Steve’s Bike Tech
2009 Component Roundup
By Steve Bowen
It used to be that bicycle component makers changed or upgraded their component groups fairly slowly. But in the last couple of years, pressure from American-based SRAM has forced the two other major players in the road bike component market, Shimano and Campagnolo, to ramp up development in order to hold onto their market share. The biggest effect has been on Shimano since their components are found on most of the mainstream road bikes sold in the US. So here’s a survey of what the three component makers have that has come out recently or is coming for the 2009 season.
Two years ago SRAM, which had been buying up other component makers like RockShock, Avid and Truvativ, shook up the road bike market by offering two complete road groups to compete directly with Shimano. The Rival group competed head-on with Shimano’s Ultegra group, while the Force group went head-to-head with Dura-Ace. A number of bike manufacturers, including Specialized, began to spec these on some of their complete road bikes with SRAM claiming that each group was lighter and less expensive than the corresponding Shimano group. For 2008, SRAM introduced an even higher-end set of components called “Red” that is the lightest road group now made. It is also quite visually stunning – the first eight gears of the cassette are machined from a solid block of stainless steel. Here are the current weights for each group:
SRAM Red 1928 grams
Campagnolo Record 1934 grams
Shimano Dura-Ace 2178 grams
For 2008, in response to pressure from the SRAM Rival group and Campagnolo Chorus, Shimano revamped its Ultegra group, shaving off 93 grams. But Campy and SRAM all have 3 sub-5 pound groups and Shimano has only 2.
For 2009, Shimano is updating the Dura-Ace group to 7900 (7800 is the current 10 speed Dura-Ace) and dropping 135 grams. That will still leave it heavier than Campy Record and SRAM Red but lighter than anything else. Shimano will also make the move to hidden shift cables for its 2009 Dura-Ace, finally catching up with Campy and SRAM in this feature. And in another bow to Campy and SRAM’s road groups, Shimano will have carbon fiber parts in the shifter blades and rear derailleur cage, although Campy and SRAM both make more extensive use of carbon in their top group; also, in the case of Campy, there is carbon in the Chorus and Centaur groups as well. In the works for Shimano: electronic shifting with no cables. No date has been announced for that introduction.
Campagnolo has been making incremental improvements to its flagship Record and Chorus groups for the last 2 - 3 years, including an improved crankset and bottom bracket, and improved front derailleur performance by upgrading the shifters and front derailleur. For 2009, Campagnolo has announced that the Record and Chorus groups are going to 11 rear gears. The chain is narrower than 10 speed, and the cassette cogs are closer together. Campy has a good reputation for reliability, but 11 speed chains are almost certain to wear out more quickly, and rear derailleur adjustments will be more sensitive. Campy beat Shimano to 10 speed rear by several years; look for Shimano and SRAM to jump on the 11 speed bandwagon fairly soon. Also, Campagnolo has re-introduced Super-Record as a group name just in time for Campy’s 75th anniversary year. The last Super-Record was about 20 years ago, and this limited edition high-end group will crown the Campy line.
So by now you’re thinking “so what do all these high-end, expensive component groups mean for me?” After all, most of us don’t buy a new bike or upgrade our components every couple of years. The good news is that all levels of components benefit from increased competition, and even the low to mid level components have gotten better. For instance, a Shimano 105 group is very affordable and is lighter with much more precise shifting than 9 speed Ultegra, for less money. And 10 speed Ultegra SL is similarly much better than 9 speed Dura-Ace, and has a cool pewter finish as well. So you can be confident that which ever component group you choose for upgrade or new bike, it will probably be better than what you’re using now.