Sram uses flowery marketing jargon to promote medium-length rear derailleurs and cassettes with an 11-32 gradation in the road sector: Red and Force rear derailleurs are now also available in the "WiFli" or "Wider, Faster, Lighter" version. This gives compact cranks with 50/34 chainrings a significantly extended gear ratio range on the bike: The derailleurs work with a longer cage and a slightly modified geometry so that they can also cope with 32 t cogs on the cassette that are suitable for uphill riding.

The 2012 Sram Red Wifli mid-cage rear derailleur weighs 167 grams, shines in a gray-black finish and has all the features of the short Red changer: ceramic bearings on the noise-reduced derailleur pulleys, a titanium spring in the parallelogram and a portion of titanium and carbon in the mounting bolts and cage put the component on the tron of Sram's road changer dynasty.

The 2012 Force Wifli mid-cage rear derailleur has a silver look, a touch less carbon fiber and steel mounting bolts. The weight on the scales is 190 grams. The new shifters can be used with all Sram road groupsets, i.e. Red, Force, Rival and Apex. The shifters and the matching 11-32 XG-1099 cassettes will be available from June 2012, while the wide-range PG-1070 cassette to match the Force level is already available.

With the "WiFli" concept, Sram is taking up the cudgels for double cranks on road bikes: the component manufacturer claims that shifting is much faster and easier with two chainrings than with three at the front. The system also saves up to 250 grams of weight compared to triple.

www.sram.com