Via Twitter, Shimano pointed to a teaser site with a countdown timer and link to join their European email list. Sign up and they’re promising you’ll be among the first to see “what’s new”, which is presumably that new Dura-Ace that’s been spotted here and there since the teaser site’s URL is DuraAce.com. We’ll be getting the full tech run down on, um, some new stuff prior to the 29th, so check here for the news later this month.
That actually has more to do with the ‘gray’ market that is flooded with parts from the big manufacturers. They over-order build kits to meet their need (as opposed to only getting a partial delivery) and then dump whatever extra they have overseas. For ex: they need 15,000 kits, but only get 5, 000 on first delivery so they order 45,000 to get a 15,000 shipment. When the rest show up, they get resold overseas where the map’s don’t apply and they still make a profit. I know a couple of people on the inside very well and Shimano is working on controlling it but there are some legal issues that may make it wait another year or two. It does. Sucks for the lbs, I agree, I’ve worked in one for 10 years, but there’s more to the story and it seems to be kept very quiet for reasons I don’t know…
Of course it’s not coming through normal US distribution, hence the grey market. It’s not like Shimano is broadcasting the explanation, this is from a corporate insider. Yes, he could have made it all up, but even management at our stores don’t really know this. If Shimano were selling this story mainstream, well it would definitely be suspicious. The numbers were hypothetical, I wasn’t given actual data on grouppo sales.
gray market reasoning is grossly overstated, it is lack of control on their distributor channels…and they are very aware of it. Wiggle/Chain reaction are not buying overstock from Taiwan. I look forward to seeing it, built in power meter (without substantial uptick in $) would be a differentiator, but without wireless…it will be a slight change over what they have, even if it comes 12sp. Customers are defecting and IBD’s who don’t appreciate the big S are helping send customers the other direction. When you were the only game in town, you made the rules….not so much the case anymore. Just peruse the starting line of any cat 1 mtb race where people pay for their own parts. The shimano view is slimmer in slimmer. In another year when they can meet production demand, the same will happen on the road, especially when force-etap version comes out next spring
I think that’s got more to do with SRAM 1x being so much better than Shimano. These guys are buying their own parts but very very few of them are paying retail. Its worth it for the small price difference(at cost) to buy the lightest stuff which comes from SRAM. I have a feeling eTap will outsell Di2 eventually but not yet. Mechanical? Shimano will be the leader for a very very long time, even if I don’t like Shimano at all.
