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What could they be releasing? The bike is clearly a single crown in the shadowy image. They just released the Spindrift? An ebike version of that? Or something more like the 5010? But then what's the "It's huge" part about?
https://wheelbased.com/2021/01/28/tubeless-valve-assembly-by-specialized/
Now that hangers are rock solid and $100 and derailleurs are also pretty solid but like $900, it's kind of a different story, though I agree they still should be a low-cost designed to fail part that you can easily carry in your pocket, and the 'every bike has its own hanger' is an idea that never should have happened.
Why do it? Stiffness. Which means accuracy. Which is needed due to small gaps between gears compared to say 9spd.
Eagle is notoriously finicky about both hanger straightness and (experienced it a couple of times now) derailleur straightness. I've now seen two GXes bent and twisted in such a manner that they had 11 gears across the whole 10-50 cassette.
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/de/teams-and-riders/giant-factory-off-ro…
https://m.pinkbike.com/news/andreas-kolb-joins-continental-atherton--se…
Incremental updates?
If anything, considering what's going on with Shimano derailleurs, I think it'd make sense to have the Sram version servicable too.
Was getting through an Eagle X01 mech every 6 months, jockey wheels lasting 3. Sram mechs are garbage, warranty was good though, bought two mechs and warrantied each of them twice.
Dunno... I have bent a few hangers, my current ones are very soft though. Other than that, I've seen two broken derailleurs a few years back in Davos (Enduro2 racing), where one of our guys lost the upper jockey (I think the cage cracked on the threads) and another one tore it off completely, where the two broken ones were then put together to make one working one.
I did notice two very bent GX Eagles in the past year where they were bent in such a manner that they had only 11 gears across the whole cassette (jumping two cogs in one place). But those didn't have clear signs of where they were hit, they were just mangled.
These kind of experiences of mine make me think that gearboxes have more or less lost their chance, 1x wide range drivetrains simply work too well and are compatible with bikes going years in the past without any changes.
Someone will figure out the price and drag issues. Once that happens Seeing a derailleur on a bike will scream cheap the same way quick release vs thru axle does.
Realistically I only see Shimano ushering in gearboxes, nobody else will have the reach to convince the industry to completely rethink frame design and manufacturing, that will be the biggest hurdle for gearboxes if you ask me, much more than drag and market perception.
E-bikes had the option of squeezing in the gearbox (add it to the mid drive unit) very simply, but that train was also missed.
In my opinion HG+ is amazing but the new Shimano mechs need refinement.
On another note, the crash that put me out for the latter part of the season bent my derailleur cage pretty badly (not surprising really) but did nothing to my hanger. So either Rocky has overly durable hangers, or Shimano cages are a bit soft.
Yes, there is a good reason. The chain is under tension there. Look at how well the front derailleur worked.