocked’ in a different position on the new SRAM Red Exogram Yaw cranks, with one of the chainring bolts hidden behind the crank arm.
That means the chainrings for these new Exogram cranks won't work on older style SRAM road cranks, as the shifting ramps would be clocked around slightly into the wrong position. However, SRAM are also producing some Yaw compatible outer chainrings to work with older cranks with the more conventional bolt circle pattern.
The 50-tooth outer rings (in both hidden bolt and non-hidden bolt versions) will be £102.99 while the 53-tooth ones will be £106.99. The inner chainrings will be £34.99.
SRAM's UK importers Fisher Outdoor Leisure expect the first deliveries of the new chainrings at the end of November.
Mat has in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now pushing 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.