Sram now offers the right gearing for winter rides on a cross bike. With the "X-Glide 1090" cassette, muddy trails and sharp climbs lose their terror.

There is no bigger day for triathletes - the Ironman Hawaii takes place on October 13 in Kona. Sram is using this upcoming date to expand the Red Group with new triathlon-specific components.

XX1 is the name of Sram's new shifting recipe. 11 gears, a huge cassette with 11 to 42 teeth and a single chainring are the ingredients. By firing off a firework display of innovations, the US manufacturer wants to revolutionize the way mountain bikes shift gears and also put the chain guide out of work.

As part of the "World Bicycle Relief" program, the US component manufacturer is auctioning off works of art made from bicycle components. Sram has already donated over 100'000 bicycles with its bicycle support program.

Sram is a driving force behind the launch of new shifting concepts - the latest coup is a cassette with eleven sprockets in combination with a single chainring on the crank. Both cross-country and enduro riders should be happy with the gear ratio.

A botched shift can be the difference between victory and defeat in a race. For road cyclists who rely on Sram gears and want to ride on the winning side, the US component manufacturer has developed a chain catcher that prevents the chain from falling off the chainring.

Sram equips the Red and Force road bike groupsets with optional rear derailleurs. These derailleurs are characterized by a large shifting capacity up to 32 sprockets on the cassette. With this, the US component manufacturer wants to do away with 3x cranks on road bikes altogether and allow road cyclists to ride uphill more quickly and easily.

The search for a balance between extremes has led Sram to integrate 650B wheels into the range for the 2013 model year. According to the component manufacturer from Chicago, the wheels, also known as 27.5-inch wheels, offer fast acceleration, effortless climbing, pinpoint steering precision and good control on the downhill. Sram wants to pack all of these features into the new "Rise 40 650B" wheelset.

The first pictures made the rounds back in January 2012, and now Sram is officially raising the curtain on a new product generation for shifting on the rear wheel: With the "Type 2" gear changers, a tensioning mechanism on the cage of the X0 and X9 groupsets ensures smooth gear shifting when rodeoing downhill. When designing the new rear derailleur, Sram also thought about easy installation and removal of the rear wheel.

The first major appearance was already a success, as Greg Herbold won the Downhill World Championships with it in 1990. Cross-country legends John Tomac, Ned Overend and Thomas Frischknecht also swore by it. We are talking about Sram's Grip Shift handlebar twist shifter - the classic now fits contemporary mountain bikes again in the ten-speed version.

The BB30 version of the new "Red" groupset weighs in at just 1739 grams. Sram thus takes the lightweight crown in this area by some distance. The front derailleur and crank in particular boast innovations. In addition to lightweight construction, the new design of the groupset focused on the silent operation of the shifting components.

All the information about the new "Red" road bike groupset from Sram pales into insignificance in the face of a note that Sram has shared in passing: Disc brake technology for mountain bikes is also making its way into road bikes. The Chicago-based component manufacturer is announcing a hydraulic disc brake group and a hydraulic rim brake group for bikes with racing handlebars for fall 2012.

In 2011, Shimano presented an innovative solution to tame chain slap on bikes in rough terrain with the XTR Trail rear derailleur. Now Sram also appears to be planning a mechanism with a high return force of the rear derailleur arm to keep the chain in check.

Sram caused a sensation when the US component manufacturer presented the first groupset for racing bikes in 2007. Now, following a video, Sram's PR managers are also showing pictures of the new Red, which is expected in February 2012. The new Red aims to put competitor products far in the shade in terms of weight.

From January 2012, Sram will be upgrading the shift levers of the X9 groupset and bringing them technologically up to the level of the XX and XO series.

If you are looking for a special Christmas present for bike lovers, you should find it at the "Sram pArt Project". As part of the "World Bicycle Relief" program, the US component manufacturer is auctioning off works of art created from bicycle components.

Sram is launching a new mountain bike wheel line, with system wheels for 26er and 29er bikes seeing the light of day under the "Rise" label. The "Rise 60" uses a carbon fiber rim for cross-country use, while the "Rise 40" focuses on trail use and the rim is made from aluminium.

With the development of the trigger shifter, the GripShift twist shifter has fallen into oblivion in Sram's product portfolio. Now Sram is bringing the technology back and presenting a version for ten-speed transmissions. The new GripShift was used for the first time by Jaroslav Kulhavy on his ride to the world championship title.

