Classified is opening up availability of their unique wireless 2x hub with three separate new carbon wheelsets to upgrade many road or gravel bikes with twice the gear range. Over the summer we spotted Classified Cycling’s curious internally geared hub tech that turns modern 1x bikes back into even wider-range doubles, yet without a front derailleur. But the Classified Powershift Hub was a hard setup to get ahold of… only available on a very limited number of OEM bikes. Now with aftermarket wheelsets, it might be time to rethink the gearing on your current bike…
Classified Carbon Wheelsets, w/ wireless 2x internal hub gear built-in
Classified’s new wheels don’t offer any new tech, they just make it much more accessible. And you don’t need to buy a new Ridley Kanzo Fast aero gravel bike anymore to get them.
Classified is starting to lace up three carbon wheelsets – one 30mm deep gravel & two road/all-road, 35 & 50mm deep – so cyclists with existing bikes can make an easier jump to their wireless, gearing-doubling rear hub. The idea is that the Classified Powershift system is compatible with a lot of existing bikes, so opening it up to more riders just required figuring out a reliable way to make sure buyers got set up properly.
What bikes & drivetrains are compatible?
Classified says that their Powershift Hub setup will work with almost any 11-speed road rear derailleur, since it uses its own proprietary 11-speed cassette (available in 11-27, 11-30, 11-32 & 11-34). And while their wireless shifting and control module are specifically designed to connect into a Shimano Di2 shifter, they have a remote shifter expected to be available in the spring that means it should work even with mechanical shift setups.
How do you get a new set?
The new wheels are being sold through participating dealers and consumer-direct. But the trick is, it’s not as simple as swapping out a regular wheelset. So even those that order direct can only get their new wheelset delivered to a Classified-certified bike shop. There, the shop will verify compatibility and make sure the complete setup is done properly.
Today, there are only certified shops located in Belgium and The Netherlands. But the wheels you pre-order now won’t ship to dealers until March 2021, and Classified hopes to have broadened their network further across Europe by that time. And a recent €5m investment from a British fund suggests they will likely make it to the UK soon.
Classified carbon wheels – Tech details & pricing
All three wheelsets share much of the same construction and the same 2400€ price, including the 2-speed internally geared hub, cassette, and all shifting controls. They each are disc brake only, built up with 24 DT Swiss Aerolite spokes and a DT 240 front hub.
The three wheels all feature full carbon, hooked tubeless rims. The 30mm deep gravel rims measure 23mm internal, max 29.5mm external and have a claimed weight of 1375g. The 35mm deep all-rounder road rims measure 19mm inside and 27mm outside, with a claimed weight of 1315g. The 50mm deep aero road rims measure 29 19mm internal, 27mm external and weigh 1415g.
All of the weights Classified shares include the complete front wheel, plus the rear wheel with the Powershift-ready hubshell. They do NOT include the actual geared Powershift hub mechanism, which is removable and can be swapped from one wheelset to the next. Classified isn’t super transparent on weights, calling the system “equally light or lighter than a traditional electronic groupset“.
They do give a bit more detail confirming that their system paired to a Shimano GRX Di2 1×11 is the same weight +/-10g as a Shimano GRX Di2 2×11 with a DT 350 rear hub. “In short we can state that the weight of the replaced components (front derailleur, small chainring, traditional hub, thru axle and cassette) is approximately the same as the weight of the components offered by Classified.”
When you buy one of these complete wheelsets though, it does include the full setup – a pair of wheels, the 2x Powershift hub mechanism, cassette, smart thru-axle, and handlebar unit controller. Separate additional wheels without the Powershift hub are also available from Classified, as its quick to swap one gear mechanism back-and-forth.
Read our full, detailed tech breakdown of the wirelessly-actuated, internal reduction gear, virtual-front-derailleur-inside-the-rear-hub Classified Powershift system here.
Classified Powershift internal 2x wheelsets – Pre-order & availability
To get your set, Classified has opened up a pre-order now where you pay a 250€ deposit today, and the rest only when you pick up the wheels installed on your own bike in March 2021 from your local Classified-certified bike shop.
We’re quite interested to see how this setup performs – if it lives up to lofty expectations – and hope to test ride the setup early next year.
