Shrevvy 

I think this qualifies as C&V. If not, it is close. It is certainly vintage when it comes to electronic shifting. LOOK with Mavic Mektronic group. Cool piece of "high tech" components, for the time anyway. Wireless electronic shifting for the rear derailleur. Traditional shift cable for the front derailleur. Should have taken closeup pics of the barle/shift levers. There are multiple shifting buttons. Wireless technology was not as compact and today. That rear derailleur is huge and certainly not aero. The bike is quite light though. It came in at 18 pounds 4 ounces, but I don't remember if the pedals were on. Bonded carbon frame. Believe this dates to 1999.

T-Mar

Mektronic was MAVIC's 2nd generation, electronic shifting system. The 1st generation, called ZAP, was introduced in 1994.

himespau 

Definitely not a lightweight setup with that RD.

Classtime 

But Helium wheelset?

alcjphil

Those early Look pedals were no lightweights either

himespau 

I do have to say, though that it's a French bike that I'd love to try. Don't have to worry about odd threading sizes or things like that (just the lack of the ability to replace anything that broke).

icemilkcoffee 

So the Mektronic only works on the rear derailleur? That seems to be missing the point of electronic shifting- eliminating FD trimming.

T-Mar

Claimed rear derailleur weight was 235g, which was only 9g heavier than Record of the era.

himespau 

Huh, that's a surprise.

mkeller234

That bike rules! Those bars sure are funky though, no flats before you get to the hoods.

top506

FD trimming is MUCH easier with a friction FD and shifter, which I believe this is/was.

Top

davester

Have you looked at current electronic derailleurs? They are also massive and heavy.

madpogue 

Doing an image search, I'm seeing two options for the front. Some with a brake-only lever on the bar and a conventional downtube shifter. Some with a thumbie-like shifter on the inboard side of the brake lever body, No idea if the thumbie-like shifter is indexed, friction, or selectable.

Bet the batteries for that git-up were, uh, a little larger/heavier than what's sporting today.

And those are not exactly "early" Look pedals. Those appear mid-late-'90s, at least 10-12 years newer than the two generations I have. In between, there's the Shimano PD-7401, made in France on Look's license/patent, in.... what.... '90-ish?... that was only 1 gram heavier than the DA PD-7400 stealth-fighter shaped toe-clip pedals.

Retoocs

The Mektronic has a inboard lever on the left side, kind of like the campy lever except hinged at the front, for the front derailleur which is friction. Zap didn't have a brifter option.

The battery has modern setups beat. The Mektronic uses a 2032 coin battery in the head unit and another one in the rear derailleur. The Zap uses a single K28A camera battery. I've gotten about 2+ years in the Zap before it goes crazy when the battery went dead. It doesn't use much power to actually shift.

Both system has a shaft in the top pulley that has groves that moves back and forth. One of two solenoid engages the groove to move the derailleur. As a fail safe, you can manual position the derailleur. Some say it is slow, the movement occurs in about 1/2 a rotation of the pulley. If you have a hyperglide cassette, the shift ramps determine when the shift occurs because the chain won't want to move until it hits the ramp. So the derailleur isn't the limiting factor.

While I was given a Mektronic setup, I haven't had time to play with it. I do have Zap on my road bike. I hooked up the Mektronic brifter to the Zap electronics. The system has been reliable except when the battery was going dead, but I also don't ride in the rain anymore.