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Shimano goes to 11 with new Dura-Ace

  • By Nick Legan
  • Published May. 31, 2012
  • Shimano 9000 (pictured) will be available in September. The new electronic 9070 Di2 group will be available in December. Both are completely redesigned.
  • The most striking feature of Shimano's new 9000 series is the crank. The four-arm crank uses a proprietary 110mm bolt circle. Photo: Nick Legan
  • Shimano is only producing one crank, with a proprietary 110mm bolt circle. An extremely wide range of chainrings bolt onto the arms though, from compact to huge time trial rings. Photo: Nick Legan
  • Shimano showed off several prototypes. Here are a pair of early 4-arm road cranks. Thankfully, the amount of sculpting and finish changed! Photo: Nick Legan
  • Shimano worked hard to bring back the light shifting action that they lost going from 7800 to 7900 and they succeeded with the 9000 Dura-Ace. Photo: Nick Legan
  • The hole in the center of the photo is to access the reach adjust screw. It's a simple flathead screwdriver head. Photo: Nick Legan
  • Gone is the need to remove a cover to replace the brake cable. Photo: Nick Legan
  • The mounting bolt is now off-center on the shifter body, making it easier to reach with an Allen key. Photo: Nick Legan
  • Installing a shift cable is easier than ever (well maybe not easier than on 7800). Shimano engineers focused on making the new group easier to work on. Photo: Nick Legan
  • 9000 shifters are slimmer and more rounded than the 7900 generation. The new hoods are dual compound rubber, with softer rubber where you hands rest most often. Photo: Nick Legan
  • Ten or 11 speeds, how does it know and can we trick it? Photo: Shimano
  • The 9000 rear derailleur looks great and combined with the new STI levers, the action is very light. Photo: Shimano
  • The new rear derailleur is slimmer than older Dura-Ace models. The new finish is fetching. Neither of the derailleurs are backwards compatible. Photo: Nick Legan
  • Here's a prototype rear derailleur. Note the location of the cable fixing bolt. Photo: Nick Legan
  • The 9070 Di2 rear derailleur is slimmer than before. What appears white in this photo is actually polished. Photo: Shimano
  • The Di2 that Shimano had on display was not functional. It is the final form though. In fact Shimano used this set for the catalog photos. Photo: Nick Legan
  • The new front derailleur has a long tab for the cable fixing bolt. It decreases the amount of force at the shifter necessary to shift the front. Photo: Nick Legan
  • The tall tab reduces the amount of force required at the shift lever to perform a gear change. Photo: Shimano
  • The 9070 front derailleur is smaller than 7970. The wire now attaches at the back of the derailleur, helping to hide the wiring behind the seat tube. Photo: Shimano
  • The new 9000 brakes have three pivots, two turning on bearings, the third on a bushing. The new brakes offer better modulation and more stopping power (that's Shimano's claim, and after riding them I would back that up). Photo: Nick Legan
  • The new brakes are slim when viewed from the front, but broad from above. Photo: Nick Legan
  • Shimano is producing brakes for use on aero and time trial bikes. Photo: Shimano
  • Shimano is now producing a direct mount brake for use on many current time trial and triathlon bikes. Photo: Shimano
  • Yep, 11 of them. The new cogs are the same width as current 10-speed cogs, but the spacing is narrower. The rollers on the chain are also the same width as before. The chain is no longer directional. Photo: Nick Legan
  • Clincher versions still feature aluminum braking surfaces. You can clearly see the more rounded leading (and trailing) inner edge of the rims. The C50 features hidden nipples. Photo: Nick Legan
  • Shimano has joined the world of wide rims. The C75 is its deepest option. Notice the spokes and their changing colors. The process is meant to make them stronger while saving weight. Photo: Nick Legan
  • The C75 is only offered in a carbon tubular version. The new rim is 24mm wide and much more bulbous in profile than before. Photo: Nick Legan
  • This clever inline quick release will be a nice accessory for time trial bikes (and possibly handy for use on cyclocross cantilevers too). Photo: Shimano
  • The SW-9071 time trial shifters both control the rear derailleur. Photo: Shimano
  • Shimano's new FlightDeck is ANT+ and will display gear options and battery level. Photo: Shimano
  • Shimano offers this diagnostic tool to help find any problems that may occur. Used in conjunction with a PC (no Mac compatiblity yet) and Shimano software, it's also possible to program the delay in the multiple shift function new to 9070 Di2. Photo: Nick Legan
  • Shimano is now offering three different cleats for its SPD-SL pedals. The center one, blue, offers less float than the yellow model. Shimano is also offering shims to help bike fitters accomodate leg length discrepancies (seen above the cleats). Photo: Nick Legan


