It’s no secret that a new Shimano Dura-Ace group is on the way.
Shimano has been updating its Dura-Ace group set on a four-year cycle for many years. However, with the launch in 2008, 2012 and 2016, the new Dura-Ace was expected to arrive in 2020, but it was in vain. For unknown reasons – possibly COVID-19 related – Shimano has broken its trend and we are now in the fifth year of the current iteration, Dura-Ace R9100 series.
In the five years since its launch, Shimano’s competition in the best road bike group space has rapidly advanced. Both SRAM and Campagnolo have increased the number of gears to 12 – or 13 – if you count Campag’s new Ekar gravel group, and thereafter also the range of gears offered. SRAM and FSA have even increased the wireless technology, simplifying the initial setup and maintenance.
Despite this, Shimano’s current Dura-Ace group is still an extraordinary piece of engineering and is still loyal. Despite the SRAM Red eTap AXS having both wireless technology and 12-speed on its side, the debate of today’s best road bike groups is still strongly contested.
But with the impending arrival of new Dura-Ace, what do we know, what do we expect and when does it start? A slew of patents and legal documents have been discovered over the past year that have given us some clues. So let us experience the rumors and the speculation to find out what is coming.
What will be the name of the series?
Bicycle news forecast: New Dura-Ace is almost certainly called R9200 and R9250 for mechanical and electrical respectively
Documents from the FCC (US Federal Communications Commission) regarding radio frequency – which we will explain in more detail later – contain the names of two DAT files that refer to software. For the document related to the shifter, the file name STR9250 starts, and for the document related to the tracker, the file name RDR9250 starts.
To explain why this is relevant, Shimano’s part numbers are preceded by letters referring to the part in question, ST is the part number prefix for Shimano’s shifters, and RD is Rear Derailleur. For example, a RD-R9150 is a current tracker (R9150). Having the prefixes RD and ST on documents relating to the relevant components, including the predicted next serial name (R9250), is therefore fairly conclusive proof. If not, it’s an unfathomable coincidence.
Potential launch date: Unconfirmed
The obvious guess here is that Dura-Ace will launch in line with Shimano’s 100th anniversary. Shimano even has a teaser website with a full-screen countdown, with a note saying: “The Official Centennial Site will open on March 23, 2021”. Something that is noteworthy, however, is that the countdown should currently expire two days earlier, at 9pm on March 21st.
If we look at history for clues, March would be earlier than Shimano’s typical tact. Dura-Ace 7900 was launched on June 3, 2008. The 9000 version came out on May 31 at a similar time of year, with R9100 a few weeks later in the year on June 29, 2016.
What we do know is that both Team DSM and Groupama-FDJ have reaffirmed their long-term partnerships with Shimano ahead of the 2021 season, so we expect to be involved in the launch somehow. Since Dura-Ace is the flagship group group in the Shimano range, we expect it to be attached first to the Scott bikes of Team DSM or the Lapierres of Groupama.
Will the new Dura-Ace be wireless?
Bicycle News Forecast: New Dura-Ace will almost certainly include wireless technology in some form.
The most notable of the clues so far were patents granted in November, discovered by our friends Bicycle tips, which displays wireless radio receivers in the shifters and derailleurs, as well as a battery in the shifters.
The patent drawings showed road levers and ruled out that the patent could be an advancement on the MTB or e-Bike. Since none of Shimano’s current road groups are wireless, it seems likely that Dura-Ace would be the first to get the technology.
The above FCC documents regarding wireless radio frequencies support the theory. These documents confirmed that Shimano had been granted FCC certification in the United States to use a radio frequency titled ‘Shimano Original’ at 2,478 MHz in its shifters and a rear track.
Or will it be semi-wireless?
Bicycle News Forecast: Likely
The other rumor raised is the possibility of a semi-wireless option, not to be confused with the setup of the FSA’s K-Force WE disk group. This will connect the derailleurs to each other via a battery in the frame, and these three components will then be transferred wirelessly to the shifters.
In the November patents, Shimano included several variations of the final setup, which left some potential outcomes behind – and so we kept guessing. In one variant, a wireless transmitter and battery are housed in each of the front and rear trackers. In another one, however, there was a separate battery that connected the diverters.
