To come back to internal gearing, one of our multi-day tour group showed up with one of the Bromptons that has a 3x hub (standard Sturmey Archer) and 4 speed derailleur. It doesn’t have the instant or electronic shifting of the Classified, or the fancy control, but… it still boosts the gear range in a useful way.
Classified plus SRAM would make an awesome gravel group. SRAM could make a tighter ratio XPLR cassette and use Classified to create a 26-speed sequential shifting setup with huge range. Use the bonus buttons for "front" shifting if you want to make a big jump in gear. Otherwise, lots of gears to use.
I couldn't agree more. I had some issues getting the classified setup (very long story - after they swapped a hub and smart axle it ended up being an obscure setting in the app..) on my Crux (one day a GR3 due to James 😀) with XPLR 13sp and after only one ride I was super impressed with the shift speed and to your point have a full 26 gear range for gravel. I have to dbl check the chain line as the 40t (largest cog) on the Classified cassette was quite noisy but I was impressed with the shift speed of their cassette. I am now super hopeful that SRaM would now be up for integrating with Classified.
As for the Shimano announcement I was super surprised as well. I think shimano had to do this to keep up with all the SRAM options and only releasing the wireless grx as a 1x. Albeit the entry price into classified is still tough with a custom wheel. I had a terra clx II relaced with a classified Hub. Fingers crossed for a SRAM integration, I can't see a reason now they wouldn't do it and would open up their zipp line with a ‘from factory’ classified Hub option.
All of this would result into even more R&D from classified and hopefully lighter option and different ratios.
Team Ineos (Shimano-sponsored) raced the Classified hub and a 1x ring last year in a time trial stage that featured hills. (Excuse the link, it was the first reference I could find https://escapecollective.com/optimising-ineos-grenadiers-classified-but-genius-gains/)
To come back to internal gearing, one of our multi-day tour group showed up with one of the Bromptons that has a 3x hub (standard Sturmey Archer) and 4 speed derailleur. It doesn’t have the instant or electronic shifting of the Classified, or the fancy control, but… it still boosts the gear range in a useful way.
Classified plus SRAM would make an awesome gravel group. SRAM could make a tighter ratio XPLR cassette and use Classified to create a 26-speed sequential shifting setup with huge range. Use the bonus buttons for "front" shifting if you want to make a big jump in gear. Otherwise, lots of gears to use.
There‘s a typo: „After a bit of delay, Vistar finally because available for sale a few weeks ago.“ I guess „because“ should „became“…
Doh! Thanks for that. Fixed.
I couldn't agree more. I had some issues getting the classified setup (very long story - after they swapped a hub and smart axle it ended up being an obscure setting in the app..) on my Crux (one day a GR3 due to James 😀) with XPLR 13sp and after only one ride I was super impressed with the shift speed and to your point have a full 26 gear range for gravel. I have to dbl check the chain line as the 40t (largest cog) on the Classified cassette was quite noisy but I was impressed with the shift speed of their cassette. I am now super hopeful that SRaM would now be up for integrating with Classified.
As for the Shimano announcement I was super surprised as well. I think shimano had to do this to keep up with all the SRAM options and only releasing the wireless grx as a 1x. Albeit the entry price into classified is still tough with a custom wheel. I had a terra clx II relaced with a classified Hub. Fingers crossed for a SRAM integration, I can't see a reason now they wouldn't do it and would open up their zipp line with a ‘from factory’ classified Hub option.
All of this would result into even more R&D from classified and hopefully lighter option and different ratios.
I also wonder if TRP knew about this…