I’ve been told that this group will debut at Interbike with limited availability late this year, mainstream availability next year. I’d imagine SRAM will skip road 1x11 and go straight to road 1x12. 50 x 11-40 12 speed with ten closely geared gears and two “bail out gears” would be perfect for my needs.
Also, this is an incredibly sweet bike.
Jeremy Powers is on 1x eTap this year for cross. Can’t find a good clear shot, but it looks like the derailleur has the clutch. Not sure if 11 or 12 speed.
I did spot in the wild a new road eTap system. Redesigned HRD shifters, new Quarq spider, new chainrings, 2x system with clutch rear derailleur and if my counting was correct (kind of hard to be positive since the rider was secretive) it had a 10-36 12 speed cassette. Which is an absolutely insane gearing range considering it’s 2x.
Interesting. I would have thought SRAM had it in for the FD across its lines but I suppose it will be a while before roadies give it up. What would be intriguing to me is to have one RD, two wheel sets, two cassettes, and two chains to cover a multitude of frames. An example:
Mountain Bike
Full Suspension frameDedicated hydraulic brakesDedicated 1x crankBlips integrated into something that resembles the “Black Box” shifterRoad/Gravel Bike
Dedicated frameDedicated hydraulic brakes/hoodsDedicated 1x crank"Blips" remain wired in place for a Blip BoxTT Bike
Dedicated frameDedicated brakes (hydraulic or cable, rim or disc)Dedicated 1x crank"Blips" remain wired in place for a Blip BoxOther Equipment
29er wheelset with dedicated cassette (whatever your flavor, 11-42 or 11-50)Aero wheelset with dedicated cassette (disc brake if one wanted to use it on the road/gravel bike) (maybe 11-36)SRAM eTap 1x12 rear derailleur SRAM blip boxiQ2 Power pedal based power meter (with the caveat of being whether or not they can deliver)
Just taking a guess, but you could potentially have three very nice bikes for $10,000 or less.
I would REALLY be interested in a 1x12 eTap for a Road/Tri bike. PLEASE SRAM, If you’re listening, produce this for us. I’m guessing that within ~5 yrs this will be the dominant setup seen on most Tri Bikes.
I was thinking along the lines of an 11-12-14-16-18-20-22-24-26-28-34-40. This is similar to what 3T is doing with its “bailout” cassette but since its 12 speed you effectively get a relative tight 11-28 10 speed cassette with two bailout gears for steeper hills (spin to win!).
Interesting. I would have thought SRAM had it in for the FD across its lines but I suppose it will be a while before roadies give it up. What would be intriguing to me is to have one RD, two wheel sets, two cassettes, and two chains to cover a multitude of frames.
That would be an interesting solution. Not sure if I would take the chance though. One failure to your RD and you can’t ride any of your bikes. Replacements and repairs are also much harder to come by for eTap and unlikely you can just borrow a spare from a friend like you could with mechanical. I also think I would get tired of removing/adding chains, moving derailleurs, and adjusting B screws.
I also rotate through bikes a lot. With this type of solution, between commuting, road riding, CX racing, and MTBing, I can see situations where I would need to move the derailleur 4 times in a 48 hour period.
But I could see how it would be cool for some people. I’d probably opt to have 2 rear derailleurs and swap them between 4 bikes though instead of 1 between 3 or 4.
I was thinking along the lines of an 11-12-14-16-18-20-22-24-26-28-34-40. This is similar to what 3T is doing with its “bailout” cassette but since its 12 speed you effectively get a relative tight 11-28 10 speed cassette with two bailout gears for steeper hills (spin to win!).
Rotor’s supposed to launch 12 speed cassettes along with its 13 speed group next year. The general purpose road 1x12 cassette will be 11-12-13-14-15-17-19-21-24-28-33-39. 13 speed version adds a 10T cog, but requires a special hub. 12 speed Rotor cassettes are supposed to work with a standard Shimano/SRAM 11-speed freehub.
Interesting. I would have thought SRAM had it in for the FD across its lines but I suppose it will be a while before roadies give it up. What would be intriguing to me is to have one RD, two wheel sets, two cassettes, and two chains to cover a multitude of frames.
That would be an interesting solution. Not sure if I would take the chance though. One failure to your RD and you can’t ride any of your bikes. Replacements and repairs are also much harder to come by for eTap and unlikely you can just borrow a spare from a friend like you could with mechanical. I also think I would get tired of removing/adding chains, moving derailleurs, and adjusting B screws.
I also rotate through bikes a lot. With this type of solution, between commuting, road riding, CX racing, and MTBing, I can see situations where I would need to move the derailleur 4 times in a 48 hour period.
But I could see how it would be cool for some people. I’d probably opt to have 2 rear derailleurs and swap them between 4 bikes though instead of 1 between 3 or 4.
I hear you. Personally I go through “seasons”. My road bike sees a lot of use late winter and early spring (I’m in FL), I’m on my TT bike late spring and through summer, fall historically I’ve been back on my road bike but will take to gravel this year, and in the winter I’m on my mountain bike. I’m guessing I’d probably swap the RD and chain a total of ten times. In the example I gave, you’d keep the cassettes on the wheel (different gearing, different wheel sets).
I have a commuter bike I take to the pool most mornings but the whole bike costs less than the eTap derailleur 😂