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More Spy Shots – 2013 Shimano Dura-Ace Group Closeups!

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace spy shots - crankset
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2013 Shimano Dura-Ace spy shots - crankset

While pedaling along with the Ride 2 Recovery Memorial Challenge ride, Shimano brake engineer Wayne Stetina paid a visit to Jason at Freshbikes and let him snap us a few pics of what’s likely to be the forthcoming 2013 Dura-Ace component group.

All parts are accounted for save a rumored Flight Deck revamp, and thanks to some printing on the chainrings, it looks like all the 11-speed hearsay should be correct. The official unveil is this Friday, June 1, at which time we’ll be able to present all of the technical info, specs and more…and there’s a lot more. Until then, all we can do is speculate based on these images. And Shimano would like us to point out that anything you’re seeing before the production units hit the floor are prototypes are no guarantee of what’s actually coming. That said, this is the second time we’ve seen four-armed cranks. These appear asymmetric, with two of the opposing arms looking a bit wider than the others. We’re guessing this is all about pedal force distribution where it counts.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace spy shots - shifter brake lever

Wayne mentioned he’s put thousands of miles on the parts, and it looks like there’s a bit of wear on the hoods. Shaping looks quite ergonomic, and if that finger groove means one-finger braking while riding on the hoods, that would be pretty sweet. Note the Flight Deck logo on the top of the brake lever.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace spy shots - shifter brake lever

The hoods themselves look very similar to the current generation. Levers look to have a bit more outward flare.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace spy shots - front brake

Shimano’s road brake calipers (and mountain, for that matter) are highly regarded. These look to have an articulating linkage, although configured differently than SRAM’s new Red brakes. If the cable looks frayed here it’s because it’s been in service for many, many miles.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace spy shots - rear brake

Best we can tell, the small linkage arm is connected via a pivot to the brake arm controlling the pad on the cable entry side. As it pulls the other arm (with logo in this image), that arm raises and pushes (rolls?) a cam that closes the other arm with more force. On the front brake, you can see a set screw that looks like it would let you adjust the force generated by the linkage.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace spy shots - front derailleur

Speaking of leverage , the cable mounting point on the front derailleur looks like it’ll have a ton of torque over the cage, which should translate to easy shifting. It could mean a lot of cable pull, though.

2013 Shimano Dura-Ace spy shots - rear derailleur

Other than styling, the only major functional change we can see is that the cable bolt moves forward all the way to the front pivots for the parallelogram. Again, we’re guessing this simply gives more leverage over the spring to make shifting easier. This is one of the few pieces here that’s less aggressive looking than the 7900 piece.

What do you think? Loving the looks? See anything we missed?

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discodave
discodave
12 years ago

Any word on hydraulics?

fredly
12 years ago

You missed the BCD on the new cranks. Yes, it’s four-arm, but more importantly if rumors are correct (and they appear to be…) it’s sized for “universal” chainring selection, IE: no discrete “compact” crank necessary, you can run all the way down to 34t chainrings on the “standard” crank.

J.R.
J.R.
12 years ago

I’m going to toss in another possibility based on the pics. The 4-arm crankset also creates room opposite the drive-side crank arm for a power-meter. Could a rumored Flight Deck revamp also include said power meter? Now that SRAM has acquired Quarq, this would be a logical step for Shimano to also have an integrated power measurement device….Hmmm, guess we’ll find out June 1st.

EdR
EdR
12 years ago

Well all I can say is at least the new crank isn’t much uglier than the existing one

T
T
12 years ago

Based on the new geometry for the derailleurs, 11 speed shimano parts will not be backwards compatible. Everyone should send me all of their obsolete 7900 series equipment ASAP.

PP
PP
12 years ago

That groove in the brake lever is not going to do anything for one finger braking – it is above the pivot. Pull there and nothing is going to happen.

Evan
12 years ago

The two-tone finish looks great and I personally like the styling of the front and rear derailleurs. Just screams modern. Not a huge fan of the outward sweeping brake-lever design started by SRAM some years back but I suppose it’s ergonomically better.

As JR mentioned, I’d be awfully surprised if Shimano doesn’t have their own powermeter setup. It’s about friggin time one of the major component manufacturers releases a fully-integrated solution. SRAM is awfully close but doesn’t have their own headunit.

Micah
Micah
12 years ago

For any Ride the Rockies fans (Colorado): recognize the water bottle?

Darcy
Darcy
12 years ago

Pictures from the Giro showed a power meter on some of the sky bikes, guessing from SRM fitted to the new cranks. Weather or not this is from SRM who knows. But there is something available to the pros and most likely the public once the group set is officially released.

nate
nate
12 years ago

One thing mentioned, but not expanded up, is the placement of the cable clamp on the rear der. Shimano’s biggest issue currently is their finicky shifting due to the small amount of cable pull with each shift. It’s easy for the shifting to become less precise w/ cheap, contaminated, or improperly installed housing. Moving the that bolt further allows for more cable to be pulled over the range, thus changing the cable pull ratio making it less prone to minor changes in cable tension. They already did this with Dyna-Sys for their MTB group. If they make the change on their road groups as well, they will have solved the weakest link in their already stong system. We shall see….

Chris
Chris
12 years ago

Not sure what it says that they continue to develop cable shifting systems even after Di2 has been out for a few years now. I’m guessing it’s just to keep the price point down but it does seem a bit odd.

A Stray Velo
A Stray Velo
12 years ago

Crank: I like the idea of having one size crank that fits all chainring sizes but I’m guessing Shimano hasn’t heard of 110 BCD??? Less sku’s for dealers so that’s nice but they really just made their own “standard” which is lame. What’s wrong with a 110 BCD?

