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Hands on: Rotor Uno groupset Hands on: Rotor Uno groupset Hands on: Rotor Uno groupset Hands on: Rotor Uno groupset Hands on: Rotor Uno groupset Hands on: Rotor Uno groupset Hands on: Rotor Uno groupset Hands on: Rotor Uno groupset Hands on: Rotor Uno groupset Hands on: Rotor Uno groupset
Hands on: Rotor Uno groupset

Hands on: Rotor Uno groupset

We've been playing with the prototypes of Rotor's new mechanical groupset. Here's what we learned.
by dave atkinson
Thu, Aug 27, 2015 17:10
12

It's not often you get three brand new groupsets to play with in one show. We've already seen FSA's electronic prototypes, and we tore ourselves away from playing Space Invaders with SRAM's new Red eTap wireless groupset (this really happened) to have a go on Rotor Uno, which swaps cables for hydraulics.

Why? Well, there are various benefits to running hydraulics. The most obvious is that the cable run is immaterial. You can run the hose wherever you like and make the bends as tight as the hose outer will allow with no loss of shifting efficiency. Once the system is set up it should be ebtirely fuss free, too: there's no cables to stretch and no holes for water to get into and ruin everything. There are no batteries to worry about either.

Rotor reveals first glimpse of its new Uno groupset

There's also the promise (as yet unfulfilled by Rotor) of multiple shifting positions: You can splice two hoses together and have a shifter at the end of each one. That's good news if you have a time trial setup.

Some basics: The groupset is 22-speed (2x11) and it uses a standard 5mm brake hose for the brake system and a 3mm hose for the gears. It's narrower so it'll fit through existing frame holes.

The shifting and braking systems are entirely separate, each having a master cylinder in the lever hood. Uno uses Magura's Royal Blood mineral oil; all the hydraulics are produced by Magura and the groupset uses Uno-branded Magura disc callipers and Magura's RT8 hydraulic rim brakes. Either brake can be run from the same lever, you don't need a different one.

FSA prototype electronic groupset breaks cover at Eurobike

Actuating the gears works in a similar way to SRAM's DoubleTap. A short click drops the derailleur down, with a longer push shifting the other way. The rear mech can be shifted up to four gears at a time; there's an adjustment screw in the lever hood which allows you to set the maximum number of shifts you want for a single push, up to that maximum. The front mech has four positions, two trim positions for each of the two chainrings.

The shift levers are pivoted from the brake levers but they don't have a secondary pivot, so they can't be pulled back towards the drops independently of the brake lever like SRAM's shift levers can.

SRAM launches Red eTap wireless groupset

And what's it like to use? Well, we only got to play on the demonstration units at the show booth, we weren't allowed out on the roads. But not to be deterred we gave it a good clicking. On the rear mech the downshift is very positive and the upshift a bit less so, especially when you have it set up for multiple shifts. The front mech is a pretty chunky click going both ways. These are still prototypes so we can't really say much other than it appears to work, and give you a bit more detail about how. There's no weights or prices as yet. Uno should be launching next year, and we'll be off to Rotor's base in Madrid when the time comes to put it through its paces.

Eurobike
eurobike 2015
Rotor
Rotor Uno
Dave Atkinson

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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12 comments

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RobD | 9 years ago
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If they can get the price right (ie low enough) then this sounds interesting, a sealed up hydraulic system should require very little maintenance, and if they can get the final lever feel and shifting to a good enough level then I'd be interested.
Electronic shifting might be the future of racing, but for a low maintenance, reliable and effective system this could be ideal.

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hampstead_bandit | 9 years ago
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@Redvee

there was an American boutique parts company that did this years ago, albeit a retro fit system for existing Shimano mechanical mountain bike derailleurs

What they produced was a pump / piston unit for each end so that the mechanical shifter drove the hydraulic system which then drove the mechanical derailleur

very expensive, the testers at the magazines who reviewed it reported on issues with indexing reliability due to changes in atmospheric pressure (weather / altitude).

Unlike a hydraulic brake system which simply uses pressure increase to close the brake (with an "open" diaghragm on the MC to allow for heat expansion and pressure changes), it would be interesting to see how Rotor can provide reliable indexing considering the small incremental steps in an 11 speed shifting system

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JonD replied to hampstead_bandit | 9 years ago
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hampstead_bandit wrote:

@Redvee

Unlike a hydraulic brake system which simply uses pressure increase to close the brake (with an "open" diaghragm on the MC to allow for heat expansion and pressure changes), it would be interesting to see how Rotor can provide reliable indexing considering the small incremental steps in an 11 speed shifting system

It's not a direct analogy, but from the little I've read there's a ratchet in the mech, so fluid flow doesn't need to be that accurate - it's not simply replacing a cable with a hydraulic equivalent. By comparison a mechanical trigger-style shifter in road or mtb form has a ratchet in the gear shifter, but converts to a precise(ish)amount of cable travel.

