Shimano replaces three low end groupsets with one new one..

[pigman]

And if the new groupset is not backwards compatible, they are coming a little late, as there are billions of bikes still running on 7/8/9 speed groupsets that will need to be serviced in the coming 10/15 years, so in the end shops will have to keep stock on both "systems" anyway. And if Shimano doesn't care, Sunrace and Microshift will be more than willing to cover the niche...

I don't see it like that. Shops will just say the 7 speed stuff is out of production so here's the complete 10 speed gear set for your bike. That'll be £X00 sir. Bike not worth that? Ok, here's a replacement bike that makes more economic sense.

The only people running 7 and 8 speeds will be us with shelves of redundant bits or folk trawling obscure eBay shops with the motivation to replace the part themselves

 

[FluffyChicken]

That was my feeling as well.

Only thing for me, is why invent yet another bottom bracket standard. Ffs.
The other two they are using are established standard.

Other advantages.
The hubs are going cartridge, apart from cheapest so you can just hit and replace and switch axles and freehub style too.
Less time to service (or for them to make them).

I think the old tech is covered by Microshift, it also doesn't say they are stopping making the old stuff for 9 and 10 speeds.

They can't make everything, they need to make money.

 

[jonnyboy666]

@pigman depends on the shop you go to! i quite often completely rebuild old school or basic bikes with a full new 7 speed set up, i do this on the basis that if they spend say £150 on the bike they have, although basic it'll be a sensible repair with good parts and stainless cables etc and properly set up by me, if they only spent £150 on a new bike it would be crap and they'd have to put a bunch more money in to that same new bike after 6 months as the BB, rear hub, cables, brakes, and more would fail, just because it's crap! so quite often i do these bikes and the people bring it back a year later having raped it to work every day they then pay it again!

 

[CassidyAce]

I think the title in BikeRadar might be misleading. If the new groupset only goes down to 9, there is still a huge market left on the 8 and 7 speed bikes. And we are not talking only supermarket bikes, but every year Trek or Specialized sell millions of their base models Marlin or Rockhopper in the cheapest option, as that is the most many people are willing to invest on a bike. So unless Tourney becomes the base groupset covering the 6/7/8 speed market, there will still be a need for Altus and Acera...

And if the new groupset is not backwards compatible, they are coming a little late, as there are billions of bikes still running on 7/8/9 speed groupsets that will need to be serviced in the coming 10/15 years, so in the end shops will have to keep stock on both "systems" anyway. And if Shimano doesn't care, Sunrace and Microshift will be more than willing to cover the niche...

I don't see it like that. Shops will just say the 7 speed stuff is out of production so here's the complete 10 speed gear set for your bike. That'll be £X00 sir. Bike not worth that? Ok, here's a replacement bike that makes more economic sense.

The only people running 7 and 8 speeds will be us with shelves of redundant bits or folk trawling obscure eBay shops with the motivation to replace the part themselves

I think there's scope for both scenarios: buy a new groupset or bike in the first world; Sunrace and Microshift cover the niche elsewhere.

 

[Titiritero]

We must remove our "retrobike" glasses here and be aware that the reason there is still 7 speed, 8 speed or 9 speed stuff (or even 6 speed) is an economic term called Market Segmentation. Basically, I want to sell stuff to the people willing to pay 10k for a bike, but also to those that only can/want to spend 500, so I have to show them there is a difference if you pay more. It is the same reason you can pay 15$ to be the first to watch a film in the cinema, or wait 5 years and watch it for free in your TV.

If they make a group for 9/10/11 speed where the only change is how many "clicks" your shifter does, I just don't see how the bike manufacturers will be able to sell you a bike for 2000$ when you can just get the 800 version, change cassette and shifter, and voilá, your 9 speed is now an 11! And they will still have to make 7 and 8 speed groupsets or Sunrace/microshift will dominate the entry market. The current success of Shimano and why I think SRAM will never overtake them is that your first bike usually comes with Shimano, and many follow them in their next better bike.

What I hate the most is this "it's 2015 and 27.5" wheels are coming" feeling where a lot of previous stuff will be made obsolete for just marginal gains. Is Shimano really looking to make life easier for bike manufacturers and workshops? reduce number of replacement parts?

Why not then leave everything as it is, and in future models of your stuff:
-keep BCD on your chainrings defined and fixed, and all your chainrings compatible, so we don't have headaches looking for a matching spare
-design all new cranks with one (1) axle lenght, so you only need to think if your BB is 68mm or 73mm.
-same with only one (1) chainline for all front mtb derailleurs (50mm) and maybe one for road derailleurs. That's it
-all disk brake models should take a single design replacement pad. You can pick organic or metal, but all will fit your brakes
-brake levers and shifters should attach separately to the handlebar. I don't want I-Spec, I-Spec II, I-Spec B and whatever
-keep hyperglide as freehub standard also for 12 speed or higher. Sunrace has proven it is possible.
-keep one single standard for removing center-lock disk brakes or Hollowtech II BBs
-stop changing the standard for attaching disk brakes to the frame

Only with those measures, most introduced by Shimano themselves with zero to negligible improvement in performance or durability, we would greatly help users, shops and manufactures to make their lives easier.

 

[brocklanders023]

I'm not sure it's worth getting upset about tbh as it's the lower end groupsets so not exactly spendy in the first place. You wouldn't need a crankset, just rings, SLX shifters can be had sub £20 so these won't be expensive, neither will the mech. If you are determined to keep 8/9 speed going you just might have to replace a couple of parts at once, instead of one at a time and then going forward you can pick from a wider range of stuff that will work with what you have.

Ultimately, it's easy enough to run a 35 year old bike with period correct parts so I can't imagine this will cause the world to end any time soon.

Think all the Deore below 11 speed is also getting sucked in to this groupo btw.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Absolutely with the margins of the budget 'mid range' Exage, I mean Cues groupsets, it is all about making it affordable for as many bikes as possible.
At this level, road, gravel, mtb, hybrid and all the ebike variants of them, can all use the same groupsets rather than sticking a different colour on it and claiming it is as for road.
It just needs to work and be functional and be better than the shite stuff.
People look to the higher end 'specific' for the upgrade, cuedos.

I still don't get the new BB standard,
unless that new BB standard works with their ebike motors?
and why not make them all microspline. Why bother with the old HG.
The rest seems fine.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

I like the idea of mix and match, good compatibility is just good engineering. Maybe we should stand back and see how it pans out before we get our knickers in a twist.

 

[Woz]

I'm curious about the BB and the crank arm spider interface (if there is one).

Worth remembering too, there was a whole bunch of "non series" bits and bobs so I guess some of those will disappear too?

 

[d8mok]

Hopefully this will be the answer to my problems with my wife’s gravel bike fitted with Microshift (crap)

Cheap but good Shimano quality drop bar levers with a wide range mech in the rear.