If you’ve been following along on social media and other sites, you probably know by now that TRP looks to be entering the world of derailleurs and shifters sometime soon. Aaron Gwin has been spotted testing various versions of a short cage derailleur for DH, and at Sea Otter this year, there were multiple bikes rolling around with what looks to be a wide range 1×12 compatible rear derailleur.
In the Handkse Gloves booth, Aaron’s new trail bike was sporting an interesting form of drivetrain camouflage with a hefty dose of electrical tape. It doesn’t take much to put two and two together though, as he has been riding on the DH version for some time now. Shown here with an e*thirteen TRS+ 9-46t 12 speed cassette and likely a TRP shifter, this was one of the multiple configurations spotted during the show.
We found another derailleur and shifter on this bike which was set up with a SRAM Eagle 12 speed cassette. Labelled tr12, we’re assuming that stands for Trail 12 speed, which seems to match up with what we’ve seen so far.
The TRP labeled shifter has an interesting pad on the lever – on at least one bike it wasn’t grip tape, but a soft material. Layout looks to be a thumb-thumb arrangement similar to SRAM.
All three derailleurs had a lever up top that seems to be the clutch on/off lever. This tr12 derailleur was the most polished looking with a lock symbol on the lever.
This bike had another interesting set up with a Shimano XTR 12 speed 10-51t cassette and a SRAM X01 shifter and an Eagle chainring.
TRP wouldn’t provide any details other than confirming that they have been testing various stages of drivetrain product. When will we see a TRP drivetrain available to consumers? We’re not sure, but it seems like TRP is taking their time to make sure they get it right.
