Mountain bikers ditched them long ago, but could Rotor’s new 1x13 groupset finally see road bikes shorn of their front derailleurs? With 13-speed cassettes ranging from between 10-36t, all the way up to 10-52t, the balance between range and the gaps between each ratio may now be close enough to win over many roadies. Not only would that allow them to gain all the weight, maintenance, and aerodynamic benefits of ditching the second derailleur from their bike, it could also unlock a new and intuitive sequential shifting process. As the Spanish brand is keen to point out,
Although traditional 2x11 groupsets have 22 theoretical gears, the effective range is actually just 14 due to overlapping chainring and sprocket combos. To access these 14 gears in the correct order, multiple front…
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Bikes Etc (Digital) - 1 Issue, May 2019