SRAM's 2006 Press Launch: Part 1

SRAM recently invited a dozen journalists down to San Luis Obispo for a few days of riding, a couple Power Point presentations and some quality time with their engineer-types. On the menu were the latest SRAM drivetrain, RockShox forks, TruVativ components and Avid brakes. Over the next few days, I’ll give you the heads up on what SRAM has in store for consumers next year.

Let’s start off with SRAM’s XO shifters—there’s a surprising lot going on with this single component.

THE BLING For starters, SRAM’s top of the line, XO shifter features a carbon cover that you can easily remove by spinning that shiny little knob (dead center on the top of shifter pod). Aside from cutting total shifter weight by about 16 grams, the carbon covers (and this is real, composite material here—none of that fake “carbon graphics” crap) add serious bling factor to the levers. While this may not mean much to some riders, even anti-fashion types will appreciate the fact that swapping out derailleur cables couldn’t be easier (remember, you just spin the dial—no need for tiny screwdrivers or micro tools).

The rest of the shifter is made of machined aluminum that’s been buffed to a spiffy shine (sort of like what you’d expect Campagnolo to build if they hadn’t failed miserably at building mountain bike components way back when).

THE FEEL The real story with the XO shifters is their Zero-Loss-Travel feature. In a nutshell, most shifters have a bit of lag time between you pressing the shifter lever and the shift actually taking place. To be more precise, most shifters require seven to fifteen degrees of travel in order to engage the pawls and allow the shift. SRAM’s Zero Loss Travel feature eliminates this excess lever play. Okay, what does all this mumbo-jumbo mean? It means that shifts are very quick. It’s almost spooky-quick. What saves it from feeling “too touchy” is that the shifts also have a very distinct click to them. The 2006 XOs offer a significant improvement in performance over past SRAM offerings.

SRAM also improved the way their front shifter pulls cable. The new XO front derailleur shifter moves your chain from the small to the middle to the large chainring with equal pressure (they did this by using a linkage mechanism instead of a spool).

I’ll be honest, I never noticed shifter lag or the fact that my front derailleur shifts required uneven amounts of pressure at the shift lever. These things never even occurred to me and, I’m guessing, these issues never really occurred to you. The funny thing, though, is that once I rode the new XO shifters, I immediately recognized the design tweaks as real performance improvements. In short, this isn’t just a bunch of marketing crap.

TRES ADJUSTABLE! While there is no denying that Shimano’s integrated shifters work well, there are quite a few riders out there who feel that the integrated systems limit their component choices and their ability to fine tune the way they set up their brake-shifter controls. SRAM is aiming to woo such riders by offering several unique adjustment features on their 2006 XO shifters. For starters, you can loosen a bolt and adjust the shifter clamp position, side to side: this allows you to run the shifters either inboard or outboard of your brake levers. SRAM has also made sure that their shifters fit easily on your handlebars alongside every major disc brake on the market.

You can also change the point at which the pull lever (the lever that shifts your chain up to larger cogs) engages. This feature allows you to choose between fast single shifts or easier multiple shifts. The bottom of the shifter pods also sport dials that make dialing your pull-lever position exceptionally simple.

THE BOTTOM LINE The new XO shifters are lighter (225 grams a pair), more adjustable, more precise and considerably pimpier than the shifters they replace. In fact, I’d argue that 2006 will be the first year that SRAM has fielded a set of shifters that really give XTR a run for their money.

You can run the XO front shifter with either a Shimano or SRAM front derailleur, but the XO rear shifter is 1:1 shift ratio only—in other words, it will only work with SRAM XO, X9 and X7 rear derailleurs. Price has yet to be determined, but vague rumblings from official folks suggest that they'll retail for over $200 a set.

Tommorrow we’ll cover a couple of SRAM’s new cassettes and rear derailleurs. In the near future, we’ll also dive into the 2006 XC and All-Mountain RockShox suspension fork line up. Stay tuned.