Questions about Shimano 105 R7000 11s mechanical

[d8mok]

It's a lot cheaper for a retail shop to buy shimano groupsets grey than off madison.
You can often sell them at less than the trade price of UK stock.

Id still expect some checks and balances, but as a rule as the price gets lower, the checks get fewer

If it is fake they’ve done a stunning job of making the Di2 all work flawlessly , and the overall finish of the groupset is still perfect after 4K miles so I still believe it to be real.

Never had a doubt as the place I dealt with wouldn’t be dealing in fakes with the stuff they sell.

Apart from the noisy chain it’s been perfect.

 

[bikeworkshop]

It's only the chain that's in question though - usually a grey groupset comes in polythene bags.
Different components could be sourced separately by the retailer.

Those horse burgers were still 95% "real" beef iirc.

(I don't think there's fake road stis out there, but I've seen f&r.mechs, rf+, mtb stis and chains)

Shimano might know more:

https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/information/anti-counterfeit.html

 

[d8mok]

It's only the chain that's in question though - usually a grey groupset comes in polythene bags.
Different components could be sourced separately by the retailer.

Those horse burgers were still 95% "real" beef iirc.

(I don't think there's fake road stis out there, but I've seen f&r.mechs, rf+, mtb stis and chains)

Shimano might know more:

https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/information/anti-counterfeit.html

Mine was boxed as a full group with each part individually boxed on some.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Seems strange that some 11 chains should be noisy.

I was amazed to see on that shimano counterfeit page that they changed the packaging material to make it hard to copy (2021?)
I thought they'd just changed it for marketing purposes

It does show how far the fakes have got - although the validity check on the app only works for a certain period.

https://road.cc/content/feature/how-can-you-spot-counterfeit-bike-components-295107
Mentions fakes finding their way into quality retailers.

Also provides a comparative photo of real/ counterfeit chain if any noisy 11 chain owners want to get their magnifying glasses out.

 

[d8mok]

To be fair to my 12 speed set up. It’s done 4K miles now so really should be changed. But it’s showing very little stretch that I’m leaving it until the bike comes off the road for winter. The noise isn’t bothering me as I ride with headphones ( booo)

I’m about to buy another road bike (n+1) with 12 speed so I’ll see how that one goes too. It’s a full bike so doubt any fakes could find its way onto that.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Some 12sp chains barely manage 1000 miles!
a smooth rider gets more life from a chain for sure

 

[minor_LEGEND]

At no point have I mentioned fake Shimano chains. They are just awfully noisy.
Fake was relating to KMC chains (maybe others) for the sake of this conversation.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Shimano 11 has been with us a decade - I don't recall any customer coming back in those years with new shimano 11 fitted to say it's noisy - Bristol is noisy though, maybe it drowns it out