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2013 Shimano Dura-Ace Unveiled – Exclusive Interviews & Tech!

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9000 mechanical road bike component group family photo
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2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9000 mechanical road bike component group family photo

After plenty of spy shots surfacing on both Team Sky’s bikes and Shimano employee rides, the 2013 Shimano Dura-Ace component group is finally official.

The new Dura-Ace DA9000 mechanical and DA9070 Di2 electronic groups take system engineering a step further than before with the new four-arm crankset and polymer coated cables, yet their essence is that of a simpler, smoother, easier to use group. Something for everyone, thanks to their Rider Tuned philosophy that brings a wide range of options, including an expanded range of brakes and electronic shifting for time trialists and triathletes.

“It’s really about options,” says Eric Doyne, Shimano’s North American PR manager. “So much of what Shimano’s doing by increasing gear options, mounting options and shifter location options, we’re really trying to accommodate as many people as possible.”

Aesthetically, the changes are mostly obvious, and as suspected it’s lighter and claims to work better. In fact, road PM Dave Lawrence says the new mechanical Dura-Ace is the best group they’ve ever developed ergonomically and that you simply have to try it to believe how wonderful it shifts. Wayne Stetina, their brake products manager, says it’ll have people that have run Di2 and all but sworn off mechanical shifting rethinking their stance. Strong claims, and we’ve spoken at length with Shimano America’s product managers to get the underlying changes, tech details and more…

DURA-ACE DA9000 MECHANICAL

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9000 FC9000 crankset

The big question is why go to 11 speeds?

“The biggest thing is you get some really nice gear ratios,” says Lawrence. “Compared to 10 speed, if you’re using an 11-25, you’re basically tacking on a 28 and getting a really nice climbing gear. Or, you can drop in a 16 and get some really nice gear progressions. It lets you basically run one cassette to tackle just about any terrain. Most people opt for the increased range over the tighter ratio, but the options are there.”

DA9000 is an 11-speed-only group. It’s a different cable pull for both front and rear derailleurs, so there’s no compatibility between the 7900 shifters and derailleurs.The chainrings are the same width as the 10-speed rings from the 7900 group, but the chain and tooth profiles on both the chainrings and cogs have been revised for 11-speed.

Perhaps the most striking piece is the asymmetrical four-arm crankset. As suspected, it’s a one-size-fits-all-chainrings design. The BCD is a 110, which is usually a compact BCD, but Shimano’s largest chainring offering is a 55/42 combo. Lawrence says the hollow outer (larger) chainring, they’re able to match the stiffness of a 130 BCD: “We found it wasn’t going to be possible to offer just one BCD until we perfected that outer hollow ring to get the stiffness we wanted, and now we can do that.”

The new four arm design puts the strength where all the pressure comes in your pedal stroke. Shimano’s studies determined they could beef up those areas to achieve the desired stiffness and decrease the weight. They’ve been studying the four-arm designs for about three years with rideable samples for about 18 months. They’ve been racing on it since February. The later prototypes that Team Sky has been racing this season were virtually production level, and they’ve been running full production finish and graphics since mid-April. No one’s been racing the new Di2 yet.

Six chainring combos will be offered: 55/42 – 54/42 – 53/39 – 52/36 – 52/38 – 50/34.

That’s plenty of options, but should you be tempted to mix and match big and small rings to create your own combo, know this: Shimano recommends staying with the designed pairs because the ramps and pins are designed to work together. For example each 52T ring is different depending on whether it’s mated to the 36 or 38. No word yet on how much replacement chainrings will cost.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9000 CS9000 cassette

The cassette will come in five options, outlined here from an internal specification document we received:

  • 11-23: 11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-23
  • 11-25: 11-12-13-14-15-16-17-19-21-23-25
  • 11-28: 11-12-13-14-15-17-19-21-23-25-28
  • 12-25: 12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-23-25
  • 12-28: 12-13-14-15-16-17-19-21-23-25-28

Like the chainrings, the cogs themselves are the same width as before, but the spacing between them gets a hair smaller. The whole cassette is 1.85mm wider, which mirrors the increased width of the freehub bodies on the new hubs. Titanium for the top five cogs, bottom six are steel.

