Say What You Want About Them

Count 'em! Yep! There are 14 cogs there.

If you cruise the innergoogles you may have come across this story about how Shimano has had a patent on 14 speed drive train parts for a bicycle since 1999. Yep, it isn't #fakenews either. In fact, I've known about this for six or seven years now myself. That 14 speed exists is only a tiny bit of the story too.

So, first off, I have to give you a bit of background here. I was a former member of the "He-man's Shimano Haters Club". It was quite fashionable back in the 90's to hate on Shimano. "The Big Bad Guy" of the component world was quashing the hopes and dreams of would be cycling companies with thier CNC operators who were churning out anodized bits and baubles by the thousands. Many of which were of questionable quality. But that didn't matter. Shimano was evil and you had to hate them. It just was how things were back then.

But over the years as I became more attuned to what worked and what did not work, I realized that Shimano was a quite clever company with some solid products. Yes, they had their hiccups, (Bio-Pace, Octalink v1, original "push-push" Rapid Fire- to name a few), but by and large whatever Shimano laid their hands to worked really well. Take any XTR group, or XT group, and it can be considered "the best" of its day. Road stuff is someone else's beat, so I won't go there.

So,about six or seven years ago, Shimano did an unprecedented "tour". They invited several shop owners and mechanics to join them in certain metropolitan areas to meet with factory representatives and Shimano "Skunk Works" riders, who were the "secret" product testing team of riders who worked for Shimano. My visit was in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The XT DynaSys 10 speed group

 Shimano made a big deal out of this "opening up". They admitted to being distant and not very good at marketing since they were very focused on research and development instead. Nice story, but yeah.......whatever. Sing me a song, ya know? But then later on during the meeting I was availed the opportunity to speak with Skunk Works rider, Paul Thomasburg.

I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with Paul. He was immediately engaging and enthusiastic to have a willing listener. Throughout our 40-45 minute conversation Paul laced his tales with so many new bits of information it was mind boggling. I learned about completely handmade, $15,000.00 chains that he tested, I learned about which Shimano Dual Control levers were actually the best, (hint: not XTR), and that there was a top secret "warehouse" that held secrets so incredible that Thomasburg was literally shaking with excitement just thinking about it. Of course, he couldn't reveal much about it, but he did tell me that Shimano had working prototypes of every speed group through 14 speeds. 

So, think about it: when you heard about SRAM's 12 speed Eagle group, you were shocked that SRAM had pulled off a fast one on Shimano. Well, no- not so much. That is old news to Shimano, who have working 12 speed, 13 speed and 14 speed groups in "the warehouse". And of course, they are all patented.

So, when you hear people bagging on Shimano, keep in mind that they have stuff that you've never seen that would blow your mind. They are waaay ahead of the game, and when they do pull the covers off what will sure to be their 12 speed groups soon, you can bet that they have tested the bejeezus out of it years ahead of SRAM or anyone else. That counts for something to me. It makes sense when you realize that Shimano stuff seems to work pretty darn well most of the time.

Oh.......and they make some pretty good brakes too.

Say What You Want About Them

Count 'em! Yep! There are 14 cogs there.

If you cruise the innergoogles you may have come across this story about how Shimano has had a patent on 14 speed drive train parts for a bicycle since 1999. Yep, it isn't #fakenews either. In fact, I've known about this for six or seven years now myself. That 14 speed exists is only a tiny bit of the story too.

So, first off, I have to give you a bit of background here. I was a former member of the "He-man's Shimano Haters Club". It was quite fashionable back in the 90's to hate on Shimano. "The Big Bad Guy" of the component world was quashing the hopes and dreams of would be cycling companies with thier CNC operators who were churning out anodized bits and baubles by the thousands. Many of which were of questionable quality. But that didn't matter. Shimano was evil and you had to hate them. It just was how things were back then.

