New 5700-series Shimano groupset announced

Ewen MacDonald 2 wrote (see)

While he was at it did he hand make the levers they look like pre production mock ups!

I wont buy Shimano road groupsets again just becuase on so many occasions the over priced STI levers just prove to fragile. Everything else is great, I love the XT on my MTB.

I tried the current 105 STI's with a 'robust internal mechanism' ... the front shifter broke within 2 months. My local bike shop said, many had been sent back due to faults. The replacement warranty set came direct from Shimano with an attached note saying basically these levers will break unless you shift carefully.

My Ultegra 9sp levers broke, the internet at the time was littered with similar stories. The only ones which i've been happy with were the lowly SORA levers wihch survived for 4 years on a winter bike.  

Veloce Egros...half the price, get trim on the front mech, neater, and dont brake. Now with the choice of SRAM and CAMPAG, it will take a lot for me to return to the big S.

not my experience - I have two pairs of Ultegra 9 speed that are over 8 years old and in perfect working order.

I also have a pair of dura ace 7700 9 speed that were on the sunday best until I was sent into a ditch in october by an arse of a driver - the mechs filled with muddy water and still trying to remove the grit (or find someone who can) - as soon as they are repaired they will be back in use.

You can rebuild SRAM and Campagnolo STIs but not Shimano. That's a major drawback. Maybe use Campy 10 speed STIs with a Shimano 8 speed cassette. (Some Campy 10 speed STIs pull the right amount of cable to work with Shimano 8 speed cassettes.)

Also, no 13-28 cassette from big S when Campag do 13-29.

Sounds like Shimano have announced this new 105 group early to head off the threat from SRAM's forthcoming Apex groupset.

Shimano 8-speed spacing = 4.8mm

Campagnolo 10-speed spacing = 4.12mm

Campa spacing always falls half way between Shimano spacing so no Shimano cassettes can be used on a Campy transmission without misallignment/lousy changes at one end of the cassette or both.

Don't forget SRAM offer cassettes with a wider range than Shimano.

I've don't consider not being able to rebuild Shimano STIs a problem, I've never needed to.

puddings3112 wrote (see)

I also have a pair of dura ace 7700 9 speed that were on the sunday best until I was sent into a ditch in october by an arse of a driver - the mechs filled with muddy water and still trying to remove the grit (or find someone who can) - as soon as they are repaired they will be back in use.

I have two pairs, both about 12 years old and both in perfect working order, one of them with probably 20,000 miles on it.

Adrian Fitch wrote (see)

Strange that the triple is 50/39/30 and not the current 53/39/30.

More curious is why they didn't go 50/40/30...