After years in the shadow of Shimano, the American manufacturer Sram has completely shaken up the gear shifting market. However, the US company's drivetrains are not really that American. BIKE visited Sram's incubator of ideas in Schweinfurt. You can read the big company report in BIKE 3/2021. Here you can get a foretaste.
It was no longer an evolutionary process. It was more reminiscent of a wrecking ball gone wild, the force with which the switching trends have recently been crashing into established standards. 2x10, 1x11, 1x12, Bluetooth. Whereas there used to be a few years between development leaps, it suddenly felt like there was a hail of new products every year.
Hardly any other component has changed as radically in recent years as the gears on mountain bikes. A breathtaking development that has also shaken the balance of power on the gear shifting market.
Ten years ago, Shimano's 3x9 XTR groupset was still the undisputed ultimate in the high-end segment. Then competitor Sram, which until then had been more of a niche supplier, launched an innovation attack.
The radical 2x10 was followed in 2012 with 1x11 the burial of the thrower. Shortly afterwards 1x12. The Bluetooth variant AXS rounded off the whole thing. At least for now. The simple fact that people at Sram's development centre in Schweinfurt go about their work every day shows that the subject of shifting is obviously far from over.
German engineering expertise in the US group
What many people don't realise: The US company's drivetrains are primarily the product of German engineering expertise. All shifting components are developed at the company's Schweinfurt branch - from the shifter to the cassette to the actual rear derailleur.
The Americans had taken over the former bicycle division of Fichtel & Sachs in 1997 as part of a global expansion programme. The then still tiny company Sram from Chicago, which had only started years earlier with a twist shifter called Grip Shift and was just trying to conquer the market with the new ESP rear derailleur, now had direct access to expertise and production facilities.
However, it would be some time before the gearstick market was revolutionised. How is a gear shift created? Why wasn't 1x12 invented right after 3x9? What will the drivetrain of the future look like? In search of answers, we paid a visit to the Sram gearshift centre in Schweinfurt. You can read the big company report "Tooth by tooth" in BIKE 3/2021. The photo gallery here gives you a foretaste.
