Originally Posted by
Bianchigirll
I always thought it was called Ultegra when it switched from the silver 600 EX SIS to the great dark grey color and the term "Tri Color" was applied as sort of nickname to separate it from EX.
I have two examples and the 64XX series is labeled 600 and the 65xx series labeled Ultegra. Advertising when the group was rebranded often included a reference to 600. Interesting is that Ultegra head sets were still marked with a 600 logo for a couple of years following the Ultegra debut. The tri color badge had a meaning to Shimano, but I forget exactly what it defined. I think two of the colors represented sky and sea.
Brad