Shifters: They look better but it seems they have once again over looked the lever to bar transition which leaves the end of the rubber hood right in the middle of the palm for some hand sizes. Not so nice and a fine detail that SRAM and Campagnolo have paid attention to. They do look narrower and longer than 7900 which is a plus.

Brakes: Shimano brakes typically are some of the best stoppers on the market so I’m not sure why the changed them. Looks like these new ones will require more cleaning just like the Campy Skeleton brakes. Fantastic….

FD: It looks odd but if Shimano have found a way to make a front shift feel as easy as a rear shift does with their shifters than I love it. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

RD: Totally the best looking part of the new group.

Jon
Jon
12 years ago

Is that a new version of the all carbon 24mm shimano tubular wheelset? The prev generation had red nipples…

David Messenger
David Messenger
12 years ago

Well the styling just gets worse, no design flair, it looks cheap and nasty…

Nivlac
Nivlac
12 years ago

Looks awesome! Sexy combination of milky polished aluminum and dark dark gray-blue finish like the action on a well finished rifle.

mkrs
mkrs
12 years ago

The brake looks sophisticated, maybe even complicated. Why did they change one of the world’s best road brakes? These look like they might be hard to maintain in good condition with such a number of moving parts.

I love the RD. Just love the looks… I like the cranks too, the new chainring design explanation sounds sensible but it means another “standard” which is SOOO bad.

The FD looks nice too, but it seems like the lever throw will be bigger because of more cable pull needed to move the FD. I just can’t seem to like it – I definitely prefer SRAM’s philosophy: slightly more effort needed to shift but with less lever travel.

Finally – the shifters. Might be ergonomic but with levers flared so much they just look hideous.

saupak
saupak
12 years ago

The crankset bolt circle arms at the 1 and 5 o’clock positions definitely look beefier than those at the 7 and 11 o’clock positions, plus the empty space between these two arms fore and aft looks slightly off (the gap between the 1 and 5 o’clock arms looks smaller than the one between 7 and 11 o’clock). This implies to me some serious engineering went into the design of these cranks. Sure they could have used 110 BCD, but every new design has to save weight and getting rid of one bolt circle arm can do that.

The Flightdeck plate on the shifters looks one-piece to me, which would be a significant improvement over 7900 where you have to remove a screw holding the front plate in order to install new cables. Looking down on the hoods, they also appear more rounded and slightly narrower than 7900.

Personally, I’m really looking forward to a revamped Flightdeck as the 7900 version isn’t available outside of Japan, but hopefullly a 9000 version will be 10 and 11-speed compatible and use the same wireless buttons inserted into the top of each hood as the 7900 shifters were designed for. @ Darcy – I thought the meters shown during the Giro were SRM, but I guess we’ll see.

@ J.R. – current SC-7900 Flightdeck is ANT+, so regardless of whose powermeter you choose, the computer can pick up the signal.

Shimano road calipers IMO are the gold standard so not sure why they’re completely redesigned, but I’m hoping for even more 1-finger power. The one bonus I see if the ability to get in and clean between each linkage arm. As the gold standard, I’m also not sure why we need hydraulics or disks on the road when Shimano braking has always been so good, but that’s just me.

Front derailleur looks like it’ll need a lot of cable throw, but if the cams inside of the shifters can manage that with less effort and lever throw than 7900, I’m all for it. Shifting up to the big ring on 7900 is very uncomfortable.

And the rear derailleur looks not too much different from 7900, which leads me to think they’ll be little functional or feel difference in rear shifting. I remember reading on VN about the derailleurs requiring new, proprietary cables, but then I noticed the “SIS SP 41” stamping on the housing leading to the rear derailleur, which is the same as 7900. Guess we’ll have to wait to learn more about that.

Generally I’m pleased to see that cable-shifting is still available at the top end despite the proliferation of electronic shifting systems.

Jack j
Jack j
12 years ago

I rode this last week. Great stuff. The brakes are awesome but the front shifting steals the show. It’s Di2 good. Btw the cranks are 110 bcd. One bcd for all ring sizes but in a awkward 4 bolt.

PDXFixed.com
12 years ago

Interesting, 110×4 BCD, yet incompatible with the Zipp VumaQuad… why not just go 3 bolt like the FSA MTB product?

Bas Simons
Bas Simons
12 years ago

these brakes probably can be modified so they can be bolted to a (compatible) frame directly. more cable pull will indeed increase shifting performance is my expectation. now lets hope the amount of lever displacement gets as little as 7400 and 7700 had 🙂

i have to get used to the cranks. they might consider using different BCD’s for inner and outer ring (as SRM had in one of their “compact” models), so the stiffness of the crank/ring combo is better for the big ring.

Mozza
Mozza
12 years ago

Seems to work with 10 speed cassettes too………………………..
http://www.roadbikeaction.com/Tech-and-New-Product-News/content/71/5371/First-Look-2013-Shimano-Dura-Ace.html

carl
12 years ago

I have to wonder how much $$$ those chainrings will cost. I’m guessing that in order to make them acceptably stiff with only a four bolt mounting they’ll be another engineering masterpiece that you’ll have to mortgage an arm and a leg for.

gringo
gringo
12 years ago

@PDX
why would shimano, or anyone for that matter want Zipp ring compatibility? Zipp’s aero smoke-n-mirrors marketing gets washed out the second you compare shifting performance of any other brand to Shimano.

why would you desecrate a beautifully optimized crank with floppy, second rate rings?

Dover
Dover
12 years ago

well said @Gringo. ive always wondered why so many people think this sort of thing is nessesary.

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