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Table of Contents
- •Get right to the audio episode!•Vote for the winner in the 1x vs 2x debate
This week is one of my favorite recent episodes. They are all like my children, so I love them equally. I love this one a bit more, though, because all four of us—Lisa Charlebois, Logan Jones-Wilkins, Mike Levy, and myself—are in the virtual studio and we really get into it. There’s plenty of back-and-forth and a lot of passion.
We kick things off with listener questions. It is supposed to be a warmup, and starts calmly enough with some bike-buying advice. That calm is short-lived. Is bikepacking restricted to gravel? Do you have to camp to bikepack? These are big questions, and we all have surprisingly different takes. I also get a chance to double down on how good the Cannondale CAAD14 is and why there is more to a bike than its spec sheet.
Then we get into the heavy hitters. There is a new 13-speed Shimano Dura-Ace prototype being tested, and it is still not wireless. The debate quickly spirals into a broader SRAM vs. Campagnolo vs. Shimano showdown, and the crew is definitively not in agreement. Some of us love the shifting precision of Shimano, while others want to talk about how much the rest of the brand’s offering is lacking. But truthfully, even this is just a warmup.
Remember, don’t forget to vote below!
We take some time to get there, but all week Logan and I have been dueling in op-eds. Is 1x the future of road bikes, or is 2x always going to be superior? I think I won the debate, but I also know road cyclists are slow to change and want 2x anyway. Maybe I am wrong and maybe Logan is right? Listen to the arguments, read the articles, and we want to know what you think. Leave your comments but also make sure you vote. We are going to check the results on a future episode.
Timestamps
00:00:00 – Intro
00:02:52 – Listener questions: Bikepacking definitions and the Cannondale CAAD14
00:25:45 – Shimano 2×13 prototype and the great drivetrain brand war
00:53:41 – 1x vs. 2x on the road
Articles covered in this episode
- Front Derailleurs Are Living on Borrowed Time: Why 1x on the Road Is the Inevitable Future
- Opinion: You Can Take My Front Derailleur When I am Dead
- The Velo Drivetrain Poll: Is 1x or 2x the Future of Road?
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