It is barely three weeks into 2010 and here we are discussing 2011 drive train parts, but that is how the cycling industry works. Things are planned out and in motion for 2011 bicycles already, and 2012 stuff is already on the drawing boards.

To that end, some images have leaked out on a Japanese based blogshowing what looks like 2011 Shimano and SRAM XO drive train parts. Take a look.........

The image showing the XTR group distinctly shows a 10 speed drive train and a triple crank which would then make it a 30 speed gruppo. What could be a double crank also appears in the lower left of the pic.

The most striking visual cue is the crank itself which looks to have a nice polish and more organic, flowing lines than we've seen on XTR for a long time.

Obviously rumors that Shimano would make a ten speed cassette and base the new XTR off of this were rampant after the appearance of SRAM's highly publicized XX group. How the new XTR competes with the near flawless performance of SRAM's XX will now be the next topic of discussion, no doubt.

SRAM looks to follow up on its XX group with a redo of the venerable XO gruppo and it would appear that many of the XX groups features will trickle down. The cassette looks very much like the XX cassette and in ten speeds, of course. The crank retains much of the cues from the XX group, with similar looking bolt circle diameters for the two chain wheels.

We're hopeful at The Cyclist that SRAM will figure out how to manufacture these components at a much more "wallet friendly" price point than XX components. It would be fair to assume some increase in cost, but the economy of scale that XO is manufactured at would hint at a much lower price point than XX is at. Assuming this, and that the performance is close to that of XX, SRAM looks to have a winning new design for the XO group, which has been the stalwart of its component line up for years.

Stay tuned for any further developments.