Originally Posted by
Chris_W
Is no-one going to mention all of the reasons why SRAM's "WiFLi" idea is a bad idea on a road bike? The gaps between the gears on a 10-speed 11-32 cassette are way too big for serious road riding. I agree, it could work on a commuter or cyclocross bike, but not on a true road bike. I already hate the 11-28 cassette for road riding because the gear spacing is too big, this is just making it worse. For 10-speed stuff, the SRAM 11-26 and BBB 12-28 cassettes are the widest that I think are sensible.
Currently Tiagra is priced at ~$750 for the full groupset, and Apex seems to be targeting the low-end segment that Sora/Tiagra triple mixes typically fill at the thousand dollar bike level with the 11-32 option. People just getting their first road bikes and who aren't necessarily in the best shape are the ones that could really use a triple, but I can't imagine someone new to wrenching (or their LBS) want the hassle or the weight and thus don't mind giving up some gears in the middle. If you compare a 10 speed cassette to the jumps in an old 7 or 8 speed it doesn't seem as bad, and the cassette can always be changed out later for eighty dollars or so, versus a triple crankset to double/compact swapover.
I'm worried that many people will not realize the inappropriateness of this gearing setup for a road bike, and will buy it because they think it is better than a triple crankset, when it is clearly not when talking about road biking.
See above, it's not targeted at those who have been riding for any length of time, 11-25 and 11-27 cassettes won't magically stop working with a medium cage derailleur.
I already don't like SRAM's DoubleTap levers (two shift levers are always better than one)
Don't open this can of worms again, does "personal preference" mean anything to you?
and the fact that they don't offer triple derailleurs or shifters (even though their subsidiary Truvativ makes triple road cranksets). Promoting WiFLi instead of offering a road triple groupset has made me dislike the company's general philosophy even more.
SRAM isn't interested in dealing with the headaches of a triple, Campy is similar,
AFAIK Campy triples are not offered stock anywhere.
Campy Triple
BTW, can anyone confirm the cog-size combinations on the 11-32 cassette? The OP said they were 11-12-13-15-16-17-22-25-28-32 (which was also stated in the article on
BikeRadar, and SRAM's website doesn't list this detail at the moment). The spacing in the middle section of that cassette is a complete mess, I think it might be just the 16 and 17 that are mis-prints and should be 17-19, making the correct combination 11-12-13-15-17-19-22-25-28-32. Can anyone confirm this?
Can't help here