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Comment on Want to Win a Bike Race? Hack Your Rival's Wireless Shiftersparent

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How much what?

Wireless (and generally electronic) shifters are likely heavier on account of the battery. In theory they require less maintenance as they don’t have the breakage-prone cables. Shifts are quicker and require less force to activate, and also more precise because they don’t depend on the finicky adjustment screws. And they enable tricks like automatically shifting the front chainring to march your choice in the rear cassette (don’t pair the small front chainring with a small rear speed!), automatically choosing preset combinations, and so on.

Most racing bicycles are right up against the limit of the minimum weight allowed. Sometimes they even add ballast weights to stay over the limit, and fit them as low as possible as lower weight = better cornering performance due to moving the bike's center of gravity down/fore/aft.

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