What kind of bike did you ride when you were a kid? I'm guessing it was a couple sizes too big, super heavy, and had all kinds of cheap parts hanging off it. And it was probably fun as hell!
Fast forward a few dozen years, and kids bikes have gotten way nicer. I'm not going to say they're spoiled, but the current generation of groms have access to bikes that are light weight, fit right, and have real tires and suspension. No wonder they're shredding so hard!
Everything from handlebars to cranks to brakes have been designed specifically for riders with smaller proportions. Everything except drivetrain. Until now.
Super Short: A Legit MTB Drivetrain, But Smaller
The goal for Super Short was simple: make a real, fully featured mountain bike group for smaller people. It had to be easy to understand and operate, while providing better shifting response and durability than the stuff that normally comes on 20" bikes.
So, we took the DNA of our Advent 1x9 and Acolyte 1x8 groups and rengineered things to be smaller. The result is a drivetrain that delivers big performance for little proportions.
The touch points are the most important part, right? So, we designed an all new shifter with levers that are shorter and closer to the handlebar for easy reach.
The shifting throw is also shorter than our competitors by over 40%. That doesn’t just help people with small hands – it helps anyone who wants a quicker, easier shift. Even the index-thumb style shifter configuration is a plus: it allows the levers to get closer to the bar and also makes it easier to remember which lever makes it harder and which lever makes it easier.
The rear derailleur is made to be as short as possible. The 100mm cage is about 50mm shorter than standard ADVENT, meaning it will fit on a 20" wheel with plenty of ground clearance for irresponsible cornering.
None of the standard features have been cut, which means the derailleur still has robust chain retention for 1x, full metal construction, and metric adjustment hardware. It's a fully featured 1x derailleur, just smaller.
To play nicely with 20" wheels, we opted for a cassette range of 11-38T. Smaller wheels make gears feel easier; a 20" wheel with a 38T cog feels the same as a 27.5" wheel with a 52T cog. That gives the rider plenty of range to take on anything the rest of the family can climb.
There are plenty of reasons an adult might want a modern drivetrain with less gear range, too. Maybe you're a masochist? Or a midwesterner? Either way this drivetrain has something for everybody.
Availability
Look, we thought it would be here by now. Depending on where you live, it should roll into stock sometime in the next two months. Fingers crossed.
Visit https://www.microshift.com/news/introducing-super-short/ for more details.
