In December 2011, Sram's PR managers wanted to set up viral marketing to heat up the mood for the new Red road bike groupset. The plan was to publish images of the new groupset in stages, but several online portals published the images all at once. In order to stay on top of the latest news, Sram chose the Facebook route to publish a picture of a new rear derailleur without comment.

The shape of the new Sram rear derailleur is strongly reminiscent of the "Shadow Plus" design on Shimano's XTR Trail rear derailleurs. Within a kind of drum on the shift arm, the Sram prototype now also appears to have an integrated tension spring, which tensions the chain strongly to the rear and can thus effectively prevent chain rodeo when riding downhill. Sram does not appear to use an "on/off" switch for activating the increased rear tension, as is the case with Shimano.

www.sram.com