With the Tour being a distant memory for most people, the final release of SRAM Red Yellow, Limited Tour Edition has given the office some excitement and glamour.
“Every former and current Tour de France champion racing in the 2010 edition will be equipped with SRAM’s new Limited Tour Edition (LTE) groupset – Alberto Contador (Astana), Lance Armstrong (RadioShack), Carlos Sastre (Cervelo TT), and Oscar Pereiro (Astana – here but not racing). The collective power of the last eleven Tour winners was a critical part of the launch, the aftermarket only groupset is available for a limited time from www.probikekit.com.
Inspiration for the black anodised gruppo with yellow graphics was to pay tribute to the colour of the Tour as well as reflect on SRAM’s 2009 success. SRAM RED not only won the Tour de France with Alberto Contador (Astana) but swept the podium with Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) and Lance Armstrong in third (Team RadioShack).”
I first opened up a chainset box and wow – the black finish is absolutely stunning.
When it’s all put together the Yellow graphics and details are very nicely done, not garish at all and it would probably go with most bikes’ colour schemes without looking odd.
Almost all of the components have a hint of Yellow or Tour about them, the front mech lacks any actual yellow but instead has an engraved message on the top to remind you when you look down that what you’re riding is in fact very special!
The cassette discreetly advertises it’s ‘yellowness’ with a black back plate rather than the usual red. It never fails to impress with it’s 1-piece structure. Just the bottom two teeth are single cogs, the rest is milled from a single piece of steel so it’s as light as Ti but far stronger/more durable.
Shifter wise you have the Yellow graphics and in case you had forgot a full set of Gore cables – one of those items you fit and forget about but when you go back to a normal cable you instantly notice the difference.
On the brake calipers you get yellow graphics and the very ‘PRO’ looking yellow Swiss Stop pads – suitable for carbon or alloy rims and above everything else they look great!
The groupset is finished off with a 2011 SRAM Red ceramic BB with the new style cups and 1091R hollow pin chain which keeps friction down and efficiency high.
Click on the 1st picture below to open up a full screen gallery of SRAM Yellow:
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A total weight on the PBK Office scales of 2033g (including the plastic cassette carrier but not cableset) just pushes over the 2kg boundary but it definitely keeps the group in the lightweight sector. If you have some Christmas money burning a hole in your pocket I’d think about throwing it this way!
