Mollema: "F@%&$*#* SRAM

Whats the SRAM-quoted derailleur battery life - 20 hours? That is very short for an application like DK which is a long ride with probably a lot of shifting. Doesn’t give much margin for error if the battery is a little undercharged or slightly defective.

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Just a question: have you ridden a Strada? I have, and in my experience the bike is as great as the reviews say it is. By virtue of being 1x only (although there is the Strada Due now), the bike is quite marmite to some, especially for roadies who tend to be much more conservative about their gear. Clearly, having 1x11 gears to cover all eventualities was going to be at the limit of what is possible, but when the bike was designed Vroomen (the brains behind the bike) was expecting SRAM to have released its 12-speed drive trains earlier than it did. And now that Rotor has released a 13-speed 1x group set, the compromise you make is going to be quite minimal.

First of all, the pros are supposed to test new gear. It sucks if this impacts your performance in a race, but that’s part of the game. Long-term reliability can’t be tested without, well, putting it to the test in the real world. And frankly, we don’t know whether SRAM’s new AXS group sets are more likely to fail or not. A single event is not sufficient. Nino Schürte at least hasn’t been slowed down by his AXS Eagle drive train.

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Well, for a start that’s not really an easy comparison, as Trainer Road isn’t going have a catastrophic failure just as your marquee rider hits the final climb of a monument. But I imagine that Nate and the team would try to build a relationship with the team and use their feedback to improve their product, rather than just present them a radically different piece of tech with no option other than to use it.

In fact, it’s more like Nate approaches a team and tells them they have to train with Sustained Power Build mid volume and no other option, and then wonders why they’re not competitive in the sprint.

Secondly, the only criticisms I’ve seen cyclists make about their gear were either in the heat of the moment (Christian, Mollema), or once the sponsorship contract had fallen apart (Blythe).

Ultimately, you’re pointing your finger at the wrong target. The overwhelming factor bringing down a brand’s reputation is not the rider swearing about a mechanical but the fact the mechanical happened in the first place.

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No, what is bringing down a brand’s reputation is if there is a systematic problem that the company does not address. Isolated failures can happen, and are by themselves not indicative of a wide-spread or systematic problem.

It’s more like the team approaches Nate and says, “Hey, we’re going to help you sell your product if you give us a bunch of money and then blames the product and tells everyone they can’t win if you use that product.”

Mechanicals happen A LOT. It’s part of racing machines. Blaming “SRAM” is unprofessional.

Pro riders are paid sales and PR people. It’s literally the only reason why a company should give a team money - to drive sales. The only other reason is the owner wants an ego project and doesn’t care about how much the sponsorship does or doesn’t move the needle and then realizes how much money they lost and ends the sponsorship and leaves the team scrambling for a new sponsor every year or two.

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I haven’t. But I know that just a 2-tooth jump on a cassette has had me grinding or spinning in a time trial trying to hold the same power in a TT. I like pedalling at 95rpm.

This does indeed seem to be an improvement. But even in Rotor’s own publicity document, it shows that 53/39 with 11-28 cover a 7.23 gear metre range with 14 gear options, with the Rotor covering a larger 7.85 gear metre range with 13 gear options. I’m sure others have their preferences, but I’d still rather have the closer shifting and the straighter chainlines.

Just to be clear, I have no particular axe to grind against Sram or 3T, by the way! Shimano and Campag also have mechanicals. But it’s been more than one incident, and Mollema’s reaction does suggest frustration with ongoing problems rather than just generalised annoyance at a random equipment failure.

I have been running SRAM AXS on my 2019 S-Work Tarmac since mid-March. I’m not sure of the hours, but I ran out once with perhaps the 20 hours you suggested. But the batteries are small and take less than 5 seconds to remove or install. So likely the mechanics carry lots of them for the team and swap them out either daily or every couple of days during a grand tour. [FWIW: These are so easy to change that they could be swapped while the pro rider is on the ride]

You can contrast this to Shimano Di2 that I run on my 2015 Specialized Roubaix. To charge it I have to plug a cable into the Di2 system and leave it charging overnight. The battery charge probably lasts ~ 1.5-2.0x as long, but is significantly less convenient.

Note: There are two separate deraileur batteries in the AXS setup. It’s the front that will fail faster (i.e. just a guess, but the rear battery probably lasts 2x because of the significantly less work it needs to do). With Shimano, it’s a single battery, but when the battery runs low, Di2 reserves power by stopping the front derailleur from working first (keeps/puts it in the small ring) allowing you to “get home” on the cassette.

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Partly down to the number of riders and partly down to stripping the bikes down every night.

Reminds me of the time Fabio Aru crashed and was heard on camera saying “shitty bike” in Italian. He had all kinds of apologizing to do to Colnago for that one, especially since it looked like the failure was shifting (Campy) and not his frame.

Anyways, I think it’s kinda refreshing to hear Mollema frustrated like this. I’ve been part of and witness to plenty of gear failings from all variety of top of the line equipment, and it’s frustrating when it happens, even if it’s an unavoidable fact of life.

This was supposed to be a lighthearted thread.

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It looks like the mechanical Mollema had was dropping his chain on the inside. Did anyone see anything differently?