Thanks to the "X.0 DH", Sram now also offers downhill shifting components. Although the existing "X.0" is already an all-rounder, Sram has now revised some parts of the groupset for downhillers.

While individual mountain bikers keep fitting road components, individual road cyclists are now bolting mountain bike components to their bikes: at this year's Giro d'Italia, there were some real road bike hybrids on show.

After the recently unveiled new Elixir "7" and "9", Sram now presents the brand new, technically revised "XX" and "XX World Cup". Visually, the two new brakes are now strongly based on the more affordable one.

With new transmission variants including chainring protection and a single chain guide, Sram offers downhill-oriented customers a helping hand.

After Shimano presented gear systems with 30 gears (3x10) for the first time in April, its competitor Sram is now following suit. In future, the X.0, X.9 and X.7 groupsets will be available with a ten-speed cassette combined with three chainrings.

Schwalbe has bowed to the fierce criticism of its warning campaign from the online bike community. The tire manufacturer apologizes for its action against online stores that used the official image material without permission. At the same time, Schwalbe confirms that the company will continue to protect its image rights in the future.

One year after the launch of the top mountain bike groupset "XX" with only two cranksets and ten cassettes, Sram is now adapting this shifting technology to the "X0" and "X9" component groupsets, as it did with the recently launched "X7".

One of the last major component factories in Europe is moving to Asia: As gear manufacturer Sram announced this week, hub gear production will be relocated from Germany to the Far East over the next three years.

With the introduction of the "XX" in May last year, Sram ushered in a new era in mountain biking. Now they are adapting the technology, which allows two times ten gears to be shifted, to the new "X7".

The new XX components from Sram have been given their own website. Technical details, test reports and blogs from prominent XX riders are now available at sram2x10.com.

Like the 10-speed cassette of the XX group and the PowerDom racing cassette, the core of the new 9-speed X0 cassette "XG999" is also CNC-milled from a block of chrome steel.

Eagerly awaited, the new groupset is finally here - with the XX groupset, Sram is launching a complete package of Sram's four brands under one name for the first time. The new XX was initially designed for the cross-country sector, although expansion is likely to be only a matter of time.

This is what the new gearbox from Sram looks like! The first pictures of the Truvativ crankset called Hammerschmidt solve one of the biggest marketing mysteries of recent months.

The component specialist SRAM is on a shopping spree again. To cover its gap in the wheel sector, the company is taking over the ZIPP brand. ZIPP is primarily known in road and triathlon sports for its high-quality wheels. The American company with its headquarters and production site in Indianapolis has also made a name for itself in recent years as a component manufacturer (cranks, handlebars, stems). However, Sram is probably only interested in Zipp's wheel technology as it already has a strong brand in this area with Truvativ.

Sram will launch a new road component group called "Red" in fall 2008. The groupset will be positioned even higher than the previous "Force" line. According to initial information, the groupset will be even lighter and use carbon and titanium materials. Sram will provide further information in July.

There are still over three weeks to go until the Olympic bike races. But more and more parts that sponsors are producing especially for the races on Mount Parnitha are already becoming public. SRAM and RockShox are not to be missed: After all, Bart Brentjens and Miguel Martinez have already become Olympic champions with the twist grips, and Martinez also rode a "SIDney" fork in 2000. For Athens, RockShox is now presenting the "SID Athena" in elegant mother-of-pearl white, while SRAM is following suit with X.0 twist shifters, a cassette and a chain in a golden finish. The Swiss cracks who will be riding these parts in Athens include Christoph Sauser, Thomas Frischknecht, Ralph Näf and Barbara Blatter.

Shimano continues to employ legions of lawyers and judges in an effort to defend its intellectual property. After the Munich Regional Court ruled against the X.7 trigger shifters in the third instance in Shimano's favor and SRAM was forced to make changes to the new generation of trigger shifters, Shimano is now taking the war of the lawyers to Taiwan. The lawyers there have just decided that SRAM is infringing a Shimano patent with the gear indicator on trigger shifters and is therefore no longer allowed to manufacture these shifters in Taiwan. SRAM has therefore already relocated production to mainland China, but will continue to pursue the ruling of the Taiwanese judges in any case.

The SRAM Corporation continues to grow: What once began as a "Grip Shift" twist shifter has become a provider of shifters, hubs and suspension elements through the acquisition of Sachs and Rock Shox. According to a press release from SRAM, the brake specialist Avid is to be acquired under an agreement reached today. With this acquisition, which is to be sealed at the end of January, SRAM is one step closer to its goal of a complete component group - and thus more market share in the OEM market. Shimano is therefore once again challenged.

