Fsa Goes Electronic



Tech72

Member
Nov 29, 2003
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FSA electronic groupset makes an appearance in prototype form. Looks to be much more compact than Shimano's and Campy's electronic rear derailleurs.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/fsa-electronic-groupset-spotted-at-tour-de-france

Waiting to see more of SRAM's latest rev of their entry.....

I'm currently running mechanical Dura-Ace 9000 and Record 11, both fantastic in their own ways. But if only D-A Di2 and Record EPS came down in price, I would make the jump to electronic.
 
Same here...drop the price of admission and I'm all in. Even Chorus EPS is over-priced and the Athena stuff doesn't light my fire even at $1900..

For prototypes, the FSA stuff looks pretty good. The way they integrated the stepper motor into the parallelogram of the rear D looks better than what's hanging out of a Campy or shitmaNO unit at this time.

The rear is hard wired, but is the front wireless? Originally, the whole shebang was supposed to be wireless (like the SRAM electronic group) and maybe the rear wire is just a fake? Both hard wired? Front D looks large enough to house a battery, but I'm just guessing.

Shifter placement looks...weird. Maybe it works better than what it looks like. It's an innovative location, but ergonomically speaking from just those initial pictures it looks a bit clumsy to actuate. I'ld like to get my fingers on those buttons to test it though.

Being manufactured by our benevolent Chinese Communist overlords, the price should push the Big-3 around a bit. Hmmm? Maybe MicroShit will soon put out an electronic group and really hack the price point.

Let's see now...phone charged...check. Garmin charged...check. EPS charged...check. Let's ride! I've been holding off on a new bike just because the lag time in developing the E-units and saturating the market is keeping prices up there.
 
CAMPYBOB said:
Let's see now...phone charged...check. Garmin charged...check. EPS charged...check. Let's ride!
What is the typical battery life for electronic gearing?
 
Campy's battery charge cycle is pretty good. Something like 3 or 4 charges per season is all that's required. There's very little worry of going 'dead' on a ride or race from what I've read. It's probably the same with shimaNO.

As far as battery service life goes. it's also pretty decent. Battery tech in the lithium ion polymer and lithium metal series is advanced enough now that I have zero issues with my battery operated tools and those are under a fairly heavy load. Watt density and mAh ratings are plenty high enough to power a couple of micro servo or stepper motors and a the micro-processor for a long, long time and a bunch of shifts.

The one guy I know that uses Record EPS has said he's never had a charging problem or run out of juice. He's a Cat. 2 hammerhead that trains somewhere around 500 miles per week.

The competition among the five players will probably not cause Campy's price to fall like an out-of-control elevator car, but it certainly will help keep them from selling us fairy dust and unicorn farts for prices that would bail out the Greek economy for five years.