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| CUES should revolutionize mid-priced cycling (Image courtesy of Shimano) |
You've probably seen a bunch of reporting on the CUES (Create Unique Rider ExperienceS) elsewhere, so I won't delve into all the technicalities. I want to share my thoughts on what this does to cycling in retail and in practice.
The nuts and bolts of this are that Altus, Acera, Alivio, and the 10spd and 11spd elements of Deore are now retired. CUES will cover this range now with the 11 speed only U8000, the 10spd and 11spd U6000, and the 9spd U4000 ranges of components. While, on the surface of it, that may seem like it is three new component ranges, it really isn't.
That is because everything in CUES is based on 11 speed and a single cable pull ratio, (Shimano didn't say what that was in its presentation), so you can mix any 11 speed crankset, even non-Shimano stuff, in with a 11, 10, or 9spd CUES drive train. Any CUES derailleur will work on any CUES Cassette, theoretically, as long as it has the correct range. You don't need a special chain. Any 11 speed one will do, but of course, you should use a Shimano one. Any CUES shifter will work with any of the CUES rear derailleurs. (You may have to "limit out" a rear derailleur in certain circumstances or relinquish a few cogs in other circumstances that would not be available due to shifter/derailleur/cassette combinations that don't match in speed.) So, in a pinch, you could "get someone going" as a shop mechanic again even though they may have a broken 9 speed CUES shifter and all you have is 11 speed shifter.
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| All the CUES stuff is claimed to be super-durable, but the key is in the cassette. (Image courtesy of Shimano) |
So, in many ways this reminds me of how things used to be with regard to 7,8.and 9 speed stuff that was semi-interchangeable and road and MTB was compatible with each other. While I did not get a specific confirmation that drop bar levers were going to be part of CUES, well they are going to be. You can pretty much count on that to happen very soon.
Combine all of that tantalizing news and possibilities with the claimed durability of LINKGLIDE cassettes, and well, you've got something cooking here. These LINKGLIDE cassettes have something which reminds me a whole lot of 7 speed HyperGlide cassettes in that the cogs in each cassette are thicker, taller, and have deeper ramps for shifting than other Shimano cassettes. That should make for great shifting for longer times than with typical cassettes.
AND this stuff is mechanical. Many were lamenting that the possibility that mechanical shifting stuff was going to become extinct, especially on the road side in light of the Di2 105 group announcement. Well, this should quiet that down.
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| U4000 CUES rear derailleur (Image courtesy of Shimano) |
The wide-range cassettes are lending themselves to 1X at this point, but we were told "more is coming" later this year, next year, and the following year. So, I see a full range of cassette options and especially so if the OEM brands get a hold of this and push CUES heavily, which I feel is going to happen.
One of the other things that slipped in a bit under the radar with the CUES announcement was the new hubs which point to a sea change with Shimano. Formerly they were not about cartridge bearings or swappable axle standards. But that has changed and furthermore; you can swap freehub bodies in a tool-less manner. That makes Shimano hubs a lot more versatile, and therefore attractive, to build wheels with.
Drop Bar Shifters? Shimano intimated that drop bar compatible CUES was going to happen and that it likely will eliminate Claris, Sora, and some options within the current Tiagra group set. This is awesome, and it would allow a wide range 9, 10, or 11 speed "mullet" set up, (only it wouldn't really be "mullet" since it would be intentional and part of one group, but...). This only brings up the question of what will become of GRX 10 and 11 speed.
Well, you are going to see 12 speed GRX, that's what. (My opinion, I have no official word here)
There are a lot more details to the CUES announcement, and a lot more to come, but I think it is an exciting announcement, and a good move by Shimano.
6 comments:
Trying to read the tea leaves, this is how I interpret all this.
I think the UX000 CUES will likely become a “permanent” groupset for Shimano on the low end. It might be a decade before they introduce a new generation of it (though I expect some new part variants to sprinkle in over time). That is opposed to Shimano’s usual pattern of introducing new generations of groupsets every few years. I think this is likely the thing you’ve heard rumor about going away from model years on bikes.
At the high end, I suspect they will continue with business as usual, releasing new generations every few years and selling a bunch of products to those that have to have the new shiny thing, which allows Shimano to charge a high markup. They (and the bike OEM customers) need that model year cycle to stick around to keep profit margins up on premium products.
That’s my 2 cents.
Hi GT! Do you think there is any chance that this will open the door for a 9 speed (or 10 speed) drivetrain with a wide range cassette at the XT or SLX level? It would have the potential to be simpler, lighter, more reliable, and longer lasting than than the 12 speed stuff. Companies like Advent and Box have demonstrated that there is a market for this type of product. I would love to see Shimano head in this direction.
@Nooge - Yes, I think that's a fair assessment. It also grabs back a chunk of OEM spec that they lost to SRAM when SRAM put out the NX/GX stuff.
@Scott - No, I don't ever see that being the case, and here is why: Shimano sees XT as its most durable, premium level MTB group with XTR being the race version of that. Being that this means you need to be on the cutting edge of those two things, n I don't see Shimano "parking" XT at a perceived lower level of technology (11 speed) and mechanical shifting. Not when 12 speed is out of the box and there is no putting that genie back in the bottle.
For whatever reasoning you want to proffer, the 1X drive train is king, and as long as that is the state of things in MTB, more gears, not less, will be the order of the day.
Shimano has already made it clear that they cannot make LinkGlide in 12 speed due to space constraints with the current axle/drive train spacing standards. So from that viewpoint, again the answer is no.
SLX? Again - In Shimano's top tier groups, which they say are XTR, XT, SLX, there isn't going to be anyplace for "going backward" and they would say "We have CUES now, use that." Functionally, the 8000 level of CUES is going to look and feel very much like SLX anyway. There is no real advantage to Shimano in terms of marketing and consumer perceptions for them to do a SLX/CUES mashup.
And as Nooge says above, the enthusiast/racer customer is going to continue to be swayed by change, not a groupset that won't change functionally for many years. So, I'd wager that SLX and above does what Nooge suggests and is more of a technological advancement/planned obsolescence level of components with a "gizmo" factor (Di2, maybe other electronic advancements)while CUES remains mechanical and basic.
I have no issues with Shimano's direction and I think it is a brilliant marketing move. They capture the rider that doesn't care about the latest shiny object and just wants to ride with components that are reliable, while there still remains a top-tier level technologically driven component group(s) that tickle the racer/wannabee racer/nerd customer's fancy.
Hi,
I'm wondering if a new CUES cassette could replace a Deore cassette in a Deore groupset without shifting issues (the number of speed being equal, of course). Thanks.
Ludovic
@Ludovic Mir _ Thank you for the comment and reading the blog. The answer to your question would be "yes", but only if your Deore group is a 9 speed, and then the shifters would also necessarily need changing to CUES as well. (That is, IF what Shimano says is true, that being that CUES has its own, specific cable pull ratio)
While CUES is based on 9 speed spacing on the cassette, and that cassette will fit on current HyperGlide free hub bodies, that's about all the backward compatibility there is, unless we can get our hands on CUES and start experimenting with it. Only then will we know.
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