For a long time in the cycling industry SRAM has had a hush, hush project called BlackBox (Racing or Labs.) Many don’t know what it is.  I’ve had mechanics ask me if it was a new brand of high end parts.  This could be because many mechanics have gone to tech school at SRAM and have had to sign an agreement not to share their new learned “BlackBox” tuning.  Or maybe SRAM is doing a really good job keeping everything under wraps.  Well that was until this sweet flat black van was shown at Sea Otter.

BlackBox includes prototype parts that pro level riders test out all over the world. If you know where these riders live or train you can often get a sneak peak of what is to come from SRAM, Truvativ, RockShox and Avid. The new RockShox SID was seen on riders bikes long before the public knew exactly what it was.

From that testing many new parts have been released into the market. From carbon brake levers to ceremic bottom brackets, it really is exciting to see from year to year what SRAM will be releasing from their BlackBox vault.

This year SRAM has released many new products at Sea Otter. In the coming weeks we will be posting technical specifications and photos from the media release. The one thing we can say about all these parts is they have been tested, abused and rebuilt many times in the BlackBox lab before being launched to the public.