One of the big questions heading into the Tour de France was whether FSA would debut its electronic groupset. So far we’ve not seen it on any team bikes, but on the rest day in Berne, Ivan Basso, who appears to be working with the Italian component manufacturer in a development capacity, shared this video of the new groupset. Could this mean it’s about to make its Tour debut?
The groupset is seen fitted to a Specialized Roubaix belonging to Basso, but could we see one of the FSA sponsored team riders on the groupset before the end of the Tour? FSA sponsors a number of teams, like Etixx-Quick Step, which currently use Dura-Ace with FSA chainsets.
We’ve heard rumours that a select number of riders could actually be riding the new groupset from today onwards, we’ll get confirmation when the race rolls out into the mountains today, so keep your eyes peeled.
We already seen the FSA groupset, it was shown at the Eurobike trade show last year, but FSA is keeping the details of the groupset a closely guarded secret so we really don’t know much about it at this stage, but we can speculate as to some of the key details.
It’s an electronic groupset, that much is clear, in the guise of Di2 or EPS, but it doesn’t appear to be a wireless groupset like eTap. Unless FSA is playing the same trick on us with fake wires as SRAM cleverly did when its groupset was first seen a few years ago. There’s talk of the shifters controlling the derailleurs wirelessly, while the two mechs are wired together.
The front mech looks very bulky. Could it house the battery and/or the brains of the groupset? And how does the shifter work? It looks like FSA has developed a rocker button, but we can’t be absolutely clear.
More details on the new FSA groupset when we get them.
8 thoughts on “Video: Ivan Basso shows new FSA electronic groupset on Tour rest day”
I’m interested to see how it
I’m interested to see how it performs, what it weighs, and how it’s priced. I can’t help but think that making your first foray into groupsets with a high-end electric setup is setting yourself up for a fall. They need some sort of major differentiator. There’s no way it will shift better than Di2, so either it needs to weigh less than 1900g, or it needs to cost £700 for the whole groupset.
“Ivan Basso, who appears to
“Ivan Basso, who appears to be working with the Italian component manufacturer in a development capacity”
Not “appears to be”, but actually does.
padonbike wrote:
That’s a step up from “intending to”.
This looks like cheap shit
This looks like cheap shit and with Di2 now under a grand FSA have a real challenge. They either need to enter at an untouchable pricepoint or accept that this iteration won’t be profitable
Agreed; this looks like it
Agreed; this looks like it should be on a supermarket £99 special. Not a good look but, it is a prototype so I guess looks could develop later on.
Also, not wireless…
Also, not wireless…
Gromski wrote:
There are a few vids on youtube about this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dhNHjbKRTA
As mentioned in the article it’s a somewhat hybrid wireless, as in the mechs are wired together and the levers are wireless.
Apparently it’s lighter than Di2.
That good setup looks really
That hood setup looks really uncomfortable, how far down the bars??