But over the years as I became more attuned to what worked and what did not work, I realized that Shimano was a quite clever company with some solid products. Yes, they had their hiccups, (Bio-Pace, Octalink v1, original "push-push" Rapid Fire- to name a few), but by and large whatever Shimano laid their hands to worked really well. Take any XTR group, or XT group, and it can be considered "the best" of its day. Road stuff is someone else's beat, so I won't go there.

So,about six or seven years ago, Shimano did an unprecedented "tour". They invited several shop owners and mechanics to join them in certain metropolitan areas to meet with factory representatives and Shimano "Skunk Works" riders, who were the "secret" product testing team of riders who worked for Shimano. My visit was in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The XT DynaSys 10 speed group

 Shimano made a big deal out of this "opening up". They admitted to being distant and not very good at marketing since they were very focused on research and development instead. Nice story, but yeah.......whatever. Sing me a song, ya know? But then later on during the meeting I was availed the opportunity to speak with Skunk Works rider, Paul Thomasburg.

I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with Paul. He was immediately engaging and enthusiastic to have a willing listener. Throughout our 40-45 minute conversation Paul laced his tales with so many new bits of information it was mind boggling. I learned about completely handmade, $15,000.00 chains that he tested, I learned about which Shimano Dual Control levers were actually the best, (hint: not XTR), and that there was a top secret "warehouse" that held secrets so incredible that Thomasburg was literally shaking with excitement just thinking about it. Of course, he couldn't reveal much about it, but he did tell me that Shimano had working prototypes of every speed group through 14 speeds. 

So, think about it: when you heard about SRAM's 12 speed Eagle group, you were shocked that SRAM had pulled off a fast one on Shimano. Well, no- not so much. That is old news to Shimano, who have working 12 speed, 13 speed and 14 speed groups in "the warehouse". And of course, they are all patented.

So, when you hear people bagging on Shimano, keep in mind that they have stuff that you've never seen that would blow your mind. They are waaay ahead of the game, and when they do pull the covers off what will sure to be their 12 speed groups soon, you can bet that they have tested the bejeezus out of it years ahead of SRAM or anyone else. That counts for something to me. It makes sense when you realize that Shimano stuff seems to work pretty darn well most of the time.

Oh.......and they make some pretty good brakes too.

Low Gears For Grindin'

Looking back on how I set up my older gravel road riding rigs, I usually opted for a set up with a 34T low gear in the cassette as a minimum, and in the 9 speed days, one could use Shimano STI levers and a big ol' Shimano long cage derailleur to get the job done. Then things got weirder with a lot of bicycle componentry. The story is long and sordid, so I won't get into that, but now with things going to eleven speed the older ways don't work quite so well anymore.

Take for instance my Raleigh Tamland Two, which runs the newer Ultegra 11 speed stuff. Even with a 32T low in the cassette, the front chain ring is a 36T on the small side, and that is no where near the low gear I needed on my GTDRI last July. Unfortunately, they haven't managed to get the XT level 11 speed stuff out there yet, but when it comes I will be slapping on a 11-36T cassette on that Tamland and then we'll be talking.

Fortunately, Gevenalle, (formerly Retroshift), has made their shifters available in a 10 speed version that works with a Shimano DynSys rear derailleur. That means that at least I can move some of the old 9 speed stuff out and get into 10 speed gear and keep the big gears going out back until the days of 10 speed come to an end. I've got my Vaya set up with an SLX clutch style rear derailleur with these shifters now and so far it has been great. I hope to get some good gravel road miles soon on this set up. Gotta get some fitness back after a January of doom.

Low Gears For Grindin'

Looking back on how I set up my older gravel road riding rigs, I usually opted for a set up with a 34T low gear in the cassette as a minimum, and in the 9 speed days, one could use Shimano STI levers and a big ol' Shimano long cage derailleur to get the job done. Then things got weirder with a lot of bicycle componentry. The story is long and sordid, so I won't get into that, but now with things going to eleven speed the older ways don't work quite so well anymore.

Take for instance my Raleigh Tamland Two, which runs the newer Ultegra 11 speed stuff. Even with a 32T low in the cassette, the front chain ring is a 36T on the small side, and that is no where near the low gear I needed on my GTDRI last July. Unfortunately, they haven't managed to get the XT level 11 speed stuff out there yet, but when it comes I will be slapping on a 11-36T cassette on that Tamland and then we'll be talking.