The lowdown: Yes, the new Dura-Ace is lighter, yes it has another cog, yes it’s more expensive, yes it’s more powerful, efficient, (insert other positive adjective here). But is it better than 7900? Yes.

While thousands of fans lined the streets around L.A. Live for the final stage of the Amgen Tour of California, eager to see some of the sport’s biggest names, a small group of tech reporters avoided the day’s proceedings altogether. Instead, we gathered at a golf course clubhouse in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park.

We didn’t sport polo shirts and we weren’t meeting for a tee time. We were there to see the future. Or Shimano Incorporated’s version of it.

Shimano has come a long way from its beginnings in the early 1920s. From its first product, a single-speed freewheel, Shimano will now offer road cassettes with an additional 10 cogs. That’s right, Shimano has confirmed it. Eleven-speed is on the way.

The 9000 mechanical series of Dura-Ace will be the first Shimano group to receive the extra cog, with availability starting in September 2012. The electronic 9070 Di2 will follow in December. But there’s a lot more than an extra cog when it comes to the new Dura-Ace. Shimano 9000 is a complete redesign.

Overview

There’s a lot of material to cover here, so let’s start with an overview. As stated above, both of the new Dura-Ace groups will be 11-speed and because of that, the groups will only be compatible with Shimano’s new wheels and some existing Mavic wheels (used without any spacers). So if you want the latest, it’s going to cost you.

How much? Well, the 9000 mechanical group will run $2,700. The 9070 Di2 group will lighten your wallet to the tune of $4,140.

There are a few other things that stick out. The crank now only has four spider arms. The wheels are now wide-rim affairs, the mechanical shifters are slimmer than ever. Weights have gone down as well, even with an extra cog. The mechanical group weighs in at 1,977 grams, while the Di2 version is only slightly heavier at 2,047 grams (including the internal battery and wiring). That’s a weight savings over 7900 of 77 grams for mechanical and 172 grams for Di2. Both of these weights include cables, something not all manufacturers quote when giving weights.

Cranks: one crank, period

The most obvious change to the group is the lack of a fifth arm on the crank spider. The look is a bit bizarre at first, but after hearing the engineering reason behind the four-arm design, I like the cranks more.

There are dead spots in every pedal stroke. That’s no surprise to anyone, but Shimano decided that there was no need to build a crank that was stiff during that period of the revolution. Shimano’s super stiff, hollow chainrings allowed the removal of the fifth spider arm without reducing pedaling efficiency. The new crank also drops 52 grams from the 7900 crank.

Interestingly, Shimano has also done away with standard and compact versions for the new crank. Only one crank is offered and it’s essentially a 110mm bcd (compact) with a 24mm spindle. Obviously you must use Shimano’s new rings because of the unique spacing of the four-arm, 110mm spider. But again, thanks to the extremely stiff chainrings, Shimano will offer the crank with 50-34, 52-36, 52-38, 53-39, 54-42, and 55-42 gearing options. There will be no need to buy another crank if you decide to tackle the Dolomites for your next vacation, or take on a super fast time trial amidst your normal time scaling mountainous roads. That said, Shimano rings aren’t cheap. So choose wisely!

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Nick Legan

Nick Legan

After graduating from Indiana University with honors and a degree in French and journalism, Nick Legan jumped straight into wrenching at Pro Peloton bike shop in Boulder for a few years. Then, he began a seven-year stint in the professional ranks, most recently serving for RadioShack at the Tour de France and the Amgen Tour of California. He also worked for Garmin-Slipstream, CSC, Toyota-United, Health Net and Ofoto. Legan served as the VeloNews tech editor 2010-2012 before sliding across the line into public relations.