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Shimano (Finally) Launches 12-speed Road

13639 Views 109 Replies 25 Participants Last post by Oldteen, Oct 11, 2021

SystemShock

Discussion Starter · Sep 2, 2021 (Edited by Moderator)

Thought it’d happen at EuroBike, and it did:

Shimano launches 12-speed, semi-wireless Dura-Ace and Ultegra groupsets

Shift speed and braking improvement, D-Fly Garmin control is integrated, and mechanical shifting goes away.

www.velonews.com

Campy and SRAM: “What took ya so long?” 😀

But Shimano’s elimination of mechanical shifting in Ultegra and Dura Ace might annoy some ppl.

And, no 53/39-ish option in Ultegra anymore? I personally don’t use it, but, oy. 😕

That said, at least they put the 16t cog back into their main road cassettes (11-28, 11-30) instead of going for the 10t. That was probably a good choice that’ll make most riders happy. 🚴

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pmf

· #101 · Sep 21, 2021

jta said:
Spoke to an owner of an LBS here in Brooklyn a week ago – he expects 105 12-speed mechanical to be released in the coming months. He sounded confident and matter-of-fact as he told me.

I'd be pretty surprised if Shimano simply walks away from market dominance of mechanical groups that are spec'd on mid-level stock bikes (~$3K price point). It would leave a huge gap in the market that SRAM would be able to exploit (faster than Campy, as they have more manufacturing and marketing muscle).

Yeah, but the Campy stuff is so much better.

I think its a huge mistake to walk away from mechanical groups and have 105 and below be the only alternative. My guess is Ultegra and Dura Ace will eventually have mechanical options, after Shimano first tries to saturate their market with electronic only alternatives. This is a marketing ploy. And a good reason not to buy their stuff.

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tlg

· #102 · Sep 21, 2021

pmf said:
Yeah, but the Campy stuff is so much better.

I think its a huge mistake to walk away from mechanical groups and have 105 and below be the only alternative. My guess is Ultegra and Dura Ace will eventually have mechanical options, after Shimano first tries to saturate their market with electronic only alternatives. This is a marketing ploy. And a good reason not to buy their stuff.

Sram RED walked away from mechanical several years ago. SRAM’s Red 22 mechanical groupset hasn’t been updated since 2013... 8yrs ago. There is no Red mechanical 12 speed. Marketing ploy?

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velodog

· #103 · Sep 21, 2021

Some want\prefer mechanical, others electric; no accounting for taste.

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jta

· #104 · Sep 21, 2021

pmf said:
Yeah, but the Campy stuff is so much better.

All the Shimano vs. Campy (vs. SRAM) talk on this thread led me to this interesting interview with CEO Davide Campagnolo. Campy is privately held and apparently still family owned. It sheds a little light on what Campagnolo is doing to navigate current trends, including the pandemic.

Davide Campagnolo: “The biggest challenge is to guess where this trend is heading”

VICENZA, Italy – Italian component manufacturers, Campagnolo and Fulcrum, both experienced a surge in demand as a result of the unprecedented growth in the Italian market after the first lock-down. Davide Campagnolo is CEO of the Fulcrum brand but also involved at various levels in the...

www.bike-eu.com

Campagnolo seems to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses, including the need to invest in tech, R&D, personnel and communications platforms (brand value) to stay competitive.

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tlg

· #105 · Sep 21, 2021

PBL450 said:
Hydraulic disc brakes will stop a bike better and more reliably, especially in wet conditions. I can’t imagine snow and ice riding on my mtb without the great performance of my discs. But what % of roadies will experience any performance improvement in their riding? None? That’s my guess or Ineos would have made the swap.

Ineos made the swap to disc.

After years of reluctance, Ineos has finally given in to Big Disc - CyclingTips

The British WorldTour team will be using disc brakes in a UCI race this week.

cyclingtips.com

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jta

· #106 · Sep 21, 2021

tlg said:
Sram RED walked away from mechanical several years ago. SRAM’s Red 22 mechanical groupset hasn’t been updated since 2013... 8yrs ago. There is no Red mechanical 12 speed. Marketing ploy?

Nothing gimmicky from my perspective. SRAM brings products to market in a very strategic manner, which is why they've been able to make inroads against legacy brands like Shimano and Campy. Shimano's method of releasing products is well reasoned, too, but a completely different animal as a publicly traded company with $3 billion in yearly revenue.

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aclinjury

· #107 · Sep 22, 2021

Shimano will release a 105 12speed mechanical, and it will be a good one, because it will be trickled down from their 12speed XTR stuff. Shimano wouldn't have spent too much time nor money for R&D. So even though it may be "105" level groupset, it might as well be XTR. Shimano will be even more dominant.

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GirchyGirchy

· #108 · Oct 5, 2021

I'm OK with 12 speeds, but could someone please make an aesthetically pleasing silver version? Ugh, the cranks!

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SystemShock

Discussion Starter · #109 · Oct 6, 2021

GirchyGirchy said:
I'm OK with 12 speeds, but could someone please make an aesthetically pleasing silver version? Ugh, the cranks!

Remember how great Campy C-Record cranks looked, BITD? Sigh. 💕

It’s really too bad Campy discontinued Athena a few years back… the aesthetics were pretty nice there too, at least in silver.

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Oldteen

· #110 · Oct 11, 2021

Ridden plenty of e-shifting bikes & of course there are many being ridden in local group/club rides. I have seen no reason to "upgrade" short of being forced to (due to no mechanical option on new upper-end road bikes). Well-tuned, both recent mechanical and e-systems shift excellently. Poorly tuned/maintained both can shift like crap- or malfunction. Both (when properly set up) shift in the snap of a finger....a fraction of a crank turn moving the chain up/down. Both can (and rarely do) drop a chain when not set up right. The notion that (properly set up) Di2 shifts SO much faster/crisper than DA/Ultegra mechanical is, in my experience, marketing BS.....much like the industry push to narrow/wheels back in the '90s.

I have no doubt that there remains a significant market for mechanical shifting to exist along with e-shifting. I have no doubt that the higher-level (Ult/DA) mechanical shifting sales decline has been due to an asymmetric drop in supply. (I had to use 105 11sp shifters on a groupo upgrade last year (pre-COVID) after I could not find new Ult/DA mech shifters in stock either locally or on-line at the time). I also have no doubt that the upper-end mechanical shift market void WILL be filled by other manufacturer(s) if indeed Shimano remains out of that market. If only because of the current huge price gap between mech 105 and Ult Di2.

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