FSA to release WE electronic groupset this month

Bike brands like to tease the release of new products, to build up some excitement and anticipation, and the latest at it is FSA, or Full Speed Ahead to give the Italian company its full name. 

It has launched a new website (www.we-fsa.com) proudly declaring “WE is ready” with a countdown timer, which at the time of writing this article was at 26 days to go. That means the launch is like to be at Eurobike, the largest gathering of bike companies, which starts at the end of the month.

But what exactly is WE? Our guess is that it’s the name for the company’s new electronic groupset. Is that the full name, or a codename, for the new groupset? Your guess is as good as ours. 

Rumours have been circulating for years now about the company’s first full groupset, and we first got to see a working prototype at the annual Eurobike bike show last year. A release might have been expected sooner, but you'd think the company would want to get everything absolutely right before the production units roll out of the factory.

What do we know is that it’s an 11-speed electronic groupset, and it looks like the two derailleurs are wired together and the shifters control the gear changes wirelessly, not a full wireless groupset like SRAM’s eTap. Having both mechs wired together would mean FSA could use a single battery to power them both.

The new groupset has rarely been spotted in the wild, but Ivan Basso who now works for FSA was demonstrating the groupset at the Tour de France, and we heard rumours that a handful of racers were actually using the new groupset at the race.

We’ve long wondered when the day would come when FSA would make a groupset, and it looks pretty close now. The company has made most of the other key components such as brake calipers, chainsets and chains, but producing a groupset and dodging the many patents that exist must have been quite a hurdle to overcome. 

FSA is a big player both in the professional peloton and original equipment market with lots of its handlebars, stems and, under its Vision label, wheels, being used by teams and bike manufacturers. If it successfully releases this electronic groupset it could potentially muscle into the market that is currently dominated by Shimano, and to a lesser extent Campagnolo and SRAM.