The Hyperglide shifting is improved, too, via minor tweaks to the chain-cassette interface. Because the cassette is slightly wider, the chain will approach the outer cogs at sharper angles when cross chaining, so the tooth and plate profile has to be designed to keep the chain on the gears yet still shift quickly.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9000 CN9000 chain

The 11-speed chain is 5.62mm at the widest point, and the current 10-speed chain is 5.88mm. The inner dimensions are the same as the 10-speed chain, but the plates are 0.08mm thinner. The chain’s outer plates are no longer slotted, but the pins are hollow and it’s still slightly lighter (9g). It also gets a PTFE coating (plating), same as the 7900-series shifter cables.

Does this affect chain durability? Lawrence says overall durability is up about 20% thanks largely to the PTFE plating and that it feels much slippier on the shifts and smoother when cross chaining.

Besides getting thinner, the new 11-speed chain is not directional like current gen road and mountain bike chains.

Lawrence: “As we were working through the relationship between the chainring tooth and chain, the wider cassette and revised cog tooth profile for 11-speed, it ended up being that the inner and outer plates could be the same shape. It makes it easier to install and reduces manufacturing complexity, too.”

Lawrence said it may not be the same case for mountain bikes and was pretty careful not to give away any progress on 11-speed stuff for the dirt. He did say they’re likely to explore the PTFE plating for MTB chains, though.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9000 ST9000 shifter brake levers

Shimano’s throwing around a lot of numbers with regards to shifting improvements:

  • Lighter action that cuts shifting effort nearly in half
  • Release lever stroke reduced by 30%
  • Short stroke 11-speed RD-9000 rear derailleur reduces shifting effort by 47%
  • Lighter, quicker front shifting with 43% less effort at the end of the lever stroke

How do you get shorter throw and easier shifting, particularly with the super long arm on the front derailleur?

“It takes a little more effort to get it going, but as you get into the stroke, the effort drops off considerably. As you lose your strength in leverage, the derailleur takes significantly less effort. But it’s actually a shorter throw at the lever, which is counterintuitive. The magic is that we were able to make a shorter throw and have a lighter shift feel. Part of it is the new cables, they take a lot of the friction out.”

Indeed, Shimano says the full benefit of the new design is achieved with their new shift cables. They’re coated with a new polymer that looks like a series of tubes under a microscope. This means less surface area rubbing the internal housing liner and it holds grease well. The housing is their standard SP41 housing, which comes pre-greased.

They didn’t have numbers on the actual amount cable pull, but the size and volume of the hoods on the shifters is smaller, which doesn’t suggest a bigger pulley wheel inside, either. Basically, we’re left to wonder how they did it until they get back to us or we can get some hands on it later this year.

The reduced diameter of the hood bracket and refined lever shape claims to provide better ergonomics. The levers have 10mm of reach adjust. Lawrence: “Wayne and I both feel this is our best design ever, better than the original Di2, with the best ergonomics we’ve ever made.”

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9000 FD9000 front derailleur

The front derailleur’s design belies the claimed reduction in shifting throw. The long leverage arm makes the start of the shift movement a bit firmer, but as you push the lever in, it increases the power to glide the chain to the big ring. Stetina says it’s “practically a mechanical version of Di2, including comparable front outward shifting while standing under power. So crisp and light action, it’s going to force everyone who rides Di2 and has sworn never to ride mechanical again to reconsider.”

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9000 RD9000 rear derailleur

Similarly, the rear derailleur gets revised cable mounting points to deliver better leverage over the shifts. We’re hoping this returns or even improves upon the ultralight shift effort of their external shift cable levers from a few years back (before the levers ran the shift cables internally, which added some drag).

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9000 SM BB9000 bottom bracket

Shimano’s updated their outboard and press fit bottom brackets, too. The bearings inside are smaller and the actual size of the external cup is smaller and lighter. The biggest improvement is in the sealing. They’re able to maintain the same sealing but with 50% of the resistance. Why not finally offer BB30/PFBB30?

“For us, we believe that steel is the optimal material for the spindle and BB30 is really optimized for an alloy spindle and carbon crankarm,” said Lawrence. “We’re pretty committed to steel and aluminum arms and the 24mm spindle in steel is the best solution for us.”

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9000 BR9000 road brake calipers

In a new component group where every part seems to be a highlight, the brakes have received some special attention. Considering Shimano’s road calipers were already setting some pretty high performance standards, to hear both Stetina and Lawrence rave about them sets some pretty high expectations. Stetina’s exact words are they “must be ridden to comprehend how good they are.”

