As a cyclist, the search for newer and better gear is constant — there's always something else out there. Premes, Picks, Promos will highlight both the next big thing and the sleeper deal.
With the professional race calendar cranking up more and more every week, we're starting to see more and more changes in the gear used by riders in the WorldTour peloton.
New SRAM Red parts have been popping up here and there, and on Tuesday Bike Rumor posted pictures of allegedly prototype Shimano Dura-Ace components on Alex Dowsett's Team Sky bike. (The photos came via Fiets Magazine, a Dutch publication.) Earlier details of the new group — called Dura-Ace 9000 — were discovered in December.
Though some of the parts look rough, we'll likely see further refinement over the summer ahead of an announcement in the fall.
Dura-Ace 7900 debuted in the 2008 Tour and was a 2009 product for the masses. That means it will get a reasonably short four years on the market. (How many of you are still calling it "new Dura-Ace?") By comparison, the 7800 group debuted in 2003 as a 2004 product and enjoyed five years on the market, though it was woefully behind the times when it was shown the door.
The difference between the 7800 and 7900 groups was startling. The classic silver of the 7800 group gave way to two-toned, heavily machined black-and-gray parts, along with a radical redesign of the shifters. The 9000 group will likely have more in common with 7900 than 7800, but there are a few things I hope Shimano addresses with its new top group:
- The cable-drag issue has to be corrected. Those who have spent time on 7800 groups talk endlessly of the reliable, buttery-smooth shifting. The 7900 group is still an excellent group, but the rerouting of the cables created more friction, which took away a bit of that smoothness. It's a much bigger issue on the Ultegra group, but it's evident in 7900, too.
- Shorten the lever throws. One of the reasons I started moving to SRAM in 2009 was the much-shorter lever throws. In the space of lever movement that it takes Dura-Ace to downshift (which is going one gear easier, not harder), you can drop two gears on SRAM shifters. The 7900 group was an improvement on the 7800 action, but it needs to be tighter.
- Fix the shifter bodies. This is more of a Shimano problem than at 7900 problem. But next time you're in a bike shop, wrap your hands around shifters from all of Shimano's groups — they're all different. The 7900 body is thinner than the Ultegra 6700 body, which is almost square. The 105 body feels like a fatter 7900, but is still more round than 6700. And Di2 adds another different body. Shimano could save time and money (and therefore save us some money) by making them the same, ala SRAM and Campagnolo.
- Lose some weight. Easily the heaviest of the top three groups, Dura-Ace could stand to be a bit lighter. Sure, it may not matter all that much, but in the eyes of gram counters, it's huge. For what it's worth, in the Fiets pictures, it looks like that brake caliper should shed some weight.
- Don't go to 11-speed. Nevermind. That's happening. If Shimano pushes 11-speed down to all of its groups, prepare for years of whining not unlike the 9/10 jump. The only difference now is that the internet is bigger and whinier.
Whether these changes occur remains to be seen. I'd put money on a better shift feel, but everything else? Maybe, maybe not. The previous generation of Shimano groups had different shifter bodies, too, which likely means the company thinks its onto something. It's not. And losing a bit of weight seems likely, too.
And the real key to the next Dura-Ace group will be in its ability to recapture a chunk of the mid-to-high-end road bike market. At your next race, take an informal survey of components on the bikes of various teams. Because of SRAM's aggressive grassroots program, I bet you'll see more Red- and Force-equipped bikes than Dura-Ace or Ultegra bikes.
In stores, SRAM bikes are almost always lighter and less-expensive than their Shimano counterparts. While you have some consumers that will pay for the top group, no matter what, I saw a lot of riders with a hard budget that kept them far away from a Dura-Ace bike. More often than not, they went with a Force-equipped model and saved both weight and money.
In our garage, all of the bikes are SRAM equipped. That includes my road, 'cross and TT bikes as well as my wife's bike (which is a 'cross bike because she kicks ass). Each of them, however, has Shimano pedals and a couple of them have Shimano wheels. I'm not Shimano-averse by any means.
But when it comes time to build new bikes and select drivetrains, Shimano isn't even in the conversation for me. Hopefully the new Dura-Ace 9000 group can change that.
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In addition to being GamJams Tech Editor, Bryan Redemske has managed the Trek Bicycle Store of Omaha, is a professional writer and a Cat 3 racer. He drinks a lot of coffee.
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