14 Speed: It Is Nothing New

In the bicycle world of 2025, Shimano has the reputation of making excellent gear, but many riders feel Shimano is not an "innovator". This may be because Shimano's main competitor in the component world is SRAM. SRAM seems to "beat Shimano to the punch" in terms of releases of new technology and gear.

This has been a misinformed take by almost everyone in the cycling world. Unless you are quite familiar with the cycling industry's inner workings, you may be one of those who  have this misinformed take. Shimano innovates behind closed doors and often in ways unfamiliar to Western minds. This can be seen as a detriment to Shimano in terms of their perception amongst the cycling public, or it might just be their strength.

I have often said Shimano was well ahead of everyone else and this was due to a meeting I had with some of then Shimano's Skunk Works test riders in 2010. The setting was a rare Shimano Road Show which was traveling across the USA at select cities. I attended the show in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The event was to celebrate Shimano's DynaSys 10 speed MTB components. Along with the Skunk Works test riders, select engineers and top company officials from Shimano Japan were in attendance. Shimano had never tried a PR effort like this before then, and to my knowledge, they have not done anything quite like it since. 

From a 1999 patent filed by Shimano

I mentioned this meeting on the latest "Guitar Ted Podcast" episode #78. I was told by a Skunk Works rider about Shimano's "secret warehouse" where Shimano kept working prototypes of designs and ideas for the future. At this 2010 meeting I was told Shimano had working group sets up to 14 speed.

A listener to the podcast named "Chris" sent me an email and in it shared these images and the patent filing from 1999 for Shimano 14 speed gearing.

That's 1999. As in 'the last century' people.

Do you suppose SRAM had anything like this sitting around in 1999 that actually worked? While I do not know the answer to the question, I will speculate and say "no", SRAM wasn't anywhere near this level of innovation in 1999.

But you might argue that SRAM not only caught up with Shimano, but has passed them. Look at 13 speed AXS XPLR! Shimano just released wireless electronic groups where SRAM has been at it for several years. So what about this?

Well, remember what I stated above concerning how our Western minds might not perceive how Shimano works?  This was a lesson I learned about the company at the road show in 2010. Shimano is an R&D company. SRAM is a marketing company. There is a BIG difference there.

How a 14 speed cassette might look

Shimano works up ideas, tests them, then they test them again. THEN Shimano releases the tested components to the world. It is a process which is slow, but a process which has gained Shimano a respected place amongst the cycling industry, and is why Shimano has gained the control they have enjoyed for well over three decades.

Shimano is not immune to failures and misses when it comes to what they manufacture and offer to the public. Widespread failures of road HollowTech cranks caused a recall for Shimano. Sometimes things like the Coasting group fall flat and don't seem to make sense at the time of their release. But Shimano has, for the most part, a very respectable track record when it comes to high performance bicycle parts.

SRAM has its successes, but in terms of what I experienced as a mechanic in a shop setting, SRAM was much more prone to being problematic on both the mechanic's side and on the consumer's side, than Shimano.

This wild design for a chain for 14 speed is amazing. 

But we can debate this all day long. The point is Shimano seems to be behind SRAM in terms of when something gets released to the public. But what you may not understand is Shimano has already been where you see SRAM is at now. You just did not see this.

Shimano is not so much concerned about what you think upon a component release. Shimano is concerned about what you think about a component a month after release, a year after a release, or five years after a release. Shimano would rather not have any failures at all, and to help prevent those failures from happening, they would rather test more, and release a product later. 

SRAM, in my experience, wants to get customers excited about a release, out riding the stuff, and if it fails they will send you a new whatever it is that failed. In the meantime, you have a broken part or failed thing which takes time to deal with. But hey! You got a new part and it didn't cost anything, or was just a labor charge. This is based upon what I saw over many years working in a shop environment. SRAM was even offering shops free chains and cassettes at one point for our labor to fix a failed component back in the late 2010's. As I said, SRAM is a marketing company. They win you over with their messaging. Shimano would rather win you over with stuff that works with minimal marketing.

You can debate which way is best, but there is no debate about who innovates and is ahead of the curve. Shimano has very likely had wireless shifting groups for years. You just did not know this. And maybe you just don't care. This is okay. But to say Shimano is not an innovator? Nah.... That is just flat out wrong.