Rotor hydraulic group

[Tickdoc]

Don’t know why I was thinking about this but I have yet to see one of these in the flesh, or in pictures even. Seems like it had some promise as a new group, just wondering if it didn’t work out because it doesn’t work, or it just didn’t take off because of cost, complexity, etc.

Anyone? Bueller?

[Joxster]

Ask again in five years, it was a PR stunt as the big boys had something functionable and it was a "look at us, we've made something worse than eTap"

[smontanaro]

What are the odds that Rotor's hydraulic system goes live before CeramicSpeed's Driven concept?
https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear...nt-drivetrain/

[yinzerniner]

Originally Posted by Tickdoc

Don’t know why I was thinking about this but I have yet to see one of these in the flesh, or in pictures even. Seems like it had some promise as a new group, just wondering if it didn’t work out because it doesn’t work, or it just didn’t take off because of cost, complexity, etc.

Anyone? Bueller?

Don't think it's commercially available, but cycling tips did a first look review and the results were mixed at best.

https://cyclingtips.com/2018/10/roto...oupset-review/

[ceolwulf]

I wonder if this will be the next Mavic Zap, in the history of cycling tech.

I really like the idea, and Rotor definitely makes quality stuff. Hope they can succeed with it.

[old fat man]

I tried it at nahbs. No better than a mechanical group and considerably more expensive

[simonov]

Originally Posted by Joxster

Ask again in five years, it was a PR stunt as the big boys had something functionable and it was a "look at us, we've made something worse than eTap"

Huh?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Tickdoc

Don’t know why I was thinking about this but I have yet to see one of these in the flesh, or in pictures even. Seems like it had some promise as a new group, just wondering if it didn’t work out because it doesn’t work, or it just didn’t take off because of cost, complexity, etc.

Anyone? Bueller?

Still vapor-ware along with the FSA group...not sure about the ‘promise’ part, seemed like a pretty complicated answer to a pretty simple question.

[Elefantino]

Originally Posted by old fat man

I tried it at nahbs. No better than a mechanical group and considerably more expensive

Same here. Meh. Would rather have SR mechanical for the price, eight days of the week.

[R3awak3n]

I mean, its a cool proof of concept but silly to think people would adopt it.

Rotor probably working on something else at the same time, probably some sort of electronic group would be my guess.

[kramnnim]

There's a used group for sale here- https://www.facebook.com/groups/onli...28081787307225

(probably not visible unless you're a member of the group)

[EDS]

I can't remember where, but there are pictures of the new rotor 1x13 group on the web.

[dookie]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Still vapor-ware along with the FSA group...not sure about the ‘promise’ part, seemed like a pretty complicated answer to a pretty simple question.

I know of at least one FSA group in the wild...acquired through team affiliation though. No clue about retail availability.

[hollowgram5]

Originally Posted by dookie

I know of at least one FSA group in the wild...acquired through team affiliation though. No clue about retail availability.

I saw the FSA stuff listed on the 365cycles website the other day when I was looking for something else..

Rotor stuff pops up on eBay every now and then.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by old fat man

I tried it at nahbs. No better than a mechanical group and considerably more expensive

Well, I can see a few potential advantages of a hydraulic shifting system. It would give you the ability to use tight bends in the hose without the lose of performance that a cable would suffer. And a closed hydraulic system wouldn't suffer the wear and friction over time that a cable system would either, so once installed there should be less maintentance. (These advantages are similar to the advantages of hydraulic brake hoses over mechanical cables.)

But, these are some of the same advantages that electronic shifting systems have over mechanical cables as well, and as electronic systems have already established themselves, it won't be easy for hydraulic shifting systems to get any market penetration.

On the other hand, I can personally, think of a few advantages to hydraulic over electronic: 1) No need to recharge batteries; 2) multi-sprocket shifting is faster and more straight-forward; 3) it doesn't violate the principle of a bicycles not using stored power sources to operate. Number 1 is very minor, because a battery charge can last a long time, and in this day GPS bike computers and personal electronic devices people have gotten used to routine of charging their devices; Number 2 is only a minor things since riders have already become accustomed to having lost some multi-shift performance, first with STI and then with Di2; and Number 3 has become a non-issue since the industry bribed UCI to change the rules on prohibiting stored energy systems in human powered competition (cycling is the only "human" powered competition that allows externally powered motors - heck, not even very pedestrian sports like golf allow this).