Spotted: SRAM electronic groupset

SRAM leaked its much anticipated electronic groupset at the Midwest regional championship Cyclocross Championships in the US last December and is now making an appearance at the Tour of California on the Bissell Development Team bikes. GCN caught some footage.

We still don’t know much about the groupset, but here’s what what’s speculated:

- We’ve heard that it’s wireless, but as you can see from the video there are wires. I haven’t seen the groupset up close, but my guess is that wires would be needed for battery power. Otherwise a battery would be needed on each of the shifters and both derailleurs which adds complexity, weight, and bulk. The shifting transmission might well be wireless, we don’t know.

- From what I hear, the way that the shifting works is that there is one button on each of the brake levers. The left lever shifts up, the right lever shifts down (or vice versa). Press them both at the same time and the front derailleur shifts up or down. This is unconfirmed, but I’ve heard this from various sources.

- How far away from production is it? No idea, but it still looks like it’s in the prototype stage.

JamesC

It seems to me that a completely wireless groupset -with batteries in each of the brake hoods for truly wireless shifting- would significantly weigh down a bike. I’m eager to see how SRAM deals with keeping down overall heft.
- Richard Smith
  
  Not to mention being a real pain in the arse to charge. Unless, of course, the wireless system is wired together for charging purposes… and that just seems like the worse of both worlds
  - Sean Doyle
    
    The batteries don’t need to be very big at all. Thinking of car and garage remotes. You could also runing a wire down to the end of the bars and have a AA LiPO mounted inside the bars. Changing them would mean peeling back the hoods or popping open a end cap. Easy as and would add may 50grams if using a AA sized battery.
    For the deraileurs you would just use the one battery and still hook up as it is now. The wireless would be between the shifters and the brain mounted in the front derailleur.
    Advantages? Less clutter at the head tube area and remove need for ports in downtubes.
    Disadvantages? Reliable signal and extra batteries. Weight IMO is a non issue. Eat less pastries.
    - pcs
      
      Garage/car remotes don’t make hundreds of transmissions. In any event, it’s not really the transmitter that consumes pwr, it’s the receiver which has to be always listening. In a garage system this runs on mains (or a massive car battery in the car).
      Reducing pwr consumption appears to be largely the subject of the SRAM patent by adapting a very low pwr “sleep” mode.
      
      The other big problem with wireless systems of course is cross communication / interference when you’re riding in a bunch or pass other signals. From what I have read the SRAM system includes a number of technologies to overcome these issues including listening for “noise”, delaying and/or sending multiple signals and even swapping frequencies. It will be interesting to see whether these result in any shifter lag.
      
      I tend to think that all you save by going wireless is the omission of one connecting wire btwn the shifters and the derailleurs
      (noting that the SRAM system appears to use two batteries, not four). And eliminating that one wire causes so many headaches, you have to wonder. This was surely the logic Shimano and Campag followed.
      - Sean Doyle
        
        Agreed, only that how often do you replace your car remote battery? If you really WANT wireless then changing batteries is a minor consideration really.
      - philipmcvey
        
        All excellent points made above - every design innovation has inherent advantages and disadvantages, but this one seems to me weighed more heavily on the down side. The wireless route looks to be for the sake or marketing rather than engineering efficiency. Without the wireless ‘innovation’ (note quote marks) SRAM is trying to find a gap in the market that doesn’t exist. There are already two excellent and proven solutions, both of which are also 22 speed, so why buy SRAM? Price could be a lure, but SRAM don’t generally compete on price - weight has been more their thing. Which makes the discussion about the heft of the batteries valid - even though I agree 50-100gm is nothing. Electronic shifting appeals to the ‘early adopter’ (of which I’m one), so the logical consumer lure is to throw even more technology at them and watch them lap it up. We’ll create the ‘need’ in our own minds after the fact :) I do think, though, when you start talking about switching radio frequencies etc simply to change gears on a bike, I think perspective has gone out the window!
haitch

Wireless groupset just seems like a ridiculous idea. You’d need three batteries (one for each derailleur and one to drive the shifters - in fact maybe you’d need four, one for each brifter! How can that possibly lighten and simplify matters? And yes, charging all four of those, what a phenomenal pain in the arse. Just stick with the wiring harness approach.
Derek

Is charging more than one battery really that much of a pain in the ass? Just charge them all at the same time.
- Richard Smith
  
  More batteries = more to go wrong + more hassle.
  - Derek
    
    If the batteries are the same, it actually might be a benefit. That way if your RD battery dies, you can move the FD battery to the RD and still be able to ride home with full use of the cassette. With one battery, you’re stuck in one gear.
Tania

http://www.bikeradar.com/us/road/gear/article/analysis-sram-wireless-electronic-group-41023/
jamesb

Pressing both buttons at the same time to shift the front seems strange.
A bit like pat your head and rub your tummy, I’d probably stop pedaling while I pressed the buttons
Perplexed

If you’re not racing, this is still a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.
- Sean Doyle
  
  Yes and no. Not having to tune cable systems is a big place. Di2 is almost 100% plug and play. Don’t get me wrong a well tuned cable system is hard to beat but not having to ever replace cable is laso nice. The best bit about all of this is that as punters we have a choice. None of the choices are going to diminish our riding experience in the end and none of them are going to make a difference to race results in performance.
- max
  
  And those that race without it, don’t seem to be any slower do they?
  
  I get it for aero wheels, aero helmets and aero frames - they should make racers quicker - at least a little. But how is a gear change going to make you quicker if it’s done by a cable, electrics or by radio transmission?
Sam W

Jeez you guys are right, my cell phone is so complicated to use! And digital watches? Who needs them? And while we’re on the topic, I’d so much rather crank start my car, electronic starting systems just always fail.