FSA has become the latest maker of an electronic 12-speed groupset. This group was launched officially at the Sea Otter Classic last week but is a refresh of the 11-speed K-Force WE group first seen 7 years ago. FSA struck an ambivalent posture toward its own groupset during the intervening 6 years because that original groupset arrived near the end of the 11-speed cycle. By the time FSA had ramped up to sell the WE in quantity SRAM announced 12-speed, at the beginning of 2019, and Shimano was to follow not long after.
FSA went back to the drawing board knowing that 12-speed was necessary to make this groupset relevant and, while it was at it, improved weight, shift speed and shift accuracy. But much of the original groupset remains, including the basic look and function. (The hood and levers were already an ergonomic win.) The front derailleur becomes a hub of info as opposed to Shimano and SRAM, which made the RD the preeminent “thinker.” That said, one change from FSA’s original version is that the RD translates directly to the shifters; in the original K-Force WE the shifters relayed RD messages through the FD.
The K-Force WE 12S group is priced at $3,800 and is only available as a complete groupset. Yes, this group begins at the premium level and is placed at Shimano Dura Ace and SRAM RED level. That price may be over-bold – it’s in line with what you’d spend on a RED or Dura Ace group – but this establishes a starting place and FSA will do what every groupset maker does and downstream the groupset in subsequent years, creating second and third tiers. The eventual play – according to my crystal ball – is for bike makers to spec FSA’s value-priced versions of this electronic groupset as original equipment.
FSA is a reliable deliverer of high quality components to makers of complete bikes. Historically you see a lot of FSA on bikes because the products perform acceptably well while helping a bike brand hit a target price. “Acceptably well” has become the least good way to describe the brand in recent years, as its wheels have been underneath a Paris Roubaix winner and its handlebars, seat posts and stems, along with its Metron wheels, are used by multiple World Tour teams (5, I think, as of now). Burgos-BH is a UCI ProSeries team (one level below World Tour) that has been riding this K-Force WE groupset for years, along with everything a team needs that FSA and Vision make (cockpits, wheels, groupsets).
Shimano’s 9270, SRAM RED and this groupset, batteries included, are very close to each other in weight. The claimed weight of the K-Force WE groupset is right around 2,400 grams but that does not include the battery. That is just under the 2,500 grams I get for both Shimano’s 9270 and SRAM RED AXS depending on crank length and choice of chainrings and cassette. In particular the FSA crankset and cassette are quite light, but all companies at the RED/Dura Ace-ish level supply the ti/steel cassette that almost none of us ride in real life, K-Force WE included.
The one drawback of the K-Force WE 12S is the available low gear, as the cassette option offering the lowest gear is the 12sp 11-32, which is a very low gear if you’re talking 2013 but not in 2023. What we find in cycling is that if you have the low gear you will use it, and as a coveted maker of OE parts the downstreamed versions of this group – that are sure to come – must (I think) have a 34t or even a 36t cog to keep pace with Shimano and SRAM. That established, this group offers cranksets available with chainring pairs of 54/40T, 50/34T, 46/30T and that 30x32 available low gear will suit for many OE applications.
“A poem should not mean, but be.” The K-Force WE 12S groupset must not just be, but mean. What this groupset means if I might be so bold is that mechanical, as a shifting platform for bikes at the ardent enthusiast level, is dead (if we still had occasion to wonder). I don’t know but I predict that within 5 years (maybe 3) we’ll have 2 more road-specific electronic road groupsets from FSA, each downstreamed in price. The groupsets I’m buying right now are SRAM Rival AXS for 1x and Shimano 105 electronic for 2x. FSA must get there as fast as it can and the K-Force WE is the beginning of that process.
The K-Force WE 12S group means one more thing: FSA has always made parts that would play well with other groups. Its chain rings needed to perform well on (say) Shimano shift systems. Now FSA can design chain rings, chains, cassettes that shift well with its own derailleurs and that's a big deal.
