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TECH NEWS

SRAM launch Via GT urban groupset

New range released for urban/trekking riders

Component brand SRAM has launched a new urban/trekking groupset called Via GT. It comes with super-wide gear ratios from a double chainset and 10-speed cassette.

The chainset comes with either 48/32-tooth or 48/34T chainrings and SRAM say the groupset is optimized (everything is ‘optimized’ these days) for a 11-36 cassette. If you work in gear inches, that 48/32T chainset with the 11-36T cassette, a 700c wheel and a 28c tyre will provide you with a range of 24 up to 117.

SRAM say that you can use all 20 gears without any chain rub. In other words, you can have the chain on the big chainring and the biggest sprocket at the same time without any problem, and on the small chainring and the smallest sprocket.

 

You control gear shifting via trigger shifters that come from SRAM’s X0 mountain bike groupset, a neat little indicator showing you which gear you’re in without the need to glance down at the cassette.

There are two different brake systems available: V-brakes and hydraulic disc brakes. The disc brakes have been, according to SRAM, ‘urbanized’. Huh? It means that the design has been tweaked so they’re not as grabby as a mountain bike version; they’re intended to slow you down more gradually and smoothly.

 

Two hub dynamos of different powers are available to provide lighting. SRAM reckon that the optimized (told you) coil doesn’t flicker, even when you’re moving at slow speeds.

SRAM are claiming a complete Via GT groupset weight of 2,448g, or 2,691g if you go for the disc brake version, and it's available in both black and gret (Icelandic black and Falcon Grey, to be precise). They say that many of the leading bike brands will be fitting the Via GT components for 2013. We don’t have prices yet but availability is promised from the beginning of September.

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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5 comments

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amazon22 | 12 years ago
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Be interested to know if this will work with drop bar levers.

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Slimie | 12 years ago
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What's the black spot on the disc?
 39
Surely it's not The Black Spot?

-Simon

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horizontal dropout | 12 years ago
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Oops, embarrassed, I should have known that. And yes Sheldon is the one.

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Mat Brett | 12 years ago
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We'll trust Sheldon Brown on this (as with most other things). http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/

(Where you're going wrong, horizontal dropout, is that the rim diameter of a 700C wheel isn't 700mm, it's 622, so all your calculations are out).

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horizontal dropout | 12 years ago
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I think there's a slight miscalculation in the gear range.
Wheel size 700 + 28 + 28 = 756mm = 29.76 inches
29.76 / 36 * 32 = 26
29.76 / 11 * 48 = 129
So 26-129 instead of 24-117.

SRAM do a similar cassette with 12 tooth smallest which gives a slightly lower top gear - 119 - though don't know if it would be available with the groupset.

You can get about 13 useful gears if you can do a double shift on the rear derailleur while doing a single shift in the opposite direction on the front. Eg go from 32x19 to 48x25.

----32 48
11 86 129
13 73 109
15 63 95
17 56 84
19 50 75
22 43 64
25 38 57
28 34 51
32 29 44
36 26 39

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