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FSA's new Wireless Electronic Groupset

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Old 08-30-16, 12:58 PM
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FSA's new Wireless Electronic Groupset



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Old 08-30-16, 02:11 PM
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Can anyone find what the weight will be for the two levers with batteries, two derailleurs, wires, and battery. The other groupset part weights are listed on the FSA promotional site, but not the drivetrain.
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Old 08-30-16, 02:17 PM
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Very interesting...
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Old 08-30-16, 02:59 PM
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Interesting. I like the idea of wired front/rear combination. Seems like it simplifies the battery issues and still makes for a clean setup.
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Old 08-30-16, 03:25 PM
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Originally Posted by gsa103
i like the idea of wired front/rear combination. Seems like it simplifies the battery issues and still makes for a clean setup.
+1 It's a simple and elegant solution.
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Old 08-30-16, 03:44 PM
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Sorry, but IMO the SRAM approach is far simpler and far more elegant. The wires are just passe.
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Old 08-30-16, 05:39 PM
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Originally Posted by rpenmanparker
Sorry, but IMO the SRAM approach is far simpler and far more elegant. The wires are just passe.
Agreed. While there are some good features, there appears to be a lot of effort spent around patent issues more so than real improvements.
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Old 08-30-16, 06:40 PM
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Originally Posted by rpenmanparker
Can anyone find what the weight will be for the two levers with batteries, two derailleurs, wires, and battery. The other groupset part weights are listed on the FSA promotional site, but not the drivetrain.
"FSA states that the complete weight of WE at 2,090g, that’s 120g heavier than eTap and 45g heavier than Dura-Ace Di2"

FSA's new wireless electronic drivetrain: the K-Force WE - BikeRadar
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Old 08-30-16, 06:57 PM
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Originally Posted by rpenmanparker
Sorry, but IMO the SRAM approach is far simpler and far more elegant. The wires are just passe.
Although I love eTap, I think FSA's approach makes a lot of sense. Combining the FD and RD reduces the number of batteries and transmitter/receivers by 1, at the cost one a short and direct wire btw the FD and RD.

I definitely think eTap's shifter button solution is much cleaner though. Less is more.

For what little it's worth, I am an electrical engineer.
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Old 08-30-16, 07:39 PM
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More vaporware or actually available?
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Old 08-30-16, 08:25 PM
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In LBS's next Spring
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Old 08-30-16, 08:31 PM
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Originally Posted by goplutus
"FSA states that the complete weight of WE at 2,090g, that’s 120g heavier than eTap and 45g heavier than Dura-Ace Di2"

FSA's new wireless electronic drivetrain: the K-Force WE - BikeRadar
Yes, for the whole group. But what do derailleurs, batteries and levers weigh.
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Old 08-30-16, 08:33 PM
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Originally Posted by link0
Although I love eTap, I think FSA's approach makes a lot of sense. Combining the FD and RD reduces the number of batteries and transmitter/receivers by 1, at the cost one a short and direct wire btw the FD and RD.

I definitely think eTap's shifter button solution is much cleaner though. Less is more.

For what little it's worth, I am an electrical engineer.
But having two deraileur batteries constitutes an easily exchangeable spare for the first battery to die. That is a great benefit, not a burden.
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Old 08-31-16, 08:15 AM
  #14  
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eTap has the edge in my mind, not the least of which is due to the fact that it can be installed on pretty much any road bike frame, without the need for running internal battery and connection wires.

Comparing to Di2, if you have to run wires anyway, I don't see the running them from the shifters as being a massive extra burden, and Di2 has the advantage of being from Shimano, a known quantity.

So what's their edge here? I can only assume based on other FSA products, it's going to be price. The rocker switches are neat I guess.
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Old 08-31-16, 08:51 AM
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eTap wins hands down here.

I'm glad FSA has a full group now. Even if the rear DR is plastic...
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Old 08-31-16, 10:08 AM
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ill have nightmares about that crank
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Old 08-31-16, 10:45 AM
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Originally Posted by Da Reef
Agreed. While there are some good features, there appears to be a lot of effort spent around patent issues more so than real improvements.
Because patents are a real problem. It is why ROTOR resorted to hydraulic shifting...because all the way of pulling a cable and the design of parallelogram ders are patented...which is really really funny, when you consider that ALL those patents are owned by foreign owned companies with offshored/outsourced production.

