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TECH NEWS
Shimano Dura-Ace 11-speed cassetteHas a Taiwanese bike shop leaked Shimano’s new 12 speed Dura-Ace groupset?
Has a Taiwanese bike shop leaked a forthcoming 12-speed Dura-Ace groupset from Shimano? There’s speculation over on the Trainerroad.com website’s forum that it has after a picture appeared on the Facebook page of the Giant Froging store in Taipei.
The image was included in a gallery of bikes from Giant and Liv’s 2022 range, showing a TCR Advanced SLR 0 Disc bike, described in the caption as having 12 gears on the rear cassette, with translations provided by a Trainerroad.com forum user.
As the header to the Trainerroad.com forum post suggests, it may simply be a misprint – but it appears that image has subsequently been removed from the gallery, providing grist to the rumour mill.
But as one poster to the Trainerroad.com thread claimed: “The new 12-speed Dura-Ace groupset is the worst kept secret in the industry. Some of the ‘leaks’ aren’t all that accidental, I’m sure, since Shimano is quite behind when it comes to 12-speed drop bar groupsets. Even on the MTB side, I think their Di2 stuff is still 11 speed, too.”
Another poster focused less on the groupset and more on the aesthetics – or lack thereof, in their opinion – of the bike. “Are we not gonna talk about how ugly and poorly set-up that bike is? From the horrible bar / brifter transition, the bulbous stem and the seat height that is too tall for the Jolly Green Giant … holy hell, that looks absolutely awful!!!”
In reply, another forum user said: “I noticed the same, but what caught my eye was what appears to be the removal of valve stems via Photoshop.”
We do need to stress that to the best of our knowledge, Dura-Ace 12 speed does not exist at the moment and for all we know, this could indeed be an error – but it’s always fun to speculate on what new products could be in the pipeline, even if they never end up seeing the light of day, and we’ve been talking about this one for two and a half years now.
A new Shimano 12-speed rear derailleur from the patent we spotted back in May
Having said that, with competitor SRAM already deploying 12-speed across its range of groupsets, there has been a lot of speculation within the bike industry in recent months that Shimano may follow suit, at least with Dura-Ace – with applications approved by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also apparently confirming rumours that the next generation will be at least partially wireless.
> Your complete guide to Shimano road bike groupsets
Back in March, we put a 12-speed Dura-Ace cassette on our wish-list, and as Liam Cahill wrote at the time: “11 cogs in a cassette are, let’s face it, absolutely fine. The same was said about 10 cogs, but to keep up with the crowd, Shimano will need to make their latest groupset 12-speed. Not that we'll be complaining about having an extra cog.”
> Could this be the new Shimano Dura-Ace 9200 dual control lever?
It’s a bit like razors, we suppose – however many blades one manufacturer puts on one, you can be sure that someone else will come up with an n+1 a year or two down the line.
So one prediction we can make is this – if the rumours are true, and the Japanese firm indeed rolls out a 12-speed cassette, speculation will inevitably follow over which of the big three groupset manufacturers will be first to bring a fully-fledged 13 speed road groupset to the market.
Review: Campagnolo Ekar 13 Speed gravel groupset
ps There’s no need to mention in the comments that the picture above shows an 11-speed cassette... but we’re impressed that you took a few seconds to count the sprockets!
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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My 6KU, replaced everything but the front chainring over the past 5 years.
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29 comments
AWWWW Ya'll are SO behind-back in '99 I knew about S's 14 FOURTEEN SPEED! Samauri 14 speed has clipped the Eagles Wings! https://factoryjackson.com/2016/04/01/shimano-14-speed-xt-samurai-unveiled/
This is the worlds worst kept secret in the cycling world.
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Bike shops in the UK are already ordering the new 12 speed from Shimano. How do I know? Because I've done it!
Don't suppose you'd like to share exactly what you ordered? For example has Shimano gone down the route of smaller (10T) cassette matched to smaller rings like Sram?
I was looking at a 2022 model with 12 speed. Was listed as 52/36 with an 30/11 cassette. Not sure what to think of that if they have just added another sprocket and some semi wireless set-up. I'm not desperate to have it.
More important than an extra cog is whether the chainset still blows up randomly and cables snap in the STIs every 18 months
Well, I've been using Shimano for 50 years and none of that has happened to me. Admittedly, I haven't gone beyond 9-speed which I got when it was up-to-date Ultegra. I've been giving the El-Cheapo Sora 9-speed a real hammering over the last 21 months and that has been fault free as well.
Current DA and Ultegra cranks are made from two shells glued together, these are notorious for seperating. Since the shifters lost their cable exit at the top of the hoods, the cables are similarly notorious for snapping thanks to the excessive bending required to fit the mechanism fully internally. A quick google for either of these issues will provide evidence, your "el cheapo" stuff is actually free of these issues funnily enough
The cable on my 105 front shifter was only a few strands short of being snapped through when I discovered the wear. However this was at the point where the cable arches over into the mechanism after rising up from the bottom bracket. The cable was fine along the rest of the length except for its polymer coating wearing off at the bottom bracket guide. No probs at the shifter at all.
Took the shop 20 mins to sort out my shifter break - I thought I was going to have to get a new shifter.
Do Campagnolo and SRAM have the same issue? Both of them have hidden cables in their brifters from day one.
Old STIs with washing line cables looked awful.
Not heard of it with Campag, though some early 11 speed shifters had an issue with the cable fitting splitting. They can be dissembled and reassembled so you can get a broken cable out with a bit of faff.
Not to my knowledge, I'm still running some Campag cable that are at least 7 years old on one or two bikes. the STI lever actions were designed around those top of the hood exits, getting that to fit internally without changing the wobbly brake lever feature means the cable does some extreme contortions
I've also experienced STI cable wear and breakage (snapping inside the shifter) in a 10-speed Ultegra shifter after only about 18 months use.
Well I guess the answer is to use Di2 or replace the cables every 17 months.
Naw, surely a new bike every 17 months.
Yeah, I moved to Di2 when I bought a new bike, though that was more curiousity about whether electric gears are all that. It's easy enough to replace the inners every so often once you know that they're prone to wearing.
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Love the new chainset and makes my 6900 ultegra look instantly dated.
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what an article nonsense......when real photos have already been seen ... first of the Dura-ace on a DSM team bike and the Ultegra on an Orbea bike and a Look
Call me crazy, but the derailleurs and brake mechanisms look suspiciously like SRAM Red.
SRAM rotors too
"speculation will inevitably follow over which company will be first to bring a 13-speed one to market."
Have you ever heard of Campagnolo? They weren't even the first, Rotor did 13 over two years ago
14 speed!
https://factoryjackson.com/2016/04/01/shimano-14-speed-xt-samurai-unveiled/
My tcr is set up like the one in the picture - should I cut the seatmast down for aesthetic reasons?
Edit: not the brifter setup I must add - strictly Campag in this diocese
No need to count - it says "11 speed only". But yeah, story's gotta have a picture, never mind if it's the exact wrong picture.