New Shimano Cues drop bar levers now bring the same affordable and durable LinkGlide drivetrains to gravel, road, and every adventure bike in between. Including both 1x and 2x possibilities paired to 9sp, 10sp & 11-speed cassettes, dropbar Cues opens up a lot of more affordable build options, whether you are looking for a budget all-road commuter bike or an extra-tough gravel adventure setup that you can shift under load.
Plus, there’s new Cues for kids… or maybe commuters? A new short cage Cues derailleur for improved 20″ wheel ground clearance, and a new “child-sized” brake rotor.
And it’s not Cues, but Shimano is also adding a set of drop bar shifters for their super affordable entry-level Essa 1x8sp drivetrain, too.
Shimano Cues 9, 10 & 11sp LinkGlide Drop Bar drivetrains
Developed to bring affordable performance and longer drivetrain durability, bringing Cues to drop bar bikes was an obvious next step.
Frankly, I’m kind of surprised that it took almost 2 years since Shimano ‘reinvented‘ (renaming everything below Deore) all of their mid-tier mountain bike groupsets as Cues, to doing a bit of the same for the mid-tier road & gravel groups. I have 11sp LinkGlide on a killer steel all-mountain hardtail I built, and it’s great!
Why Cues & LinkGlide in the first place?
In my opinion, Shimano Cues might just be the best, underrated drivetrain out there. Adding Drop Bar levers with hydraulic disc brakes just makes it even better. I think Cues doesn’t really get the love it deserves because of the same branding issue that plagued LinkGlide with confusion from the start. Since there are multiple gearing options under the same name – offering 9- & 10-speed on the old HG freehub spacing or 11-speed on the wider MicroSpline freehubs.
But the key here is that in a time of ever-thinner cassettes (& chains) to squeeze more gear into the same space, Cues, and LinkGlide took the opposite tack – using that same wide rear spacing to offer thicker, more durable cassettes. The result is cassettes that last much longer. Ans at the same time, cassettes can genuinely be shifted under load without damage. That last bit doesn’t seem that important to the experienced cyclist, but it’s a big help to new riders. And it’s an absolute necessity once ebikes enter the mix, where you’re much more likely to need to shift while the motor is still chugging along.
And Cues keeps it simple, will all three speeds (cassette spacing options) using the same 11-speed chain, which Shimano assures are stronger and longer-lasting than previous 8-, 9-, or-10-speed chains and also almost always cheaper than any 12-speed chain.
What’s actually new?
To make Cues work on drop bar bikes, and now 2x as well, Shimano only had to add a few components: shifters, flat mount brakes, a front derailleur, and some new crankset configurations.
The combined shifters & brakes are the most expensive part, selling for ~$280-300 per side including brake calipers. They are, after all, pretty much functionally the same as the latest 105 mechanical dual controls, just fewer gears shifted. And they look to get the same ergonomics. But interestingly, those ST-U6030 dual control levers actually work for both 10- or 11-speed, so it would also be pretty low-cost to switch from one to the other later (as long as you aren’t going between 1x & 2x).
New flat mount brakes are probably the most unique of the new Shimano Cues Drop Bar setup.
Just like Campagnolo brakes, the new Cues hydraulic disc brakes have a special front caliper for 160mm rotors on the flat mount standard without an extra adapter bracket. (That also means it is not compatible with 140mm rotors, and forks with a FM160 mount would require a 180mm front rotor.)
Cues actually does the same thing out back – no flat mount adapter needed to run a 160mm rotor (again, not compatible with 140m rotors, and the much rarer FM160 would require a 180mm rotor.)
There is also a separate and less expensive 9/10-speed set of mechanical shift dual control levers for use with mechanical disc brakes (ST-U3030). These also work for either gearing spread out back, but come in 1x or 2x specific pairs, as well.
The final new-to-Cues bits are front derailleurs for 2x 9- or 10-speed setups. Available for braze-on or clamp mount, one front derailleur can work with all Cues 2x drivetrains, each with +2.5mm chainline offset designed to help with wider tire clearances.
Updated configurations
New 2x builds mean several new Hollowtech alloy Cues cranksets, too. But really they are the same cranks as before, just with new 46/32T and 50/34T chainring combinations on a 110×4-bolt spider. And the 1x cranks are also updated, again with 40T & 42T chainrings more suitable for gravel and road riding.
20″ Cues for kids & commuters, as well
This one’s simple. For use on small 20″ & 24″ wheeled bikes, Shimano Cues adds a short cage 9/10-speed Shadow derailleur that will still work with up to an 11-39T cassette spread. For 20″ wheels, Shimano says it means 30% more ground clearance.
And for braking, a 140mm 6-bolt Cues level brake rotor should provide a more appropriate level of stopping power for smaller & lighter riders on kids’ mountain bikes kitted out with these more affordable drivetrains. Remember, too much braking power will make it harder for kids to modulate their brakes.
Essa Drop Bar levers, too
Carrying on the affordable trend, the affordable Essa 1x8sp group also gets its own dual control drop bar levers, as well. Again, it looks like modern Shimano mechanical shift ergonomics, trickled down for low-cost 1x setups paired to that wide range 11-45T cassette out back.
Shimano Cues Drop Bar – Pricing, options & availability
Shimano says that all of these new Cues Drop Bar drivetrain setups are already being built onto a number of production bikes, from several OEM partners, including bikes from Cannondale, Fuji, Giant, Marin, Salsa, Specialized, Surly, and Trek to name a handful. Expect those OEM Cues Drop Bar spec’d bikes to start popping up later in Spring 2025.
Like I mentioned above in why Cues matters, there are really a ton of different combinations now available. 9-11-speeds of mechanical shifting, 1x or 2x, and mechanical or hydraulic disc brakes. So it’s easy to get a bit confused, and be careful when building up your own setup. With that said, aftermarket availability will come at around the same time as OEM. Shimano gave us an idea of what a couple of the most-expensive complete Cues Drop Bar build kits would cost at retail.
A complete 1×11-speed Cues U6000 kit with levers, hydraulic brake calipers & rotors, 1x crankset, rear derailleur, cassette, and chain would retail for $896. A complete 2×10-speed Cues U6000 kit would be almost exactly the same with levers, hydraulic brake calipers & rotors, a 2x crankset, front & rear derailleurs, cassette, and chain selling for $891.
But the mechanical disc brake Cues Drop Bar (9 or 10sp) and mechanical disc brake Essa Drop Bar 1x 8sp setups will cost just a fraction of that.
We expect to see the same performance you’d see in the previous generation of Shimano’s top-tier road racing groups, now available for a lot less under this unified Shimano Cues Drop Bar naming. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to try some of it out on one of these as-yet-unreleased affordable OEM bike builds.
