At first glance, Vision's new Metron shifters make it appear as if the user has four brake levers fitted.(Image credit: James Huang)
Vision's new Metron front derailleur is essentially a redo of parent company FSA's Energy unit.(Image credit: James Huang)
Rear molded carbon fiber is used for all of the major derailleur components - not just carbon-wrapped aluminum.(Image credit: James Huang)
Both sides of the pulley cage are carbon fiber, too.(Image credit: James Huang)
Vision's new Metron rear derailleur is lightweight at around 140g but a bit flexier than we would have expected.(Image credit: James Huang)
In fairness to Vision, the Metron rear derailleur is still a work in progress though the official release date isn't far off, either.(Image credit: James Huang)
To pull cable - thus shifting to smaller cogs in the back and larger chainrings up front - simply pull the lever as you would if it were a brake. Built-in detents control the indexing.(Image credit: James Huang)
The new Vision Metron shifters masquerade as bar-end brake levers.(Image credit: James Huang)
To release cable, rest your thumb over the end of the lever body and push it like a button.(Image credit: James Huang)
FSA finally showed off a new transmission at this year's Eurobike show, though it still wasn't the road system that we've now been waiting years to see. Instead, FSA displayed new time trial/triathlon-specific bar end shifters plus a pair of derailleurs to go with them – all under the Vision label.
Dubbed 'Metron', the new 10-speed shifter design is certainly a break from convention as the levers are nearly identical in appearance to the Vision's bar-end aero brake levers. Indeed, squeezing the lever back does pull cable but in this case it's connected to a derailleur at the other end and detents built into the body control the indexing.
To release cable and move the derailleur in the opposite direction, riders simply have to set their thumbs (or other conveniently placed fingers) over the end of the lever body and depress it like a button. The rear shifter can handle up to three downshifts in one stroke but just a single upshift per button push. The front shifter is built with just two index positions – one for the big ring and one for the inner ring.
The front derailleur is essentially a rehash of FSA's current Energy model but with updated graphics to coordinate with the rest of the package. But the rear derailleur is an all-new unit with all of the major parts made of real molded carbon fiber – not just a carbon wrap – including the upper and lower knuckles, both parallelogram plates, and the inner and outer pulley cage plates.
Most of the rest of the pieces are built from machined aluminum and ceramic bearing pulleys are bolted in down below.
FSA didn't have official claimed weights for the shifters but the rear derailleur is said to be about 140g, putting it a smidge under SRAM's top-end Red. The front derailleur should be identical to the Energy's 98g figure.
We didn’t have a chance to actually ride the prototype equipment here at the show but did at least get to fiddle around with the bits mounted on a bike while stationary. The shift button is reasonably smooth to operate and the detents are very positive throughout but the lever resistance seems rather on the stiff side to us.
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Vision's new Metron rear derailleur is lightweight at around 140g but a bit flexier than we would have expected.
Moreover, the rear derailleur allows more flex and twist than we would have hoped and is a tad on the chunky side in terms of aesthetics and there still is no FSA-designed cassette to complete the package (FSA chains are available in Europe).
To be fair, FSA is quick to point out that the rear derailleur is still being refined before its slated early 2011 release and prior experience with the front derailleur has shown it to be a well finished item. Backing off on the real derailleur spring tension would go a long way towards making the shifter easier to operate, too, which leads us to believe that the Shimano pre-7900 10-speed compatible version to be delivered next month should be pretty viable.
