I said in Spain. In Spain, people speak Spanish. In Spanish, C is hard when it precedes the letter u. U sounds like W when it precedes another vowel. E sounds like the English short e. S is always unvoiced and never sounds like z.

The received pronunciation of "C" in "Cues" is hard in English as well.

How should the Spanish bike brand Zeus be pronounced in Spain?

I've wondered about that! I'll ask a Spanish speaker. I assume it's SAY-oose (rhymes with say goose).

I was certain this thread would drift into criticism of the looks of the Cues components, not international phonetics. When I hear Dura Ace pronounced with some sort of Italian flavor I want swat that person with a pool noodle.

Yes, in my head, I say Dura Atcheh in an Italian accent.

I haven't tried Cues components. They look like they would work well, and even if it's not top-end, it's the result of their latest research and development, so I bet it works extremely well.

We have a bunch of Cues-equipped bikes at the shop--Trek Marlins and FX's--and they work alright. My present thought is that wide range cassettes are a big challenge to smooth operation of the Cues rear derailleurs. Especially when the Link Glide cassette cog shifting gates are more agrarian than supple. Deore is a huge improvement. I've seen a lot of internet buzz about "OMG Cues is soooo great" and it is my firm belief, from experience that the outgoing Shimano Alivio (M3100 generation) derailleur and shifter are far superior in shifter feel--the haptics are sublime--and shift action. Like others of this architecture (Altus, Claris, Sora, and other unsung and forgotten groups), with 7, 8, or 9 speeds, it is classic quality Shimano. I prefer Alivio's shift lever action and feel to Deore and better's 12-speed systems. Alivio's derailleur construction is also better--Cues I have found to have loose pins/joints everywhere. Lotta slop. I could go to a coop right now, dig in their "who cares" derailleur bin to find an early '90s RSX or RX100 or Deore LX rear derailleur, scratched up with use, yet with all joints perfectly tight and smooth to operate. In a world where wide-range cassettes require precise derailleur hanger alignment and minimal joint play in derailleur components--the world we live in right now--Cues is subpar, but works just well enough to get the job done for most people.

They speak Spanish in Spain? Oh, thanks for that tip.
Good lord. I wasn't trying to argue or be combatoce, I just commented on something curious to me.
I would think it would be pronounced the same regardless of country. That is fairly common- to pronounce words in the way they are said in the native language.
At the same time, I could list a bunch of words and names/places where the English pronunciation is different from the native languagr/country.

Again, just a surprise on my part.

Right, I get it now. Anyway, Shimano doesn't have radio or TV ads. I just looked, and I see they do have a youtube channel, but does anyone watch it? I imagine that people don't normally hear how Shimano pronounces its product names. Years ago, I learned that Sugino is pronounced with a hard g, and for years, most people used a soft g. Similar story for other Japanese bike products. We don't communicate much in audio between Japan and the west, so we make up our pronunciations, and they transmit by folklore. That's why it doesn't surprise me that Spanish speakers saw the name and pronounced it in the obvious way for them.

Oh, I found Shimano Latinamerica. Their ad for Cues is in English!


I didn't find you to be combative, and if I sound that way, I apologize.

Oh, just because no one mentioned it doesn't mean they aren't completely fugly!

Shimano doesn't need TV or radio ads. Millions of people around the world understand English and watch English-language videos. YouTube channels like GCN's often deal directly with Shimano representatives, so the GCN guys would know how "Cues" is to be pronounced.

And about the supposed pronunciation of "Cues" as "kwess" or whatever it was: that's the English word "Cues" with a Spanish accent, not an official Spanish pronunciation. Watch interviews with racers after any pro race: speaking to an interviewer who speaks English, they respond in English, though usually with some degree of accent.

About pronunciation of Japanese product names: one data point I can offer is that Kozo Shimano, son of the president of the company, spoke perfectly accent-free American English and pronounced product names the same way every cyclist I knew did. (He was a member of the Hopkins collegiate cycling team when our bike shop sponsored them.) Never heard him say "Sugino" or "Tange," though.

The word "Cues" is not spoken in the video, so I'm not sure what your point was in posting it.

What do you consider wide range? Is that 11-40? That seems wide range to me but when I see a 52 tooth cassette, I wonder if 11-40 is still considered wide range.

Cues reminds me of a Cybertruck. Aesthetically challenging to my sensibilities.

Perfect analogy!

Funny how even with STI and/Ergo and now Electron, riders can't or won't learn to shift a front derailleur which makes everything work so well. The electron stuff will even prevent cross-chaining.

Had a Spanish guy once inform me I was from Arithona. So good luck with "Zeus"

Japanese TV has a lot of character names that are bilingual jokes, using phonics of similar Japanese syllables, frequently swapping consonants. Which certainly makes you wonder how they got us to say "Tiagra" all these years

I would say an 11-36T is a wide range cassette in the traditional sense and even up to fairly recently. Now that mountain bikes have gone 'HAM' with their 1x gearing and cassette cog count, 11-36T is simply limiting for the bike outside of a double chainring. I'd like to say anything at 40T or north of it is wide range given the present trend of MTB and all road gearing.

Cues and Essa derailleurs working their 9-speed and 8-speed cassettes (respectively) have big jobs to do getting to their lowest three gears. Those cog jumps are massive--Shimano "Mega Range" freewheel jump massive. That's going to be rough on any derailleur. The jumps on Deore 12-speed cassettes are constant throughout the range, so it has an easier job to do there, just harder by needing to be precise over much tighter cog-spaced tolerances.

Yes, both a Z and a C before I/E are pronounced as a TH in Castilian Spanish. So, "thay-oose."

You should see SRAM's Transmission rear derailleur--that'll melt your brain!

(It's not visually pleasing to me, unless I was a Transformer. It is very good at its job though)

I don’t have a lot of experience with SRAM stuff but it does indeed seem to function well but it mostly looks horrible so my experience will likely remain limited. Feel free to label me as a hypocrite since I have 2 bikes with newer Altus RDs. 😇

I have eschewed SRAM for the longest time because Shimano and Campy were almost always prettier, more available, well-priced (even used), and worked better/more simply. SRAM's eTap (now AXS) wireless shifting is fantastic, and the Rival AXS groupset on my Checkpoint is a joy to use, and looks handsome. I never have liked their weird patent-avoiding mechanical shifter actuation. It's AXS or nothing for me. To their credit, running Shimano cassette spacing was a great move, and they did sneak in a few quite beautiful cranksets in the past.