Hey peeps, this thread's going out to all the other gearheads who like to drool over sweet, sweet tech, to share impressions and further thoughts on Shimano's latest...



Bikerumor article

Bikeradar article

The first thing that struck me was how Shimano's cranksets just keep getting uglier and uglier... and I'm not a fan of the skin-deep styling (where they put the black) on the other components, either. But anyway...

When you consider that the four arms are optimally placed to bear the load on the chainrings, rather than just being evenly spaced, it actually starts to seem kinda cool. The stiffness of the hollow outer chainring means one BCD is possible for rings from 34 to 55 - no more standard/compact, which is a definite improvement... and it occurs to me that the orientation of those spider arms, together with the small BCD, means some pretty radically ovalised aftermarket chainrings will be possible. So, I guess it's growing on me fairly quickly, but I doubt I'll ever find it prettier than a classic five-arm spider... and I still hate the current styling.

No BB30; Shimano's sticking with a 24mm BB axle, saying they believe a steel axle and ally arms is best. I have no opinion on that, except to say they prolly know what they're talking about, but perhaps it has more to do with backwards compatibility with frames...

They've turned it up to eleven, too - a 1.85mm wider cassette means a new wider 11spd cassette body. Does anyone know if it can be retrofitted? I would imagine so... Also, it's funny to see the commenters jumping up and down over this change, even though it's no wider than Campy's 11spd, so it shouldn't necessitate new wheels for anyone. The larger cogs now feature a carbon spider. I can't figure out why the lightening holes don't go all the way around the cogs, though... anyone have a clue about that?

Bonus laughs: the turkeys who wrote the Bikeradar article say the new chain is "the same width [wrong] as Shimano's 10-speed chains but has a slightly shorter pitch" PMSL, dropkicks... journalism fail.

And the other big news is the completely redesigned brake, with tricky new geometry which by all accounts is supremely powerful with unparalleled modulation. Nice. There's also a you-beaut aero TT version to boot.

The new cables with their nifty lube-holding coating seem pretty snazzy, too. Might be worth coughing up for one or two of those, if you have trouble with your indexing - they're meant to reduce friction a bunch.

The new Di2 derailleurs are sexier, and as ever, hilariously expensive.

So that's my view... what say you guys?