Following a tough couple of weeks for bike brand 3T, in which its presence in the professional peloton ended with the closure of Aqua Blue Sport and riders from that now defunct team let loose with criticism of the bikes, the brand is looking to the future with a new build option for its 1x specific road bike.
Reposted to its social media channels, the bike shown comes equipped with a Rotor drivetrain boasting 13 sprockets, giving an even greater range of ratios to that offered by the SRAM 11-speed the bikes are supplied with presently.
The Rotor system was previously showcased at Eurobike, and was presumed to be aimed at the mountain bike sector; this is the first time we've seen it mounted on a road bike.
This is a leap both in terms of gears and in the way 3T is trying to look to, and secure, its future.
High profile criticism throughout the season from riders and staff at Aqua Blue culminated in the negative reviews from riders once the team ended – mostly arguing that the range of gears was too restrictive and chain-drops were too common.
But a move such as this 13-speed option will once again raise the possibility that the Strada could be seen in the pro peloton.
Stu Bowers, Cyclist's print deputy editor was certainly a fan of the 11-speed version when reviewing the bike, although he was less enamoured of people questioning whether a 48t front chain ring was 'fast enough'.
It wasn't long ago that people were threatening to riot over the use of disc brakes on road bikes (and some people still haven't got over it), so perhaps with time the majority of us will come round to the idea of 1x road bikes.
Or at least not get so worked up about other people riding them.