FWIW: Surprisingly, my Tarmac/AXS is only 2.5 months old and recently I had been dropping my chain on both the inside and outside regularly. In prep for my RR yesterday, the first thing I checked was chain wear. The chain was still like new. So I took it to the LBS where I bought it to check it out. They adjusted the big ring and small ring limiters. I had no shifting issues during yesterday’s RR. I’m hopeful that it’s just a new bike issue and not some regular AXS issue.

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This part blows my mind. Cycling isn’t “flush” with cash, yet we often hear about riders disparaging their sponsors.

Imagine hearing Lebron James or Tiger Woods blame Nike for a shot they missed. They wouldn’t be sponsored for long.

I think part of it in cycling is that the sponsors have a deal with the team, then the team hires riders so the money is one step removed. If Mollema was getting large checks directly from SRAM then maybe he wouldn’t say such things.

One more thing; all the top brands want input from their pros so they can have a discussion and improve the product. Every product can be improved and all the great companies want to improve.

No one wants to have that discussion in public though.

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There is a growing crowd of people for whom 1x is not just an option, but a more attractive option. On many rides I don’t use my front derailleur at all, only for longer, sustained climbs or really steep bits do I need to shift down. My next bike will be 1x. In fact, I would have converted it to 1x if I liked the frame’s geometry. I don’t mind the “larger” jumps in my 11-32 cassette now either. But that is a matter of personal taste, and therefore, having choice is a good thing. So this isn’t a case of you being wrong and me being right on 1x vs. 2x, but IMHO it is wrong to dismiss a bike with 1x as being inadequate. I’ve met people, former pros, who have podiumed with a 1x drive train — and who rode it by choice. Team Aquablue had some podiums with 1x, too.

@Nate_Pearson
Yup, if you look towards other sports athletes are usually not bad mouthing sponsors, and if they do, they get into trouble. While cycling is more gear centric than most other sports, and therefore sponsors potentially influence the outcome of races (whereas a car manufacturer sponsoring a soccer team doesn’t).

Even if we go away from malfunctions, different athletes may have very different preferences. For example, I absolutely hate Shimano’s STI shift levers (mechanical and DI2), but most people get along just fine with them. (On the MTB side, I have no complaints about Shimano.) I find Campagnolo shifters weird and love SRAM’s DoubleTap levers. If I were a pro and had a strong preference one way or another, I wouldn’t like having to ride the “wrong” group set. But you are a pro, and you gotta do what you gotta do.

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I think you are giving him too much credit. Mollema knows where his bread is buttered. And it is likely in his contract, both to promote the sponsors and never to speak badly about them (in public). Phil Gaimon talks in his book, Draft Animals, about this sponsor obligation. Mollema’s reaction [in the business world] is known as a CLS (career limiting statement). IMO, a classless act and potentially a career issue, regardless of his frustration.

Yes. And they get this long before product launch. When I talked to Cameron Piper at Specialized (see separate thread) he talked about this regarding each of the bikes being discussed in the thread (Venge, Tarmac, Roubaix). Surely, in cooperation with Specialized and other bike manufacturers, SRAM did the same. Of course, this doesn’t guarantee that everything has been thought through nor installation/maintenance/wear issues won’t show up later during prime time usage.

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I sort of disagree on the whole lebron thing. If lebron was running up to the basket for a dunk and during normal use his shoe blew apart on him and cost him the points and maybe the game, he’d probably say something negative about it and Nike would probably apologize and say something about improving quality.

Where in this case folk riding SRAM’s new axs stuff seem to be having some high profile problems with it that are potentially costing results(big potentially here) and SRAM doesn’t say a word about it. In contrast the women’s team Boels Dolmans runs SRAM axs and they seem to win just fine, at least it hasn’t clearly cost them results. It makes me think this has more to do with the mechanics at trek and aqua blue sport and perhaps less to do with the drivetrain itself. It might be better for SRAM to work more closely with their teams to help prevent the issues before they start. We haven’t heard any world tour teams cursing/blaming their campy super record EPS 12 speed or bad mouthing their dura ace so it’s a wonder why SRAM has been getting the public shaming. Lord knows Nike is making sure the shoes they send to lebron aren’t going to fall apart in the middle of a game, but if he’s having trouble lacing them up they’d probably give him a hand.

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We can also flip that and say the elite athletes are providing an opportunity to showcase a product and SRAM needs to do a better job for it’s sponsored riders by creating a better product which racers rely upon.

It’s crazy to read all the posts in here complaining about Mollema’s slight of tongue regarding poor shifting. I suspect Mollema may care more about racing than a paycheck, a forgone thought in most of America.

Additionally, it appears AXS has batter problems, latency may still be an issue, and looks like the FD is still shifting like classic SRAM. lol

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I think a closer analogy would be if Lebron was going up for a dunk and his shoelaces came untied, and he then blamed Nike.

I don’t know Mollema’s exact problem, but it seems like he dropped his chain. In my experience that’s usually a limit screw issue (mechanic) not a drive train issue.

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They should give the money back then. Sponsorship is paid so that you get a positive association with an athlete. They aren’t public product testers (even if they might feel that way sometimes).

If they don’t like the product then don’t take the money.

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From the sound of things in the video, I suppose Mollema would if he could. :):upside_down_face:

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Pro athletes test pre-release products all the time. Famously, Nino Schürte has ridden on an Eagle AXS prototype groupset for quite a while. Ditto for frames, where pro athletes ride what you will be able to buy in the store the next model year.

I would say that this is feedback that should be dealt with internally, but not publicly.

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