Dark, dense blackness surrounds us. It covers our senses like a heavy cloak. We see nothing. Our ears listen to the rattling of the chains in the darkness and the clicking of the gear levers. Every now and then we hear a chain moving from sprocket to sprocket; sometimes groaning and grinding, sometimes with a soft click. Sweat drips from my forehead. The monotonous hum of the training rollers lulls me to sleep, but I concentrate on my sense of touch in my fingers, the feel of my feet and my hearing as I shift into the next gear. We want to blind test the performance of the current groupsets for the first time. Four editors have to judge six groupsets. Using only the feel in their fingers and a good ear. Six groupsets from SRAM and Shimano work in the dark. This allows us to objectively judge which groupset shifts best and how big the differences between SRAM and Shimano really are.
THE BLIND TEST: WITHOUT ORIENTATION, WITHOUT PREJUDICE
Before the test, the testers have no idea how the shift groups are arranged or who is riding what. Blindfolded, they are led into an additionally darkened room. There are six completely identical bikes on roller trainers. Each of the four testers is led into the room individually. Under the eyes of an observer, they have to analyse each group on the trainer for 15 minutes without any external influences. Then there is a changeover. The observer meticulously records the tester's comments.
You can find these groups in the PDF download:
XTR, X.0, XT, X.9, SLX, X.7
