[valleycyclist]

I just received a new 5700 hub, and it says Malaysia on it instead of Japan like the 5600 hubs. based on the techdocs, most of the parts are identical to 6700, but I guess the remaining parts and probably also assembly come from Malaysia. I also noticed that the rear hub flange spacing is slightly less than Ultegra 6700. I didn't measure it yet, but it looks like 2mm. Shimano's cheatsheet shows the measurements to be identical with 5600 and 6700... I'm assuming the move to Malaysia is how the 5700 groupset costs less than 5600. I'm not in a position to discuss quality/durability. The hub looks nice, but I didn't ride with it or build a wheel with it yet. It weighs the same as a 6700 hub I just weighed.

 

[cfoster]

You'll also notice that with the 5700 105 hubs that the spoke hole chamfers are not nearly as nice/pronounced as compared with the older 5600 hubs from Japan, nor is there a nice clean chamfer/bevel on the outer edges of the hub flanges as there were with the 5600 hubs. 6700 Ultegra (JP) retains these nice touches that were also apart of the 6600 line.

 

[jinnjia]

I actually called up Shimano N.A. and questioned them where the new 105 are made from and was told "Japan", they must be wrong.....

Was reading from another thread which indicated the brakes were made from Taiwan....

 

[valleycyclist]

I would still use 5700 hubs before using any other hub in that price range. Based on Shimano's Techdocs, many of the internal components of the hubs have the same part number as the 6700 hubs. Maybe just the body machining and assembly are done in Malaysia, I don't know.