Back to the Roots – TRP Vistar

Innovation is most powerful when it not only pushes the boundaries of the status quo, but when it enhances performance, elevates the rider’s experience, and serves as a solution to long-standing problems. The VISTAR drop bar groupset from TRP successfully achieves all these things and is an example of innovation at its finest. Through application of world-class engineering, decades of manufacturing leadership, strategic partnership, and an unwavering commitment to innovation, TRP introduces VISTAR.

TRP is a proven leader in braking technology and in recent years, TRP has become a strong player in the category of high-performance drivetrain and shifting systems. Using experience gained from designing and producing the highest quality performance braking systems and our years of testing on the UCI World Cup circuit we were able to develop reliable, consistent shifting technology that performed in the harshest of conditions.

TRP set out to develop a drop bar groupset that would redefine road and gravel cycling. The VISTAR project would not have succeeded without the vision that there was the potential to create a new groupset that could set a new standard in rider experience and ease of use. TRP began with an understanding of the shortcomings of traditional 2x drivetrains, fragility of front derailleurs and the unreliability of front shifting. TRP Engineers believed that with new thinking and perspective a better solution could be created.

The TRP VISTAR groupset was originally envisioned as a system based on a 12-speed rear cassette with traditional front derailleur that would give the rider 24 close ratio gearing options. However, as we began to understand the challenges surrounding traditional front shifting, we realized that a single chainring solution would be a better alternative. Where we differed from our competition was that we also knew that finely stepped gear ratios were still a critical performance component crucial to efficiency for road and gravel cyclist alike. We made the conscious decision to develop a solution that preserved the benefits of traditional 2x systems without the functional shortcomings.

The demands of road cycling are clearly different than those of mountain biking where wide ratio, 1×12 gearing matches the abrupt and varied changes typical of offroad terrain. We needed a way to maintain small steps between gears to allow riders to maximize efficiency while matching the progressive and dynamic power output characteristic of road, gravel and other types of endurance cycling.