The new "trigger shifters" were nowhere to be found at SRAM's exhibition stands at the Eurobike in Friedrichshafen and the IFMA in Cologne. Just before the fall trade fairs, competitor Shimano had enforced a ban on SRAM's shifters in a Munich district court. The reason: In the Japanese company's opinion, the "Trigger Shifters" infringed patent rights. Although SRAM immediately lodged an appeal, the shifters had to be removed from the trade fair stands. Following the appeal decision, it is now clear that the "Trigger Shifters" can be marketed again in Germany with immediate effect.

In June of this year, a Munich district court ruled that the component manufacturer SRAM was no longer allowed to market and advertise sprockets from the "5.0" and "7.0" series in Germany. This was because the shifting aids on the sprockets infringed the intellectual property of SRAM's competitor Shimano. Shortly before Eurobike, Japan's shifting giant followed suit: The same court also imposed the ban on SRAM's new "trigger shifters", which subsequently had to be removed from the exhibition stand in Friedrichshafen. Now, after a hearing, the next higher court has put the ban on the SRAM cassettes on ice. To be continued, one can only say.

At the Regional Court of Munich I, Shimano has won its case against SRAM Germany. The case concerned Shimano's patented "Hyperglide" technology, which allows smooth gear changes even under full load thanks to various climbing and shifting aids on the sprockets. SRAM has been offering "Powerglide II" cassettes of the 5.0 and 7.0 series for several years - SRAM recently had considerable success with the 7.0 cassette in the original equipment sector. Following the ruling, SRAM will soon have to withdraw these cassettes from the German market: Even the announced appeal has no suspensive effect.

"With this purchase, we want to give the stagnating MTB market a boost. SRAM is focusing on this market out of loyalty to the past as well as out of faith in its future", confirms Cees Lengers, Marketing Manager of SRAM Europe, the deal. SRAM is thus expanding its product range after derailleurs, hub gears and brakes to include the increasingly important suspension technology. The preliminary agreement has been signed, the audit is underway and the joint future plans are to be announced at a press conference in Taipei by mid-March. Consequences for the products of both manufacturers are not expected until 2004.

Generation change at Avid: Next year, the top model in cross-country disc brakes will be called Elixir CR Mag. The new stopper replaces the tried-and-tested Juicy Ultimate. The brake brand from Sram is now also using the Center Lock standard for brake rotor mounting.

He is known in Europe as the face of RockShox, and from now on he will also be coordinating marketing for SRAM: Dirk Belling from Munich, who has been Marketing Director at RockShox Europe for several years. This fills the position at SRAM Europe in the Netherlands that has been vacant since the departure of Cees Lengers in the spring.

Sram is recalling locking links for 10-speed chains worldwide. There is a risk of breakage in two defective series of "Power Lock" fasteners.

SRAM does not yet have a complete road bike group. Nevertheless, the US company will be supplying several road teams for the first time this season: the teams of CSC Tiscali (DEN), BigMat Auber 93 (FRA) and Relax-Fuenlabrada (ESP) will be racing with the "R9" road bike cassettes and PC 89R "Hollow Pin" chains. SRAM will also be supplying these parts to four national American sports groups.

Sram closes one of the last gaps in its range: at Interbike, the component manufacturer presented its first own hub sets for mountain bikes.

Now it's officially confirmed: Sram is taking over the brake specialist Avid, thereby acquiring a competence that has not yet been covered. Following the purchase of Rock Shox, Sram is thus moving ever closer to becoming a comprehensive component manufacturer. Avid is to be fully integrated into Sram in the near future.

In the first year after the takeover of RockShox, SRAM presents the continuation of the "BlackBox" program, which offers innovative technology to some of the world's best racers. In addition to modified RockShox forks and shocks, there are also X.0 shifting systems with further optimized details. Racers are free to choose forks, shocks, shifters or all of the above. In addition to Thomas Frischknecht, Barbara Blatter is also in the "BlackBox" boat from a Swiss perspective.

Sram uses the possibilities of the video portal YouTube for itself. The component manufacturer has recently started offering service videos for suspensions, brakes and drives on its own information channel.

What the "Red" is for racing cyclists, the "XX" will be for cross-country bikers from next year: Sram is developing a lightweight (and certainly expensive) component group for off-road use. The XX will not only include gears, but also brakes and suspension elements.