The new dual pivot design makes the section of the arm between the pivot and the pad much shorter, which translates to 20% more power with better modulation. Stetina says the biggest change is power from the hoods is much closer to power from the drops. He says half the power improvement comes from the new calipers and half from the new levers and use of the new coated cables.

On the spy shots, we speculated that the small arm attached to the cable-side brake pad (top) was an articulating linkage that added force. In fact, it does add movement to that brake arm, but the design is simply to balance it’s range of motion with the other one for even braking on both sides. The set screw is to adjust that arm’s position relative to the rim.

They recommend up to a 24mm wide rim, and the thin pad option will allow a 28mm wide rim. They’re targeting clearance for a 28c tire, but there’s ample clearance for a 25c. The holder’s identical, so any third party pad should fit.

 

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9000 BR9010 TT triathlon aero road bike brake front

There are also new aero brakes. Different front and rear, both use two-bolt mounts. Front is mechanically very similar to the standard brake but the pivots on the TT version are where the frame anchors are. The images here aren’t of the final version, Lawrence says it’ll be more sculpted and aerodynamic…likely more like the left image than the right.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9000 BR9010 TT triathlon aero road bike brake rear

The rear brake doesn’t have the quick release, but there’s an inline quick release and barrel adjuster. Despite appearances, it’s mechanically similar to the front but more minimalist.

Braking performance is said to be very similar to their new standard calipers, and Lawrence says the design here isn’t specific to TT or triathlon frames. With the growing trend in aero road bikes, these are designed to work with standard drop bar road brake levers and work on any bike with the dual bolt brake mount standard.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9000 PD9000 pedal

The Dura-Ace pedals don’t change at the body, but there is a new 4mm wider spindle option, helping give more custom fit options. There are also two new cleats, both designed to eliminate lateral movement. The original cleats’ toe section is slightly narrower than the front of the pedal cage, allowing them 1.5mm of float side to side. Combine that with the 3º of rotational play allowed by the rear of the cleat, and you have a bit of movement.

The new cleats are wider at the front to fit snugly and keep the toe stationary…meaning there’s no side-to-side lateral movement. Two options will be available:  A blue cleat that’ll have 2º of rotational movement and a red one with zero rotation.

2013 DURA-ACE DI2 9070 ELECTRONIC GROUP

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9070 Di2 ST9070 shifter levers

The new Dura-Ace Di2 9070 group gets similar cosmetic changes, but the bigger news is that the derailleurs are much smaller and the shifters get larger, wider buttons and they have more wiring ports available. As suspected, they’ve upgraded the entire system to the newer E-Tube wiring from Ultegra Di2, which opened the door to create a wide variety of junction box options and incorporate the new Flight Deck as both a data display and command center.

The previously reported internal seatpost battery option will work with the Ultegra system and new Alfine Di2, too. Other options will also be reverse compatible back to Ultegra. The Junction A box (wires that go from shifters to the box up at the front) will have 3-port and 5-port options that includes a charging port. So if you run the internal battery, you’d never have to remove the battery to charge it. It used to be designed to mount to the brake cable housing, but we’re now recommending you mount it to the stem. The additional ports allow for more shifter button options to be linked into the system.

The 5-port box will also transmit information wirelessly via ANT+, so as Garmin or other third party computers update their software/firmware, they could read data from Di2 information like battery charge, gears, etc.

The only item left untouched is the external battery, nothing else of the new DA Di2 is compatible with the original’s part. Rumors of a smaller battery apparently aren’t true (yet).

The old Dura-Ace Di2 is a closed system. With the new system, you can program the right shifter to work the front derailleur if you want. You could even program them to simply make the right shifter shift harder and the left shifter shift easier, or vice versa, or really whatever.

Run time for the seatpost battery the same as external battery, and charge time is about 90 minutes with USB wall charger, slower via USB charging from your computer. Dimensions and a mounting system have been sent out to bike and seat post manufacturers. It’ll set inside the seatpost, and the post will need a lip to work with a C-clip provided by Shimano with the battery. MSRP will be $199.99 for the internal battery, and if you added it later on you’d want to upgrade to the external junction box to get the charging port on the bike. Unfortunately, there’s no way to charge the regular batter on the bike at present. Why? Because the seatpost battery’s charger is built into the unit, but the traditional battery needs the charging dock.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9000 SC R770 Flight Deck computer

What all does the new Flight Deck computer do? For starters, it’s touch screen, and the display is customizable to show what’s important to you.

