THE NEXT GENERATION OF PRECISION SHIFTING

L.O.P.S 2.0 was designed, developed, tested, and hand-built in the UK for Shimano Dura-Ace RD 9100 and Shimano Dura-Ace RD9150 11-speed rear derailleurs. Why 11-speed only? Our in-house testing found 11-speed chains to be on average 36.6% faster than 12-speed; and L.O.P.S 2.0 is all about speed!

This state-of-the-art oversized pulley wheel system gives you a more efficient, consistent, precise gear change every single time, as it creates an optimised chain angle which reduces chain articulation and friction around the pulley wheels vs a stock set up – Less friction, more speed, greater efficiency.

The key factors that determine an oversized pulley wheel system’s efficiency are build quality, weight, stiffness and bearing efficiency, and some of these factors can work against each other, if one area is pushed too far. The art of developing the optimum system, is in the engineer’s ability to strike a perfect balance between these factors, to deliver maximum efficiency across the board. With the development of L.O.P.S 2.0 every aspect was analysed, every efficiency optimised, and every advantage maximized. Because when every second counts, every detail matters.

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STRIKE A BALANCE

This graph underpins our claim that L.O.P.S 2.0 is the most efficient oversized pulley wheel system out there. It shows the complete performance efficiency test on our in-house Full Cycle Drivetrain Dynamometer, which uses a full groupset to accurately simulate real-world conditions. The test was completed over a 30-minute period across multiple cassette ratios, and throughout the duration of the test, L.O.P.S 2.0 achieved the greatest level of overall efficiency when compared to all other systems tested.

LESS FRICTION, MORE SPEED

The bearing inside L.O.P.S 2.0 was designed in the UK and is treated with a special friction-reducing coating. During testing, we used real-world-applicable radial loads to recreate the spring tension in a derailleur and ensure the performance results translate from the lab to the road.

Our dyno also features a knife edge guide that increases the accuracy of the results, by neutralising the effect of bearing wobble found in competitor systems with large clearances. This allows us to test in a way that would otherwise compromise the accuracy of our data.

The results show a 97% improvement in efficiency over Shimano Dura-Ace RD 9150, and a 16% improvement over our nearest competitor.

A FEAT OF ENGINEERING

PRECISION SHIFTING

Stiffness is a critical ingredient to efficient shifting, but adding stiffness usually means adding weight. L.O.P.S 2.0 features a ground-breaking lightweight design to minimise this impact, thanks to its construction through additive manufacturing using a combination of Ti6Al4V titanium and miliary grade carbon fibre. The result is a system that maintains precise and optimised shifting performance each time the system engages or disengages the pulley wheels.

The graph shows the percentage variance in plane stiffness of a range of oversized pulley wheel systems, from Shimano Dura-Ace RD 9150. Of those that we tested, L.O.P.S 2.0 and Kogel Kolossos were found to be stiffer than the Shimano system, with CeramicSpeed OSPW and AbsoluteBlack Hollowcage proving to be less stiff.

SMOOTHER SHIFTING

The 13-tooth upper pulley wheel and 19-tooth lower are made from aerospace-grade aluminium and use a super-efficient coating to keep friction to an absolute minimum. The coating has 88% less friction than aluminium alloy, 82% less than hard electroless nickel, 80% less than hard chrome, and 71% less than hard anodised. This all works to produce a faster, more efficient shift, and the increased durability of the materials extends the life of the system.

BORN IN A BARN, PROVEN AT LE TOUR

The original L.O.P.S system was developed in conjunction with Team Bahrain-McLaren back in 2019, designed specifically to provide Mikel Landa with a substantial advantage in drivetrain efficiency, at the pivotal stage 20 time-trial at the 2020 Tour de France.

The engineering challenges and pro-peloton demands were challenging enough, but the world threw down its own gauntlet in the form of a global pandemic.

During the UK lockdown, everything required to work on the L.O.P.S system had to be sent to a barn in rural North Dorset.

From here, our head of R&D worked day and night in isolation throughout the pandemic’s early stages, to meet the non-negotiable deadline of the 2020 Tour's pivotal, stage 20 time-trial. It had to happen, regardless of the cost, time or effort required.

The pandemic couldn’t be allowed to destroy over a year's work, L.O.P.S simply had to be on Landa's bike for that all-important stage. And against all odds, we made it.

Check out the full Project Landa story on our Performance Hub:

PROJECT LANDA