Sram Red 2012/2013

[Fibre-Lyte]

I've just been onto Srams website looking at their latest Red groupset. I know there is a VERY long thread on the other forum about Sram news but I couldn't see anything particularly relevant in it. What I'm serious about are the following;

1. What is the European (and especially UK) release date. There are various comments about supposed release dates but I've seen nothing official
2. Why on earth have they gone with a hidden bolt crankset like Campag. My thought is to lose a spider arm to decrease the weight and hypothetically increase chainring stiffness at the drive arm but it did make me wonder whether the chainrings are still 130bcd. If they are , then either the hidden bolt mount behind the crank arm has to protrude less than Campags or the q factor of the crank might well be different to the previous crankset.
3. Is the 'WiFli' trademark just marketing or is there a point to it? It seems like they're just using a variation on a very popular name at the moment to describe a standard compact drivetrain.
4. Are we getting a little extreme when a mass produced mechanical road rear derailleur is costing GBP300?
5. There are rumours on the other forum about double tap disappearing but that doesn't seem to be the case. Any more info on this?

[Fibre-Lyte]

Well, after a trip to a new customers shop today I discovered the answers to 1 and 5. The new Red group set has been released in the UK, but there are very limited numbers, one of which was at this particular shop. The group set is still double tap so that answers that although the dealer had heard the rumours about that disappearing as well, but apparently it hasn't. The crank set is a beautiful piece of kit incidentally.

[über-goober]

There was some sort of dealer demo in AZ a couple weeks ago. And coincidentally i saw all these guys in SRAM kits with the full 2013 Red builds out riding through the desert.

One guy I talked to was some sort of designer for them and so i asked him to give up whatever info about hydraulic shifting and Quarq cranks. But nothing leaked from the guy about their corporate plans (maybe some tequila would be required). The brakes didn't look as weird in person i thought.

As the grade steepened toward the backside of Gates Pass loomed our drivetrains kept getting more cross chained in our big rings.

And then the "wish i had a GoPro moment".. the guy in front's chain drops off and he is shifting all over and reaching down like WTF in his mini-Schleck moment. And the in same 3 seconds Engineer Dude's chain drops off too, interrupting him mid-sentence

Glad there's a chain catcher built in.. Looks like it will be well-used!

[pritchet74]

It boggles my mind why SRAM FD's just don't work well. It shouldn't be that hard to make it work properly!

[Fibre-Lyte]

May be too light and flexy?

I can't understand the yaw control for the FD either. It makes some sense at the rear but at the front it must be unnecessary. I do like the built in chain catcher though. Does that mean they're expecting a lot of chain drops so they've built it in just in case!?

[FAQinc]

When I spoke to Fisher UK they told me the first batch of the new RED was coming in Mid March and is all sold.

And sure enough Sigma Sport in Kingston already have a set on display when I went in to check the live finish of Milan - San Remo.

Fisher told me the second one should be coming sometime in May but I wouldn't hold my breath.

From what I just saw in person the biggest thing that really looked different from all the photos on the net were the levers as the blades look quite a bit longer.

But to recap as with every new bike product that comes out I sure the new RED will be torsionally stiffer and more vertically complaint with a new lay up.

[Fibre-Lyte]

The bike shop I went to only had one set and they'd ordered two apparently. They told me that all the sets had been sold as well. I asked about pricing, which might have been a bad idea, as I nearly had a heart attack, although these days they're probably considered affordable! To be fair, I actually really like the look of the groupset but it's certainly not in my price bracket.