“It’s not fully baked yet, but generally speaking it’ll have all the basic speed, odometer functions and other stuff you’d expect,” Lawrence said. “Where it gets unique is with Di2. You’ll get the Di2 information, gear indicator, battery life and you’ll be able to do some basic programming. That includes Crash Mode, shift indexing adjustment to fine tune shifting and more.”

Lawrence says you don’t need the Flight Deck computer to use the new Di2, but it is Di2 specific. There’s no non-Di2 Flight Deck computer.

The new 9070 Di2 also adds Multi-Shift Function and E-Tube Project Software. It’s free and a PC connector is included with the system. You’ll get a username and password that lets you download the software, but you’ll need the connector to do anything with it. At launch it’ll be PC only, but they’re working on a Mac version. Lawrence says their field techs use Macs running Parallels and it works fine. With it, you can program the shifter to cycle through multiple gears when holding down the shifter, even letting you set how quickly it shifts between gears when holding it down. Out of the box, it’ll be set stock to perform one shift per click.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9070 Di2 9071 aero bar extension shifter pods

Two aero extension bar shifters will be offered for Di2. The single button shifters (left) are designed for a pure TT set up and are entirely new. Shimano’s pro racers reportedly said they didn’t need to access the front derailleur from the aero bars, so this just simplified it for single button up or down shifts. The dual button pods (right) are updated to work with E-Tube and are more for triathletes that are going to be in the aero tuck for hours and want to control both derailleurs.

There’s a new satellite shifter (not shown) like the climber’s shifter from the original coming in September, but is E-Tube compatible and can be programmed to do whatever you want.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9070 Di2 RD9070 rear derailleur

 

The derailleurs are both much more compact and lighter. Wire routing is said to be cleaner, too. Functionally, they’re similar to the originals.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9070 Di2 FD9070 front derailleur

PRICING & AVAILABILITY

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace DA9070 Di2 and DA9000 price list and weights

The mechanical group and parts will be available in October both aftermarket and on complete bikes. Di2 is scheduled for December.

Flight Deck is still in development and more news will come on it later. It’s scheduled to come out 30-60 days after 9070 Di2, which likely means early spring 2013. Lawrence says supply for the mechanical parts should be pretty solid. The good news for Di2 is that all of the wiring and junction boxes is done, they’re just waiting on the bigger parts. This is good news because initial supply for Ultegra Di2 (ie. E-Tube) wiring parts was pretty bad…it took almost six months for us to get our test set up.

In other rumor news, they’re working on a drop-bar Di2 system to work with the Alfine 11. Theoretically, it would work with the Ultegra shifters since they both use the E-Tube system, but you’d have a lot of extraneous wiring and a left hand shifter lever that wasn’t doing anything.

WEIGHT COMPARISON

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace

New

SRAM Red

9070 7970 9000 7900
Levers 237g 255g 365g 379g 280g
FD 114g 124g 66g 67g 74g
RD 217g 225g 158g 166g 145g
BR 297g 293g 297g 293g 240g
Cranks + BB 683g 735g 683g 735g 610g
Cassette 166g 163g 166g 163g 135g
Chain 243g 252g 243g 252g 255g
E-parts 90g 172g
TOTAL 2047g 2219g 1978g 2055g 1739g

*All weights are manufacturer’s claims.

WHEELS & HUBS

Shimano is also releasing several new wheels and new Dura-Ace hubs, all spaced for 11-speed. Full details in this post.

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Brattercakes
Brattercakes
11 years ago

I haven’t read the full article yet, but will the cassette be compatible with current Shimano/Sram freehub body’s?

TJ
TJ
11 years ago

No 50-34 crank set options?

mongo
mongo
11 years ago

Looks like Shimano’s design department was inspired by “Free Willy”

FrozenDude
FrozenDude
11 years ago

Surprised there’s no 50 tooth crank option for us non-pros.

Louis
Louis
11 years ago

That is still sort of porky compared to SRAM Red.

But I guess having an 11-speed cassette and a functioning front derailleur make it better than SRAM.

