EVERY GRAM MATTERS

SRAM'S UPDATES TO ITS RED GROUP PROVIDE BIG RIDER BENEFITS

- MATT PHILLIPS

WHEN THE FIRST PHOTOS OF SRAM'S NEW COMPONENT GROUP LEAKED ONLINE, my mind ran wild with visions of 13-speed cassettes and direct-mount rear derailleurs, à la the brand's mountain bike offerings. There is a precedent for these flights of fancy: Historically, a new Red group incorporates innovative features and technology. In only slightly over a decade, the Chicago-based brand introduced features that changed the road drivetrain landscape.

SRAM was the first component brand to wholly incorporate power meters (2012), disc brakes (2015), wireless shifting (2015), wide-range gearing (2016), 1x systems (2019), and pulley-cage dampers (2019) into its top-level road group.

Of the three major drivetrain manufacturers-Shimano, Campagnolo, and SRAM-it is not an overstatement to say that SRAM now sets the standard for road groups. The American brand is better at anticipating the evolution of drop-bar riders' needs, and it pays close attention to (and develops parts for) how and where cyclists ride.

But, surprisingly, SRAM's new Red group is more of a refresh than a redesign. Certainly, there is newness in the group, but viewed from a high level, the underpinnings of this group are the same as the Red AXS group that launched in 2019.

Which means almost all Red 2024 parts can be mixed with Red 2019 (except for a couple of cassette sizes). While the gear geek in me wants groundbreaking, new everything in all-new parts, I applaud SRAM's compatibility approach.

The big benefit of backward compatibility is that anyone with Red 2019-or 12-speed Rival and Force AXS groups-can seamlessly upgrade their existing groups with the best bits from Red 2024. (See "Should You Upgrade?" p.59.) By sticking with 12 gears and many of the brand's existing technologies and philosophies, SRAM greatly eases the task of finding repair and replacement parts-for Red 2024 and Red 2019.