bluehills3149

FSA released a (Road) electronic groupset (K-Force WE) over 6 years ago and in 2017 updated it with hydraulic disc brakes and of the few reviews of it, it seems fine but is it appears nobody has ever bought one.
I don't get it.
Surely this cost FSA a bucket of time and $ to develop so why don't they attempt to sell it more widely?
I'd consider buying one but I'd want at least a 30% discount to the big S brands to account for the reliability and future parts supply unknowns.
Also, if FSA were asking, I'd suggest adding a feature so the derailleurs can setup to shift any gear number/combination. Want to add electronic shifting to you old Peugeot with 3x6 spd gears? Sure, just manually set the shift points. This also future proofs it so you could tune it to shift 11, 12 or even 14 spds if you want and give the buyer one extra layer of comfort buying from a relatively unknown. Sell the (cable brake) shifters, fr&rr derailleurs with battery as an upgrade kit for say $500 (even ditch carbon for Aluminum) and I think they'd sell a bunch.

canklecat

Team Burgos BH has been using the K-Force WE group since at least 2019 (including winning a Vuelta stage).

My best guess is the COVID-19 pandemic related supply chain crisis limited FSA's ability to capitalize on the marque to expand sales to the consumer sector. If FSA experienced the same issues as many other manufacturers they probably could meet only the obligations of the teams they sponsor.

Especially with electronics, which were in short supply and great demand since early 2020. Friends who are gamers are just now beginning to get the GPUs they've been waiting more than a year to buy, at least at a price reasonably close to the MSRP. (Cryptocurrency miners were a big factor in the GPU shortage. That demand eased up a bit after China and other countries cracked down on cryptocurrency miners for overwhelming the electric grid in some areas. Used and surplus GPUs flooded the market for awhile, although many reportedly were destroyed or warehoused indefinitely.)

FSA has never had a market presence or name recognition comparable to Shimano, SRAM, etc., and probably had little or no surplus inventory. Good stuff for the money, though. I've used their handlebars, stems, etc. Over the past year friends with broken Shimano Dura Ace and Ultegra Hollowtech II crankset parts have replaced those with FSA because it was available while Shimano was backordered indefinitely for pro tier groups until fairly recently. FSA was already spec'd on other team bikes a few year ago, such as for the Diamondback Podium 5 and 7 bikes around 2010-2015 or so. (My Podium 5's crank was later replaced with Ultegra 6700, by the previous owner -- no idea whether he was dissatisfied with the FSA group.)

XOSS, a relatively small player in GPS cycling computers, was practically incommunicado throughout early 2020. I bought two of their G+ computers in January 2020 and have had no problems. But I follow their social media pages and they were hit with many complaints from impatient customers for months throughout 2020. At the time XOSS claimed the slowdown was caused by the "Chinese New Year," but in retrospect it's clear that the employees were instructed to say that as a cover for the chaos caused by the pandemic, which was already hitting China hard by January 2020. It's likely XOSS was just one of many Chinese manufacturers scrambling to cope with slowdowns related to the pandemic, and, later, only marginally related slowdowns caused by a confluence of overwhelmed shipping demands, an aging fleet and insufficient supply of cargo containers, laborers to handle the cargo, etc.

Just my guess. I could be wrong. But probably not.

Badger6

A 70% percent discount wouldn't be enough if the future support is unknown. Buying a drivetrain that future support for is unknown is never a good use of your money...even at a discount. A single part failure can render the whole thing useless, and if the part cannot be replaced, the whole system has to be replaced. For example, I had chainring (spider) based power meters from PowerTap. SRAM bought the brand, ceased all support for the C1, to include the proprietary chainrings (bolt patter was 180 degrees from standard), rendering replacement of the chainrings impossible...I ended up buying two new PMs eventually when the chainrings wore out.

livedarklions

So the small company would need to be able to sell much cheaper than the gigantic company and manage to do so profitably? I think you answered your own question.

chaadster

It seems obvious to me that FSA is not interested in selling “bunches” of this groupset. Certainly, from a strategic standpoint, it makes little sense to develop a Dura Ace level competitor from scratch in hopes of selling tons. The big drivetrain players have at least a couple of decades of lead-out, in the case of SRAM, on FSA, to 100 years in the cases of Shimano and Campagnolo. It would be strikingly foolish for FSA to enter the fray with only a pro level gruppo and expect to dislodge the competition in any meaningful way.