Gilhooley
Gilhooley
11 years ago

No word on hydraulic disk brakes ?

Chris
Chris
11 years ago

The lack of a 50 is too bad though I suspect most people who buy DuraAce have egos that won’t allow them to run a 50, never mind a 48. Reality is 52×12 is bigger than anything Merckx ever pushed and I damn well guarantee you’re not as strong as he is. Even Hinault, LeMond and Kelly spend most of their time with nothing bigger than 52×12. I know from my time working in shops the vast majority of riders barely ever use their first 2-3 cogs because they’re too big to push for more than a minute or two. Most seem to spend the majority of their time in the little ring. My dream crank would be a 48×34 with the 11-28 or 12-28 cassette. Unless your sprinting against Boonen or Cav a 48×12 is still a pretty big gear.

Androo
Androo
11 years ago

Sounds like they’ve sort of given up playing the weight game, which frankly, at this level is pretty reasonable. No one in the world can actually notice a 300g difference when you’re riding the bike rather than gawking at it, but you can definitely notice improvements in how a bike feels and shifts.

That said, either Dura Ace or Red is so far above any level where I’m interested in p(l)aying, so my comment is probably just academic here.

Joe
Joe
11 years ago

Check the dura ace website, there’s a 50×34 crank for sure for us mere mortals

Uri
Uri
11 years ago

I guess I shouldn’t acknowledge it, since I own a Dura-Ace and therefore am a weak, irrational egoist…

But 50/34 rings are available and use the same crank (no need for a compact specific BCD)

greg
greg
11 years ago

i think the “53/34” option is a typo. my guess it it’s supposed to be 50/34. no reason they’d skip it, and a 19tooth jump is unreal.

Wolber
Wolber
11 years ago

Totally beautiful. I’m very pleased to see Shimano moving Dura Ace forward again, after the two-steps back they took with 7900. I’ll probably buy it in five years, when people are dumping their old groups on eBay.

Mark W.
Mark W.
11 years ago

isnt it about time to make a crank that fit more than threaded cups?
just about every other brand, aside from campy/fulcrum have more than just threaded cup options, and even campy at least offers the cups to put your campy crank into a different bb.
I can almost guarantee i will probably never buy a road bike with a threaded bb, unless it is a track bike, nor will i likely ever buy a 24mm spindle crank for a road bike, this crank lone crank offering is almost antiquated before it has even fully come to the market. How hard could it be to make more spindles and order bearings from someone to make a BB for that spindle?

The other odd thing i see here is the aero front brake, and the work going into making that brake aero.
why even bother doing it? the rest of your parts and not aero oriented (like how SRAM kept the aero trend in all of 2013 Red). Guys we could better spend that time and money on making a more adaptable crank, a carbon crank, shaving more overall weight in the group set, disc calipers, some sort of trick cable housing so you use way less of it, idk something else could be done instead. I doubt any one has ever gotten a complaint that they lost because their front brake was not aero enough.

On the plus side its nice to see Shimano break out of its conservative shell they have at time and redesign parts that was very good to begin with, time will tell it the stuff is game changing at all.

mattL
mattL
11 years ago

The BSA (Threaded) BB is the best style of BB available. Nothing keeps the bearings straighter or the crank rolling smoother. It is much cheaper for a frame manufacturer to make a full carbon BB86/PF30 than a threaded BSA BB. With pressfit BB’s there are way more issues with creaking and noise, wear and out of roundness. BSA BB’s are the way to go. Ask Chris King why he doesn’t offer a bb for pressfit options, or why he hesitated so long to make an internal headset…

Mark W.
Mark W.
11 years ago

@mattl
but with chris king you could make the argument that press fit bottom brackets are not an area that they wish to get involved because they see no way to make money fixing the problem, they are a small company after all.

Shimano on the other hand has the capital to address an issue like you speak of with press in BB, or they could simply have made a bigger spindle to go into a bigger bottom bracket and also fit into press fit frames of over sized press fit BB frames, and then make a 24mm for anything else.

Any news if this will work with any power meters, SRM, Powertap, and the like?

gringo
gringo
11 years ago

@Androo

If you can’t discern a 300 g diference on your bike than you should save your money and just buy Apex or Sora.