AKA a USA based company wanting to make things in the USA cannot...because foreign owned corporations with foreign production have the legal monopoly.
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Old 08-31-16, 11:01 AM
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Originally Posted by Marcus_Ti
Because patents are a real problem. It is why ROTOR resorted to hydraulic shifting...because all the way of pulling a cable and the design of parallelogram ders are patented...which is really really funny, when you consider that ALL those patents are owned by foreign owned companies with offshored/outsourced production.

AKA a USA based company wanting to make things in the USA cannot...because foreign owned corporations with foreign production have the legal monopoly.
I'm not sure where FSA is from, are they American? Their products are made in Taiwan.

EDIT: it would appear that they are Taiwanese:

https://tmdb.eu/trademark/010372241/...ll-speed-ahead

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Old 08-31-16, 11:14 AM
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Originally Posted by dr_lha
I'm not sure where FSA is from, are they American? Their products are made in Taiwan.
I was citing ROTOR which is American and legally left out in the cold via foreign-owned legally-sanctioned monopoly (by Shimano/Capmpag)....but the same idea applies to FSA. They have to engineer inelegant means to accomplish the same feat, because the good straightforward ways are patented already.
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Old 08-31-16, 11:15 AM
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Originally Posted by Marcus_Ti
I was citing ROTOR which is American and legally left out in the cold via foreign-owned legally-sanctioned monopoly (by Shimano/Capmpag)....but the same idea applies to FSA. They have to engineer inelegant means to accomplish the same feat, because the good straightforward ways are patented already.
ROTOR are Spanish.
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Old 08-31-16, 11:28 AM
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Originally Posted by Marcus_Ti
Because patents are a real problem. It is why ROTOR resorted to hydraulic shifting...because all the way of pulling a cable and the design of parallelogram ders are patented...which is really really funny, when you consider that ALL those patents are owned by foreign owned companies with offshored/outsourced production.

AKA a USA based company wanting to make things in the USA cannot...because foreign owned corporations with foreign production have the legal monopoly.
SRAM is a real US company (based in Chicago), ROTOR is not. SRAM uses parallelogram derailleurs...
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Old 08-31-16, 11:29 AM
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Originally Posted by dr_lha
eTap has the edge in my mind, not the least of which is due to the fact that it can be installed on pretty much any road bike frame, without the need for running internal battery and connection wires.

Comparing to Di2, if you have to run wires anyway, I don't see the running them from the shifters as being a massive extra burden, and Di2 has the advantage of being from Shimano, a known quantity.

So what's their edge here? I can only assume based on other FSA products, it's going to be price. The rocker switches are neat I guess.
I'm quite sure that the FSA groupset will be cheaper than the eTap, as it's a simpler system.
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Old 08-31-16, 11:31 AM
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Originally Posted by rpenmanparker
But having two deraileur batteries constitutes an easily exchangeable spare for the first battery to die. That is a great benefit, not a burden.
I agree that eTap is better, of course, with money no object. But FSA's simpler system should make their groupset a less expensive alternative.
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Old 08-31-16, 11:37 AM
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Originally Posted by link0
I'm quite sure that the FSA groupset will be cheaper than the eTap, as it's a simpler system.
I think it'll need to be cheaper than Shimano's Ultegra Di2 to be competitive, honestly.

Does anyone actually go out of their way to buy FSA components? I always thought of them as the cheap part on a stock bike. I suppose if they get their OEM prices low enough, we might see some bikes with full FSA groupsets on them in bike shops soon.
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Old 08-31-16, 03:51 PM
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Other than their SL-K Light crankset, I have yet to see anything from FSA that's top notch quality; and I don't see their WE groupset changing that.

This thing is a mess: 2 type of batteries you have to worry about (2xCR2032 for the shifters and internal battery for the FR), wire between the FD and RD, non-intuitive rocker shifters (to get around patents), no weight reduction over existing systems (Di2 or eTap), etc.
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