New Shimano Dura-Ace 9100 breaks cover… and it's not 12-speed

A new version of Shimano’s top-level Dura-Ace groupset has been spotted, and here are a couple of spy shots.

It’s not really a secret that Shimano has a new version of Dura-Ace on the way. The Japanese brand works to a cycle, updating its groupsets at regular intervals, and this year it’s Dura-Ace’s turn for a revamp.

We’ve not seen the new Dura-Ace for ourselves but MYcyc - Melbourne Uni CC – has supplied these photos.

Assuming they are genuine and the components haven’t been modified by a third party, what can we tell from the pics?

Shimano has stuck with the four arm spider for the chainset, a design that has been trickling down to lower level groupsets over the past few years, saving weight over a five-arm version.

Judging by its size and shape, that’s an electronic Di2 rear derailleur, and it looks a lot like a current XTR mountain bike design.

The current Dura-Ace Di2 rear derailleur can handle a maximum sprocket size of 28-tooth and has a capacity (the difference between the number of teeth on your smallest and largest sprockets plus the difference between the number of teeth on your chainrings) of 33-teeth. The design pictured here looks like it’s intended for use with wide-ranging cassettes, although we can’t make out the size of the sprockets.

The lower jockey wheel on the rear derailleur is an open design rather than solid. It is perhaps larger than on current Dura-Ace, although the angle of the photograph could be deceptive here.

The new Dura-Ace seems to remain an 11-speed system.

Check out our review of current Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 here.

The finish has certainly changed. The new components look very dark, perhaps black. 

That's all the info we can glean from these pictures. Anyone else got anything to add?