Gyro2
Gyro2
11 years ago

Awesome looking system. The new Di2 takes everything to a new level including being able to program the rear der for multicog shifts and integrate the whole Di2 setup with the new Flightdeck. The brakes look great too and knowing Shimano they will again be class leading in braking and moduation. Homerun Shimano, the best shifting system in the world just took it to another new level. Cant wait to build some bikes up with the new Di2.

Gyro2
Gyro2
11 years ago

Shimano doesnt need to play the lousy pf30 bb game. The reality is that system is a complete joke. Way more creaking and other issues than a classic threaded bb. Lots of issue with misaligned cups, tc. Go read what Kent Eriksen has to say about the supposed stiffness advantage of PF30 versus a threaded bb. Hint, hint, PF30 loses in that comparison as well. Reality is both bb30 and pf30 were very poorly thought out standards that actually cause far more problems and issues than providing advantages. If you have a goofball pf30 bike go buy a goofy adapter and then you can run a king or shimano bb. I salute Shim for staying away and ignoring the crappy pf30 joker standard. LoL

lol
lol
11 years ago

am i the only one who thinks the older wheels looked nicer? this one looks very ‘pale’..

carl
carl
11 years ago

I work in a bike shop, and have for quite a while now. Make no mistake about it….. Shimano and Campy B/B’s have FAR FEWER PROBLEMS than ANY of the alternatives. They use high quality bearings, last forever, don’t creak (if installed correctly) and with the 24mm spindle are more than stiff enough. Just ask all of the pro’s who ride them, win on them, and don’t whine about the few extra grams. JEEZ!

Gillis
Gillis
11 years ago

Rather than complain about 50t chainrings (which by the way if you need, then you probably don’t need DA) and BB standards, I wondering if the next iteration of XTR will follow this crank 4-arm spider design. While I understand the logic for road, I’m curious if it would be as beneficial for the much smaller ring set-up on a mtb crank.

Chris
Chris
11 years ago

@carl: “Shimano and Campy B/B’s have FAR FEWER PROBLEMS than ANY of the alternatives. ”

Nope. SKF have them beat by a pretty good margin. Their warranty covers 10 years or 100,000km with zero maintenance. SKF have been around for longer than Campy or Shimano and they specialize in bearings. They’re bearings are used in everything for power plant turbines to F-1 cars. Only real downside is they only do square tape and ISIS (for now).

Gyro2
Gyro2
11 years ago

@chris, if SKF only do square taper and isis then they really are not a viable ALTERNATIVE to current Campy and Shimano bbs and outboard cranksets as Carl said, are they? They may be nice but hey dont work with the cranks currently made by either co so the better bearings point is kinda moot me thinky

Anders
11 years ago

Shimano made one attempt at carbon cranks and it wasn’t a succes. They do aluminium to perfection so they stay with that. It makes perfectly sence. I run SR11 on my racing bike and 1st generation Ultegra 10 on my commuter. Just waiting to swith to Dura Ace and get rid of all those miss shifts and out of date shift mechanics of Campagnolo. Shimano nailed it this time. The new SRAM Red looks like a rookie enginners 1st design task in comparison.

Harry
Harry
11 years ago

I was planning on spec’ing my new bike build with the new Duraace. But that crank is so damn ugly I doubt, as a designer myself; I could buy it. Looks like wolverine’s belt buckle. Gah.

richard
richard
11 years ago

@gyro2

the only reason that i can see a 24mm axle is for mountain bikes with pivots near the bb. event then the press fit is way better. the reason being that lighter and simpler. as for the creaking, that is bull sh*t. almost every manufacture has had creaky bb’s on some frame. also the contact of a press fit is more than the threads so as to help with creaking. granted the original cannondale bb30 was not perfect but the bearings are super easy to replace rather than the whole bb. and on that note shimano also make a press fit system. i see the bb30 as a better way forward than the steel axles for racing. the fact is that press fit bottom brackets are way better.

John
John
11 years ago

I can’t believe there are maniacs on this posting begging for support for something other than threaded bottom brackets. Ask mechanics at any local store about how much noise and headaches BB30, PF30, BBright, BBEVO etc. cause. It’s pathetic how crappy these standards are, they all require some sort of loctite and in the end still don’t last as long and make all kinds of noise.

