If you were to take a look at any hill climb event in the past 10 years and see what bikes were being raced, you’d notice that Sram’s old Red22 mechanical rim-brake groupset is the most common choice on the more committed builds. And it’s not because of the groupset’s shifting and braking capabilities (hill climbers don’t do much of either), but rather because of the weight. When it appeared in 2013, Sram Red22 weighed in at 1,741g, which trumped its rival Campagnolo Super Record by over 200g and Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 by half that again.
While subsequent redesigns of Red have increased its functionality, such as by introducing disc brakes, wireless electronic shifting and a 12th sprocket, they have also increased its weight to the extent that an equivalent Dura-Ace arrangement has been lighter for a couple of generations now. However, while it may never