Assuming FSA are smarter than that, it does make sense for a component manufacturer like them to develop an innovative drivetrain platform— i.e. fully servo actuated— that they can develop and refine at the highest levels of competition in preparation for the launch of a groupset range targeting volume pricepoint segments. FSA is a well-placed OE supplier with robust retail sales as well, so investing in their future on a long term basis focusing on complete component supply makes a lot of sense from my perspective.

I’ve no particular insight into FSA’s strategy, so I’m just speculating based on the assumption that +$3,000 retail groupsets aren’t any manufacturer’s meat-and-potatoes. I suppose Rotor might be the exception, but I think they do drivetrain not with hopes of being a major supplier, but as an R&D effort to support a licensing strategy. We’ll see.

Were I to bet, I’d expect to see a complete rework of the platform to support 1x and 12spd, probably to fully wireless, before they make a push to start selling and plaing any groupsets in earnest. If they can’t find a way to get the system brains out of the FD and placed elsewhere, the platform is DOA, because 1x is here to stay.

PeteHski

This sounds about right to me. FSA effectively doing R&D for future potential OEM applications.

chaadster

Yes! Thanks for the succinct summary!

njkayaker

TIL: FSA has electronic shifters.

bluehills3149

OEM? Perhaps but FSA is a pretty well known brand with their cranks, bars, stems and (Vision) wheels spec'd at the highest level so I'm not sure they'd be happy just being a contract designer. And as for them needing more time to perfect this before wider release? Well, it's been 6+ years since it was first released so if they haven't refined it by now, they never will. Since it was announced, the world has moved on to 12 spd, the rise of 1x and larger cassette range so this groupset is no longer cutting-ege now.
Here is my advice to FSA:
-make it available. Set up a store on ebay/amazon and sell direct.
- give a generous warranty period (2 or 3 years?) to allay fears of future issues. If issues do arise with a common failure, don't quibble about it but just replace the part for free.
-make a cheaper version by subbing in aluminum for carbon and sell it at 105/tiagra level where Shimano does not yet compete in electronic shifting. Forget competing at dura ace/Ultegra level as this ship has sailed.
-Make it the most open platform. Allow the shift pattern to be fully customizable. 10 spd campy? 11or 12 spd? triples? - just change it in the app. Even release the source code so any other brands could make shifters which would open up the aero-triathlon market to just use remote buttons or flat-bar city bikes or who knows.
-work on removing the CPU from the fr derailleur to somewhere else (battery?) so it can be used on 1x.

And 1 more thing- send free samples to us here on bikeforums and we'll give you lots of free feedback and publicity.

Maelochs

Even BF displays flashes of genius ....


Actually, I wonder if FSA just decided to forego the whole "electro-shifting" realm because it couldn't compete with the really big players ..... A lot of manufacturers spec FSA parts as solid, lower-cost alternatives to bigger-name sources .... so maybe when even Walmart bikes have electronic shifting, we will see FSA's systems on bikes over a wider range.

To the best of my knowledge, FSA never really tried to join Shimano and SRAM at tt eh top of the commercial heap (I don't mention Campagnolo because they really are just a bit apart--a slightly higher-priced "cachet" brand which has a decent level of market penetration but doesn't seem to be vying for OEM-spec status on a large scale. Maybe things are different in Europe or Asia, but here in the Land of the Free, Home of the Blind, SRAM and Shimano are the players, with knock-offs doing the bottom-feeding.)

Amelio 

FSA seems to make their money in mass market OEM cranksets, rings and parts, at the 105-level. Companies spec FSA cranksets n rings to save money on Shimano groups. I’ve owned 2 bikes that were 105 and GRX and both had FSA cranks. Seems like a cost cutting measure. Can anyone guess the R&D cost to develop an electronic groupset? Do they have the resources to support such a large project, then be forced to sell 30% below the cheapest electronic set? What is that atm, SRAM Rival Etap 1x?

The other thing is the entry level mechanical groupsets shift so well, maybe there’s just no need for an entry level battery powered set. I’m sure we’ll see it someday, first at the LBS then big box.

DaveSSS 

The cheapest electronic 12 speed group is SRAM Rival AXS. I've been on Force AXS for over a year now. No problems, no complaints. I like FSA K-force seatposts. I've used nothing else for a very long time. Recently bought the 32mm setback model for both of my bikes.