Somebody has been eating SRAMs lunch

 For the last few years somebody has been eating SRAM's lunch, and SRAM have finally caught onto it. When they launched their 12 speed road groupset in 2019 it was wireless only. The heavier and way more expensive wireless kit was financially out of the reach of a lot of people. SRAM had officially turned its back on cable gears for 12 speed road/gravel and left a big hole in the market for people who didn't think that you should have to pay a premium just to charge their derailleurs.

Enter Ratio-Technology. Armed with the knowledge that SRAM road levers are actually an easily tunable item for the home mechanic, they started making solutions to fill the gaping hole that SRAM had left them. Starting with a redesigned cable fin to change the leverage of the derailleur and a new ratchet that now had the ability to shift 12 gears, it was game on. 

 Not only did this upgrade work on the modern hyraulic SRAM road system, it also worked on the older groupset, SRAM Red - 10 and 11 speed, probably the lightest modern road gruppo there ever was, before the advances of hydraulic braking and electric gears became popular, forcing the weights up.

Timing was good and with gravel becoming mainstream people were doing all sorts of really cool things empowered by Ratio-technology's hot-rodding of SRAM's "cabled" ecosystem. Mullet derailleur set-ups were now doable in cable, not just wireless.

An MTB rear deraillieur with road shifters was a pretty cool thing, especially with a big increase in Bikepackers going to drop-bars. But Ratio-tech didnt stop there. They next built a replacement cage for the SRAM derailleurs so you could increase the range. A "gravel" derailleur that originally shifted to a 36 or a 42 could now shift to a 52 with their new cage. That is some serious climbing ability right there. 

So thanks to Ratio-technology, you have a massive range, and the ability to shift to 11, 12 and wait for it, 13 gears. Yes, they also build a ratchet that lets you use the Campagnolo 13 speed cassette and chain in an otherwise completely SRAM set-up. They also build their own special chain-rings and a lighter  replacement cage for damaged SRAM AXS derailleurs.

And that's not all, they do kits that let you swap out the way the cable enters your derailleur. Why is this important? A lot of gravel bikes have the derailleur cable exiting at the very end of the chain stay, which is not compatible with the cable entry point of a SRAM MTB derailleur.

SRAM have finally read the memo and a few weeks ago announced that they are now launching a new 12 speed drop-bar cable solution at the Apex level. It seems to fill some of the gaps but if you already have an existing system, what not just upgrade the internals?

Ratio-technology is a solutions based outfit so it will be interesting to see what they do next. All the kits they they build are presented with comprehensive instructions on their site here.

I recently gave up on 2x on my gravel bike, concerned that my chain drops were going to eventually wear a hole through my BB, mostly due to not having a clutched rear derailleur.

I ordered the Ratio-tech extender cage which I mated with an existing Rival derailleur body and have had a trouble free run with it so far using a Garbaruk 11-50 11 speed cassette. I didn't want to shell out for 12 speed compatible wheels at this point given my current stock of barely worn 11 speed cassettes. The option is there with the purchase of Ratio-technology's 12 speed ratchet when I need it. Folks want options!