Shimano Dura-Ace 9000

Words by Simon Whiten

The strive to perfect mechanical shifting does not seem to have been affected by the introduction of electronic gearing; similarly the development of more powerful rim brakes has not been halted by the imminence of disc brakes. If these are evolutionary dead-ends there’s little evidence to suggest as much. Fully representative of this continued development, Shimano have taken a major leap forward with their most recent, top of the range, mechanical groupset. CycleTechReview.com got our hands on a new Dura-Ace 9000, 11-speed groupset.

Everything about this groupset is new, even the cables. It’s definitely not just a refinement like previous iterations such as 7900, which was criticised by some as being no better than its predecessor. Whichever part of the Dura-Ace 9000 groupset you examine – the front derailleur, the brakes, the chainset – there are major changes which are obvious at first glance. But interestingly, there are also changes that are not so obvious that show the hard work that Shimano engineers have put into this group and offer the rider major performance improvements that will more than make up for the lack of electronic wizardry… Read More >