Drain ports aren’t meant to accommodate derailleur wires…and are usually smaller. So are you going to drill out your brand new frame and void the warranty, or are you just gonna pick another frame from a different brand?
Again, this is being different at the expense of limiting your customer base and providing no advantage.
I drilled out my tri bike nearly 10 years ago to change the cable routing, so personally I have no issue with drilling a frame.
Also whenever I buy a road bike again it will be SRAM electronic 1x so I see no issue here for myself. But also who cares, there are all sorts of only works with X things on bikes lately… Different brake caliper spacing, integrated stems/bars, shaped seat posts. This isn’t a big company they picked a niche thing to get some legs from and likely they will sell enough to people who are fine with this.
Sheesh bit angry in here, this morning.
Yeah its a bodge, but it’s worked on countless of other frame designs out there. Normally the drain holes are enough to accommodate a cable and if any drilling is required, its only a small amount.
And tbh, yes I don’t get why you’d do this either. A hole in the chainstay or dropout area is not at all hard to incorporate.
I’m all for the devil’s advocate approach and use it plenty myself. But at some point you have to call a spade a spade. This is a niche of a niche they set for themselves and are trying to market it as a benefit, when it’s really a restriction that has no upsides that really help the buyer that I can see.
I’ve got a trek domane that is my gravel race bike and run wireless AXS with either 1x or 2x. If the frame had been “wireless only”, I still would have bought it, but it’s not a selling point for me and I see it more as a small negative since it limits future options.
Making a road or gravel bike 1x only would be a deal killer for me. I know some folks are big on 1x and I like it in some situations, but there are a lot of gravel courses that strongly favor a 2x setup (at least for me). There is no significant downside to 2x on a modern bike with electronic shifting and you get much smaller gear jumps. The AXS stuff really makes it nice to swap back and forth between 2x and 1x and 1x MTB gearing, all using the same shifters. I can go from a nice tight 2x road/gravel setup to running a 10-52 cassette with 40 tooth 1x setup in under 10 minutes and using the same power meter crank spindle. It’s really a slick system.
I get that making a bike 1x only solves some engineering challenges with chainline and tire clearance, but it’s not worth it for me. Wireless is less of an issue for me, but seems dumb to not even support wired electronic. Eliminating mechanical/cables on a high end bike frame seems somewhat reasonable, making it wireless only seems a step too far.
This. If there was an actual benefit to it, someone would just state it…but saying “well, you can hack it if you want” just kinda proves the point.
So I just want to make sure I understand there are people complaining about a bike they likely were not going to buy, that didn’t even go to the website to see that the bike is available in different trim levels that include both wired electric shifting and mechanical?
What exactly is the problem?
You are clearly looking at bikes and setups other than the specific model in question here.
It is a discussion forum where people express opinions about training and cycling products / trends…
So, what exactly is the problem with discussing the design shortcomings of this particular frame?
This is trim levels not models.
They sell one frame, specifications are identical on every trim level they sell. This one trim level just happens to have no provisions for mechanical. If you want a Vielo with mechanical you can buy one, just not in this specific trim level and you still get the exact same frame.
The short comings don’t really exists, if you want this frame with provisions for mechanical or semi wireless shifting you can buy it.
I understand this is a discussion forum and expressing opinions is perfectly fine, it just seems it was a reaction to a single article and no one actually looked into what is actually available from this company.
This just isn’t correct.
There are certainly a number of 1x gravel bikes on the market that feature SRAM’s wireless shifters. But Vielo’s V+1 frame has no routing for a rear derailleur cable or wire — so SRAM’s wireless drivetrain is your only choice.
Quoting an article that is wrong doesn’t mean that my statement is incorrect…
Just because they haven’t updated their website to include a new frame they are debuting literally this weekend doesn’t make you correct, either…
The Vielo V+1 Race is a refinement of the brand’s first product it debuted with in 2018, the V+1 Gravel, a 1x-only gravel bike.
Its literally in the link I provided above… and has its own tab, the website is up to date.
The specifications of every trim level including the race is identical, if you want that frame with holes you can buy it.
Looking at weights it does appear they have 2 frame sets.
A heaver 1100gram strato
And the race is just the alto with the holes filled at 880 grams.
So again if you want this frame with mechanial or semi wired options… you can.
I don’t get that. With 1x, the chainring is likely bigger than the inner ring on a 2x system would be, and sits a bit closer to the frame than the outer ring would. So you have potentially have more issues with chainstay shape / tyre clearance? There shouldn’t be a real difference in chain line, the 1x chainline is in the middle of the 2x chainline.
I can see how 1x is potentially more aerodynamic and how the chainline can be optimised on a single speed bike (eg, a track bike), but in that case you wouldn’t also have wide tyres.
sigh
OK.
Creatively quoting to try and make a point because you were too lazy to check the companies actual offerings doesn’t make the point you are trying to make.
The 880g Alto frameset appears to be identical in everyway to the race frame from the article. As the race trim it is just the Alto frame with the holes filled or just never drilled.
The strato at 1100 grams is NOT the one I’m talking about when I say it is available with holes for mechanical.
So again if you want this frame with mechanial or semi wired options… you can. Just because a poorly written article says otherwise doesn’t make it true.
