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Tiso 12-speed wireless transmission finally breaks cover + videoTiso 12-speed groupset - cropped

Tiso 12-speed wireless transmission finally breaks cover + video

Prototypes have been knocking about for a year but now it's live on their site... sort of
by dave atkinson
Wed, Dec 12, 2012 15:26
41

Tiso have finally broken cover with their 12-speed wireless transmission. That's one more cog than either Shimano or Campag, plus you get wireless shifting too. Interested? We are too, but details are a bit patchy at the moment.

The prototypes have been around for a bit; Bikerumor saw them as early as September last year. They weren't wireless at that point but that was always the plan, and the system that's been announced can run on either radio frequencies (2.4GHz control frequencies, most likely) or via Bluetooth connectivity. The mechs themselves are actuator-controlled, with a battery supplying the power; that needs to be wired to the mechs, of course, so it isn't entirely wire-free. The available spec suggests that the power is supplied by AAA rechargeable cells, opening up the possibility of stopping at the garage if you find yourself out of gear power...

The vid shows the gears being controlled with a keyfob-esque controller as well as with Tiso's own lever; presumably the levers contain a separate battery or they'll need to be wired to the main battery too, pretty much negating any benefit of wireless other than the ability to run multiple shifters in any position. For radio transmission that's not so much of an issue, as it's just a quick pulse and even a button cell should last for ages. Bluetooth, on the other hand, requires a constant connection and so drains more juice. The gears are actuated from the Tiso lever via a rocker switch; press the top section to change up (presumably) and the bottom bit to change down. Tiso were also planning to make it controllable via an iPhone app when they talked to Bikerumor, although the beneifts of that are unclear.

The 12-speed cassette is Tiso's own. There's no word on what freehub standard it uses, but the mechs have settings to cope with 10- and 11-speed Campag and Shimano setups as well as the own-brand cassette. That's all we have to go on for now, really – who's in, and who's out?

Tiso
Shimano Di2
Campagnolo EPS
Dave Atkinson

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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41 comments

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CraigS replied to atlaz | 11 years ago
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atlaz wrote:

Does anyone need to know what gear they're in?

Generally no, but it'd help me avoid that horrible sinking feeling going up a steep climb, trying to shift and finding I've got no gears left to go down!

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Shanghaied replied to atlaz | 11 years ago
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atlaz wrote:

Does anyone need to know what gear they're in? I always subscribe to the Little Red Riding Hood approach. In most situations one gear is too big, one too small, one just right. It's rare (well, never to be totally honest) I ride along thinking "I should be in 9th gear in the big ring now".

Little Red Riding Hood? That's surely Goldilocks? But I agree, I think gear displays are largely unnecessary. Also is it just me or does the shifting look really slow to anyone else? Or is it just because of the low cadence in the videos? It would be nice to see it shift under power.

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nowasps replied to atlaz | 11 years ago
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atlaz wrote:

I always subscribe to the Little Red Riding Hood approach. In most situations one gear is too big, one too small, one just right. It's rare (well, never to be totally honest) I ride along thinking "I should be in 9th gear in the big ring now".

Surely that's Goldilocks? I don't come on here to see Fairy Tales taken liberty with.

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tarquin_foxglove replied to atlaz | 11 years ago
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atlaz wrote:

I always subscribe to the Little Red Riding Hood approach. In most situations one gear is too big, one too small, one just right..

Goldilocks...

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aslongasicycle | 11 years ago
0 likes

It might work superbly. But they forgot to make it PRETTY! Form and function, innit?

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The Rumpo Kid replied to aslongasicycle | 11 years ago
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aslongasicycle wrote:

It might work superbly. But they forgot to make it PRETTY! Form and function, innit?

That could be deliberate. There's an old saying in engineering design about how to make a product look efficient; "It don't work, but at least it's ugly".

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ragtag | 11 years ago
0 likes

Logo and video brought to you from the 1980's

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robert_obrien | 11 years ago
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I can see why you'd want to launch a 12-speed on 12/12/12 but don't understand the 'remote'. Does that make it easier to service?

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notfastenough | 11 years ago
0 likes

Wireless transmission - perfect for when you want to control the gearshifts on someone else's bike.

Or when the legs that are pedalling the bike are not directly attached to the upper body. Leave your torso/arms/head in the warm and dry car following close behind!

Or for when some bright spark comes up with handlebars that maintain their position via magnetic levitation above the bike - you don't want pesky cables ruining the look!

Or have I missed the point?!

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Tjuice replied to notfastenough | 11 years ago
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notfastenough wrote:

Wireless transmission - ...

Or have I missed the point?!

By the same token, why have wireless cycle computers?

I guess the point is that you can have nice clean lines; you don't have to build frames with internal cable routing; you can keep lines clean when retro-fitting to frames that don't have internal routes; you can easily have multiple shift buttons (e.g., I ride both in the drops and on aero bars. When on the aero bars, I'd love to be able to shift without taking a hand off); replacement/maintenance is quick and easy (no faffing with disconnecting cables); potential to integrate in the future with a cycle computer (which could tell you which gear you were in at any point - something you might forget when you've got 12 to choose from...)

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Tjuice | 11 years ago
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Sounds pretty interesting to me. Would love to get a sense of price cf. the other offerings. Other question would be real life reliability. Seems Di2 is pretty solid. Tiso groupset would need to be robust and wireless link not susceptible to interference (esp. in situations where you were riding with other Tiso users)

Also entertained by the hacking possibilities of wireless. Just imagine being able to control other competitors' gear changes when they were least expecting! Imagine wireless security will be good, but the idea is still amusing.

Don't know anything at all about Tiso (although looking at their website, I think I recall having seen their colourful upgrade kits available to buy somewhere). Are their components any good?

I'd also want their cassettes to be compatible with Shimano freehubs, but appreciate that it may be a bit of a tall order getting a 12-speed in the space that a Shimano 10 speed currently takes.

One to follow in any case. Look forward to reading the first reviews...

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