In particular, the FCC documentation omits the mention of a front derailleur, which in itself suggests that the rear derailleur may act as the ‘brain’ of the system, and that the front derailleur will be connected via a Di2 e-tube cable to the rear. or similar. It will work in a mirror image of FSA, which houses the brains in the front derailleur.
Another notable inclusion in the FCC documentation is the mention of a BT-DN300, which for all who know their Shimano part numbers, is a battery for its Di2 systems. The current iteration of Di2 battery contains part number BT-DN110, which indicates that BT-DN300 is new.
We saw Shimano launch new, lighter, faster e-tube cables (EW-SD300) and the latest EP8 engine in August 2020, so if the new Dura-Ace is indeed wired, it’s likely that BT-DN300 will be compatible with the new cables. The ‘300’ suffix on the part numbers may be an indication, but since BT-DN110 is compatible with EW-SD50 cables, we do not read too much into it.
The BT-DN300 battery can quite possibly be housed in the frame and be compatible with the new cables, but it can also be just the part number given to an own battery that needs to be housed in the derailleurs.
At this stage, it has not been confirmed which side Shimano is going, but our best guess is that the new Dura-Ace will be semi-wireless. If so, it would improve the initial setup of today’s modern road bikes, and deny the need to run an extra cable through today’s intricate integrated cabin.
Will it be 12-speed?
Bicycle news forecast: New Dura-Ace will almost certainly be 12-speed
The same patent documentation that provided clues to the wireless technology also contains a very concise drawing of a 12-speed cassette.
This, coupled with the expectation that Shimano will follow its competitors in the 12-speed realm, strongly indicates that the new Dura-Ace group will be 12-speed. The documentation clearly relates to a road group set, with the patent drawings showing a side-by-side diagram of a bicycle with handlebars – with fewer rim brakes.
Here, however, is a small caveat in the sense that the cassette’s largest gear size shown in the diagram counts 36 teeth. More than one would expect from a Shimano road cassette of the highest level. The smallest gear size on this cassette is 10 teeth, which confirms that Shimano follows SRAM’s lead to include a 10-tooth gear, and this could mean that Shimano will also follow the lead in reducing the chainring size, which in turn will go. a way to explain the potential need for a 36T gear.
For us, there are two feasible explanations here: either the new Dura-Ace rear derailleur offers a radically greater capacity than its front leg so it can handle a 10-36T cassette, or Shimano has fast-moving plans at 12-speed down to lower. to lower group groups where a 36T cassette gear is more likely to be required.
Will it only be disc brakes?
Bicycle news forecast: New Dura-Ace will come with rim and disc brake variants
The November patents also mention both cable and hydraulic variants, as the non-powered disc brakes exist at Dura-Ace level, indicating that rim brakes will remain part of the Shimano Dura-Ace range. Velrem-puriste cheers.
Will it boot?
Bicycle News Forecast: New Dura-Ace is likely to include some battery repair technology, but the group will not be completely self-sustaining.
Returning to the November patents, the shifters have been shown to contain a ‘generating unit’. The patent indicates that this technology will use the movement of the slide pads to generate power thanks to the inclusion of a piezoelectric component, which in turn will generate power and recharge the battery.
The drawings depict coin cell batteries integrated in the shifters, so we expect this power generation to simply recharge the shifters, rather than the entire system. Especially since we predict that in some respects it will be wireless.
Will it just extend to the group set? What about wheels?
Bicycle News Forecast: New Dura-Ace will feature the full range of components currently available, including group set, wheels and a power meter crankset.
It will be surprising to see new Dura-Ace wheels omitted from the range, especially given repeats, which include wheels – both tubular and clinker – in the range.
We spotted certain riders from Team Sunweb (the former name of Team DSM) and Groupama-FDJ, and they both used new, unmarked wheels during the Tour de France 2020. Of course, this is not the first time a WorldTour team sponsor rogue is not, but in this case, given both teams’ commitment to the brand and the looming Dura-Ace launch, we expect the wheel to be a new Dura-Ace prototype wheel. is tested in the rigorous test bed that is the Tour.