Brian
Brian
11 years ago

@ John and all the other Mechanics here,

I too am a long time shop mechanic and agree, BSA (threaded) BB’s are the most problem free. They are also much more user serviceable, require less tools and are cheap to replace. I troubleshoot Creaky BB30 bikes daily, and manufacturers tolerances with BB30 shells are TERRIBLE. Problem with your BSA threading? Run a tap through it, bingo, done. Loose fitting BB30, BB90, etc, shell? Sucks to be you!

Gyro2
Gyro2
11 years ago

@ Richard, pf30 is a joker bb standard, a complete joke. The weightvsavings when considering he total bike, rider weight package is laughably irrelevant. PF30 has all sorts of issues with creaking bbs compared to threaded 68 mm standards. The threaded standards actually are stiffer than PF30 as Kent Eriksens take on the subject is spot on. Pressing in headset cups makes sense, while pressing in bottom brackets without hreads is plain stupid, its a completely different application. Stupid goofball bb standArds like bb30 and pf0 were developed to do two things – help mass produced frame manuacturers make frames more cheaply, and give mega tubed makers of alum and carbon fiber frames larger bb areas to attach their goofy mega sized tubes tonwhich do nohing to improve drivetrain efficiency despitevall their arketing hype and bs. Can oe single manufacturer show a single verified bench test proving a mega tiff bb equates to more watts transferred to the chain and rear cassette for a goven amount of watts input by the rider? Answer – no, none, because no such data exist to support such bs claims. Every pedla stroke made by the rider results in some wasted energy as some of the forces creayed by pedaling the crank result in lateral force being applied to the bb, because your crank does not sit in the frames centerline, it sits off to the side. A stiffer, bigger bb does nothing to mitigate that wasted energy ( lateral work) or turn that wasted energy into work helping to turn the crank over, none, nothing, that is reality. This is exactly why makers of mega tubed frames babble on about stiffness and drivetrain power transfer, but not one of them can actually publish a legit test backing up their so called superior drivetrain power transfer claims, not one. Not Cervelo, not Kuota, , not Cannondale, not any of the goofball mega sized tube bike makers. Shimano stuck with the threaded bb standard because its a superior standard versus bb30 or pf30. It creaks way less, and it makes way more sense to thread a bb into the frame than to press cups in. Good for Shimano sticking to their guns and avoiding these joker gimmiick bb standards.

Gyro2
Gyro2
11 years ago

If a bb standard requires you to use loctite to secure your bb to your frame, well, does anything more really be need said about how much of a total joke these standards are?? And as one poster hit the nail on the head above, if your goofball pf30 or bb30 bottom bracket was made with even the slightest slop in its specifications, hahaha, good luck getting that thing to work properly over time, because you cant tap it as you can a threaded bb. all you can do is keep regluing it over and over with loctite until you get tired of it and pawn your problem off to someone else on ebay. Hahaha

Bahrd
Bahrd
11 years ago

Well, there is the 40th anniversary of the Dura Ace group in 2013.
Next thirty years, DA! 😉

Gyro2
Gyro2
11 years ago

The new Di2 front derailleur looks really sharp and compact as well, unlike that Frankenstein Campy EPS front derailleur which looks like a failed vocational school project. Hahahahahaha

Kimmo
11 years ago

Not at all a fan of the styling, but the engineering seems superb.

Shimano doesn’t rest on its laurels.

stlguy
stlguy
11 years ago

i second the poor styling. Go all black or all silver. The Ultegra gun metal grey is still one of my favorite colors.

KLwannabe
KLwannabe
11 years ago

SRAM red is 1739 grams. Dura ace is 1978 grams. Hmmmmm. That is meaningful for smaller riders!

Fra
Fra
11 years ago

Is the bb-9000 compatible with 7900 crankset?

mark fulwider
mark fulwider
11 years ago

hard to believe Shimano would make such an ugly mismatch on the crank casting.
look at the joint between the crank and the chain rings…. very bad. I am surprised.
That alone will make me wait.

Guddis
11 years ago

Why go 11 speed when they can’t make proper 10 speed. I rather have a super smooth 9 speed.

Addy TT
Addy TT
11 years ago

So dull, give me the new SRAM Red every time, even Force looks better than Shimano. As for the weight, frame manufacturer don’t spend years of R&D to make them heavier. Save me some weight then I won’t need an extra gear!

ronnie
10 years ago

any news on the new xtr v-brakes coming out ? if any at all

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