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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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46 comments
drmatthewhardy: Batteries have advanced a *lot* since the early 90s.
It's a funny thing brittle. Mine just keeps on going. Apex, about 15000 miles, all weather.
Red on my good bike, flawless.
I guess I am interested, purely as the owner of a non-Di2 drilled titanium frame, who is persuaded by some of the arguments in favour of electronic shifting, but doesn't want to get the drill out, or have fugly black tape all over the bike. The question of how to site batteries, esp if they need to be internal, but I would have thought there would be quite a lot of interest from owners of high value (cost or emotional) frames who want to look at this
So, it's not good for triples. That's going to hurt their market about not very much at all.
SRAM have a patent describing wireless shifting, which presumably is at least the basis for the production technology. I have an analysis of the logical control protocol at http://paul.jakma.org/2014/08/26/srams-wireless-bicycle-gear-shifting-pr... .
Quick summary: It should be pretty safe from direct hijacking, and it should be somewhat robust to noise due to low bitrates and repeated message sending. However, should messages be lost (prolonged noise, weak radio signal) then it could result in strange behaviour, like the wrong mech shifting, or both shifting at once.
That's not so much due to the use of radio, but down to the fact SRAM have chosen to make the buttons control shifting in a way that makes the network control protocol complicated.
They've chosen to use just one one button on each shifter to control both mechs. Which means the mechs need to decide which one the shift is intended for based on whether they receive a message from one or both shifters. This makes the control protocol far more fragile to message losses, and weird behaviour should it happen.
Had SRAM chosen to have one shifter be dedicated to one mech, e.g. with 2 buttons on each shifter, then it would be simpler and more robust.
How it will fare in practice in the real world, we shall find out!
Details above.
lots of batteries to charge, hmmm.
Anyway it's Sram I'm out, overpriced, fragile and unreliable.
Although this is a sweeping statement, relating to SRAM's groupsets I think you're bang on the money.
I think you're bang on the money about it being a sweeping statement.
look at Srams aftermarket prices, then look at the reliability, there is a reason why they have been dropped by a lot of teams and manufacturers.
It might be a sweeping statement, but I can buy Shimano or Campagnolo and be reasonably confident the parts will work and last, Sram, well you might get lucky! granted the warranty service is pretty good but that is hardly a ringing endorsement.
I am also not even considering the fiasco over the disc brakes.
Road stuff seems to have a reputation for being light but brittle but, rather bizarrely, the off-road stuff seems quite well regarded.
Not amongst people I know, customer service regarding Avid brakes is good, but it has to be, if you get a set that works fine, problem is finding that set!
break a mech and they are horrifically expensive, and the rear mechs have always been fragile and prone to self destruction when encountering sticks, jockey wheels have a habit of seizing up. The stuff is light, but if I am spending my money wouldn't touch the stuff Shimano XT and SLX is bombprook in comparison.
Sram has good ideas, just get the impression that they rush to get to market, and this causes them problems.
Compare with Rock Shox, and since the Judy cartridges they seem to be ok and haven't really got a history of screwing up, so why two bits of the company can be so different I haven't a clue.
I suppose that explains the popularity of SRAM with cross riders eh - where derailleurs are considered expendable items eh?
In all seriousness I cannot understand this rational. Force and Red look much nicer than ultegra and perhaps Dura-Ace. I've never had issues with SRAM 10 or 11 Speed. They are considerably lighter and the shifting in my experience is faster (much shorter throw on the lever.... so...
SRAM pricing is really high in the UK, but if you look around you can get prices around the same as Shimano. Lighter, better looking, better performance...
No reason these units couldn't be self powered. The rear derailer could tap power from one of the jockey wheels and the front derailer could be charged by the rotation of the cranks or by a BB dynamo.
If this is done right won’t it be possible to retrofit to almost any bike that takes SRAM or even Shimano with little or no complication of cable routing?
It has everything to with patents. SRAM cannot use Shimano patented technology, because it is prohibitively expensive. So, they have to come up with something new... anything which is not patented yet (for example Double Tap).
I am quite sure this wireless technology is not solving a problem, it is just a workaround to avoid Shimano Di2 patents.
Thats not an AG2R team bike, its a Trek Madone.
So the Bike in the Video with FOCUS written large upon it and in the AG2R livery is a Trek Madone?
Really?
He may have been referring to the old picture of the Team Bissell Trek at the ToC 2014 - also in this article - which seems to be confusing a few.
Yes, the photos used in this article are the ones from last year, spotted on a Trek - we don't yet have any photos of the wireless groupset on the AG2R bikes, because we're not in Australia
It's an AG2R bike in the video - and yes you're quite right, the photos show a Trek with the wireless groupset. That's because we have used the photos from an article last year, when the groupset was first spotted on a Trek. We don't yet have any photos of the AG2R bikes from the TDU
Wireless sounds like a good idea.
I've been working on Di2 since its original introduction, and a good number of problems customers have experienced have been related to E-tube wires, normally the wire running from rear mech to junction box, where the wire loop coming out of the dropout has been damaged (pinched / kinked/cut) in transit or other circumstance. The other common one was the wires running from Di2 shifters to handlebar junction box, becoming damaged.
No disc brakes? (sarcasm)
I'm not against the technology but what are the possibilities for some sabotage in a TDF situation in the form of electronic jamming at the bottom of a climb?
We've already looked at that in an article Dave, and the short answer is no. Read it here http://road.cc/content/news/119275-srams-wireless-shifting—-saboteurs-dream
Thanks for article (and picture of Hedy).
I suppose a mass attack would still be good for a laugh for some joker.
Woohoo!
Is the wire coming of the top of the mech leading to a battery elsewhere on/in the frame?
As far as I understand it from the coverage last year, the motor for the front mech is powered from the internal frame battery (à la EPS/Di2) and is connected by wire - and the battery for the comms bit of the mech is in the bit at the back of the black box that looks like it un-clips. Some of the articles from last year (e.g. the photos in BR of the Bissel bikes in the ToC) show this better. Examples in the 3rd and 4th pictures here
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/article/fresh-look-at-sram-wireless-e...
Double post
There are no wires - the wires were 'decoy' ones fitted to earlier prototypes that wereused at several races last year, such as the Tour of California. If I remember correctly, SRAM made a big splash about removing the fake cables half way though the ToC. The photo in this article of the rear derailleur is an old one, with the decoy cable still present.
The front mech appears to be using a similar clip on battery to the rear.
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