Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 Component Group – Install Notes & First Impressions

Wow, what happened to that front brake cable? Looks terrible.

When Campagnolo released 11 speeds, almost everybody said it made no difference. Now that Shimano jumps in, everybody raves about it.

About front shifting, you need one push to shift, another to trim. The slowest among the top three manufacturers.

new sram shifts great and requires a minimal pain in the arse. a little, but not a lot.

this is a huge pain. it also runs into the seat tube of cervelos. thanks for nothing, shimano. let the computers do it for you, since you clearly lost the cable battle.

sram is garbage, even lance went back to shimano.

Ha, I just lost a bet because I was sure someone would have already commented “why didn’t you put it in the big ring for the photo?” – lol.

Brandon that doesn’t add up. How many “seasons” do you ride in a year? Sounds like you are trying to justify your purchase to yourself.

All this is is the ongoing “which company makes the best components” debate. Heres what it comes down to. Ride what you like. end of story. I’m pretty sure 90% of us here can remember a time when we were passed by a guy on an old steel road bike with sora on it.

@endurobob – I hate it when that happens! I would like to think that I could tell the difference between Red, DA or Record, but really, a well adjusted 105 group is about all it takes to impress me.

@Greg Kopecky

ah true. i tend to forget how crummy cerv’s are due to their high ticket price. not jokin’

anyways yeah they mostly all work great. new red, new dura ace, campy, whatevs.

boosting

I really wish Shimano would bring back some clicks/feel in their shifting. I stopped running Shimano shifters after 7700 ’cause I *like* the chunk and the feel of a shift.

Maybe it goes back to my days of DT shifters. I don’t know. Light action and continuing to make lighter and lighter action = the wrong way *for me.*

There’s no denying its slick and works well. I saw the new stuff on a bike Wed nite at an LBS and the crank looks better in person than in pics.

My $.02. Worth what you paid for it

M

I have been riding this 9000 group for a couple months and really appreciate all the new features, compared to 7900. The one that stands out is the shift from the big ring to small ring. It drops the chain about 3/4’s of the throw and basically avoids dropped chains without using chain-catchers. This is brilliant and yes you may need to use the “trim” , but only about half the time and it surely beats a dropped or jammed chain.
All in all, Shimano has pulled out all the stops to produce one of the best road groups to date. A nice benefit will be when the features from 9000, trickle down to more affordable Shimano groups.

“a potential issue is how exposed the shifter’s internals are on Shimano’s mechanical groups.”

That has GOT to be missing a cover part…no? For how finished everything else is, I can’t see why Shimano would eliminate a cheap cover or boot in that area.

@gravity Agree, Instead of “everybody” I should have said “everybody in the media”. It worries me how the press seem hard to find faults in Shimano stuff. Furthermore everything coming from Campagnolo is treated as coming from a company with lower engineering abilities, and as such, when something works on par or better than on competitors’ stuff, is put under quarantine.

As for front shifting, yes I mean the whole actions requires shift, then trim which I find really annoying and, yes, slow. Sram’s Yaw is an impressive technology, but as you say, when paired whith their own cranks shift very slow. Praxis chainrings make it perfect though. And Campagnolo’s system is perfect to me, as it was easy to me to learn to shift to the point it doesn’t rub when upshifting and can be adjusted so downshifts can be made in a single motion to the right point for the lower or higher cogs.

@Brandon, I’m sorry yes, I’m complaining. I find rear shifting click too light too, as were in the first Campagnolo SR iteration. I hope Shimano will release an upgrade for their Dual Levers so clicks have better tactile feedback.

Anyway, I’m riding mostly electronic these days, although that’s personal preference for sure.

Psi Squared, I cannot find any pictures of these 9000 covers anywhere on the Internet….

To all of you worried about the Blown Up shifter pics. There is a way to clean the shifters. These reviews stir up more stuff than they should. If you pull back the shifter hood from the bar. On the bottom there is a small phillips head screw. Take that off, remove the 2 plastic cover plates, and you have access to all the goodies inside. Please don’t try and take it apart more than that.

Another note. I truly believe that if you are reviewing product you should have more working knowledge of the product than just open a box and put it on a bike. I’m all about the internet and blogs and what not, but there is no need to post stuff that is misinformation. That’s all.

@DK, read the title–SHIMANO DURA-ACE 9000 COMPONENT GROUP – INSTALL NOTES & FIRST IMPRESSIONS, This post is not a review. It’s more of a preview. If we want something fresh to read every day on bike rumor, we’re going to get a lot of content like this. I appreciate that these guys are writing this themselves and giving us their educated impressions versus just pushing out a press release verbatim. Have you ever searched for “reviews” of a tech product and all the results are the exact same release on every tech site? Kudos to bike rumor for giving me something to read every day. Now i can’t wait to see how they actually review the product and find out if their initial concerns result in actual issues.

Ashok: I have had 9000 on my CX bike since the first week of January and I’ve been riding an average of about 12-14 hours per week since then (split between two bikes, both have 9000) and so far it’s not a problem. We’ll see in 6 months. If it does become an issue it’ll be a big one since the cables are outlandishly expensive.

In the DA 9000 if I continue to push the shifter for the front derraileur it always click.
Is this normal? Thanks

I purchased a set of DA 9000 shifters that came attached to handlebars (not used; removed from a new bike). A section of cable was attached to each shifter. I was able to remove the cable section from the front shifter, but no matter what I try, when I roll the hood back on the rear shifter, I see a coiled cable inside rather than the end of the rear shift cable section. Is there a trick to this that I’m missing (I’ve “shifted” both directions without luck)?