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Yorky-M | 9 years ago
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Tried this yesterday. Double the effort to change gear needed compared to cable sti.

Love the innovation thou

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Redvee | 9 years ago
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Hydraulic gears aren't new, IIRC there was a cable actuated hydraulic system released around 15-20 years ago. Can't remember who but Hope are the sort of people who'd give it a go.

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mike_ibcyclist | 9 years ago
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I'm in the "but why?" camp. I think this is what happens when you run a company and have too many engineers hanging around.

Someone at Rotor needs to walk them over to the Sram booth and say: "See this? This is the future. This is how aerospace works. This is how cycling will be working. Take this hydraulic stuff and put it to work on disk brakes and don't come out of the workshop until you have something."

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JonD replied to mike_ibcyclist | 9 years ago
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mike_ibcyclist wrote:

I'm in the "but why?" camp. I think this is what happens when you run a company and have too many engineers hanging around.

Someone at Rotor needs to walk them over to the Sram booth and say: "See this? This is the future. This is how aerospace works. This is how cycling will be working. Take this hydraulic stuff and put it to work on disk brakes and don't come out of the workshop until you have something."

The good thing about us engineers (tho' I'm in the electronic camp) is that we (well, most of us!) have an inbuilt bullshit detector and a tendency to want to design and make stuff that works and is robust, rather than necessarily following the latest fad. Hydraulics in many forms have been around for years and are pretty reliable, in particular you don't need to power them or worry about state of charge. Any system is only as good as it's design and implementation, whether electronic, hydraulic or mechanical , and they'll all have their own pros, cons, and possibly reliabilty weaknesses. Is the Rotor design the best solution ? Dunno, but unlike a cable it doesn't appear to require a precise fluid flow (=cable travel), and uses mineral oil which doesn't absorb water (unlike DOTxx fluid),

There are some advantages with using electronic shifting - if designed properly you should be able to have a groupset-agnostic system whereby you can mix and match road and mtb shifters and mechs and cassette spacing but as to whether that'll happen..

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andy_schweiz | 9 years ago
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Having just returned home from Eurobike I think I can safely say that the future lies with the SRAM eTap and not with Rotor's hydraulic offering. The Uno felt draggy and required significant force to change gear, significantly more than a traditional cable set up too. With eTap the shifting was quick and light and once we have converted our brains to right = up, left = down, both = front then it'll be the perfect groupset. Clen looks on the bike, no electrical wires to break or disconnect and interchangeable batteries between front and rear derailleurs to get you home. As soon as SRAM add hydraulic brakes -they are coming according to the guy I spoke to (and hopefully get rid of the HUGE hood/hydraulic cylinder) I'll be first in line for my first road bike with disk brakes!

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peted76 | 9 years ago
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I'm quite taken with the idea of getting rid of pesky stretchy heavy cables for a bit of hydraulic!

(However I must confess my foray into MTB hydraulic discs a few years ago was marred with failure and frustration).

Big ask for me is price, can't see these being efficient, light and cheaper than the others out there. (Remember we can only pick two). I reckon we're looking at over two bags of sand for this groupset with chainrings - way beyond me.

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maldin | 9 years ago
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It's good to see competition so I'm not complaining, but I must confess that I just don't see the point of hydraulic gears. Mechanical works but electronic addresses some of its shortfalls - 100% reliable shifts regardless of conditions and zero maintenance aside from battery recharge every few months (in my experience). I don't see how hydraulics improves simplicity over mechanical (you can fix a mechanical in the middle of nowhere) nor reliability, accuracy and near non-maintenance over electronic. Nevertheless, it's good to see people trying to innovate.

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musicalmarc replied to maldin | 9 years ago
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it will depend on the price point. Electronic systems are expensive and require frame ports (I think). Electronic systems with Hydro brakes are silly money.

I've never ridden hydro brakes on a road bike but they are great on mountain bikes.

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KiwiMike replied to maldin | 9 years ago
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maldin wrote:

...I don't see how hydraulics improves simplicity over mechanical (you can fix a mechanical in the middle of nowhere)

A clubmate had a gear cable snap at the barrel inside a 105 shifter on PBP. This is a fairly common occurrence, and can require a fair bit of nouse / some innovative tools to sort out. In 15 years running and racing the same MTB, I've not had a single issue with a hydro brake line (but have had to replace many shift cables, natch). I would expect the same solidity from hydro shifting.

With zero wireless/battery issues too.

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