Fortunately, Gevenalle, (formerly Retroshift), has made their shifters available in a 10 speed version that works with a Shimano DynSys rear derailleur. That means that at least I can move some of the old 9 speed stuff out and get into 10 speed gear and keep the big gears going out back until the days of 10 speed come to an end. I've got my Vaya set up with an SLX clutch style rear derailleur with these shifters now and so far it has been great. I hope to get some good gravel road miles soon on this set up. Gotta get some fitness back after a January of doom.

Titanium Mukluk Gets Upgraded

By-Tor with new DynaSys stuff

By-Tor the Titanium Mukluk has been upgraded to some new components recently. I'll give you the run down here and the "why" behind it all here as we go...

First up, I decided to switch from SRAM to Shimano DynaSys trigger shifters which are a big improvement over the SRAM bar end mounted on a Paul's Thumbie. Shifting in rough stuff was tough with the Thumbie, since it was so stiff, especially over older thumbies, like SunTour or Deore vintage examples.

DynaSys triggers can actually be actuated in a couple different ways, but the traditional "Rapid Fire" method works well with gloved hands. (At least I haven't had any issues with this) But the biggest thing is I don't have to move my hand from the grip much, if at all.

Next we have the Shadow Plus derailleur. The "Plus" part is what is cool. It is all about a little clutch mechanism in the pivot for the derailleur cage which can be switched "On" to prevent the cage from swinging and detensioning the chain over rough terrain. This is audible on "non-Plus" derailleurs as chain slap on your chain stay. But the big deal here is that since I run a 1 X 10, I may be able to ditch my chain watcher since it won't have to keep a flopping chain in check. The chain won't be flopping over rough stuff because the derailleur cage won't be swinging. Good stuff.

New shoes

Finally, I swapped tires for these new On One Smorgasbord tires. Listed as 2.25's, they actually measured slightly bigger than that on the Stan's Flow rims, (tubeless of course).

Out of the gate they measured 2.28", so with a bit of stretch they become 2.3"ers, which is a good, all around trail tire width.

The weight of these tires suggests that they may be pretty dang tough too. 860/870 grams for the pair. They are made by Maxxis and have what On One calls "ekso" sidewall protection. The sidewalls are thicker in the hand than many tires I've handled. The tires are definitely for bashing about, they have a nice, aggressive tread with an open pattern, and should prove to work well in tough conditions.

I have not had a chance to really put these to the test, so no ride reports yet, but I'll be back here with some observations soon.

Meanwhile, all the newest fat bike goodness has been slowly leaking out from Saddle Drive in Utah. The Salsa bikes will have some new features. Mukluks will now have Altenator drop outs, and there is a new model called the Beargrease. It has shorter stays, handles more like a traditional mountain bike, and weighs less than 29 lbs out of the box. Tapered head tube and frame tubing like a Mamasita. No Altenators on the Beargrease, which is a "race" version of the Muk.

Sounds awesome, but I'm fat-biked up for now, so I guess I'll be okay with what I've got here. Just wish my Titanium Muk had a 44mm head tube!

Titanium Mukluk Gets Upgraded

By-Tor with new DynaSys stuff

By-Tor the Titanium Mukluk has been upgraded to some new components recently. I'll give you the run down here and the "why" behind it all here as we go...

First up, I decided to switch from SRAM to Shimano DynaSys trigger shifters which are a big improvement over the SRAM bar end mounted on a Paul's Thumbie. Shifting in rough stuff was tough with the Thumbie, since it was so stiff, especially over older thumbies, like SunTour or Deore vintage examples.

DynaSys triggers can actually be actuated in a couple different ways, but the traditional "Rapid Fire" method works well with gloved hands. (At least I haven't had any issues with this) But the biggest thing is I don't have to move my hand from the grip much, if at all.

Next we have the Shadow Plus derailleur. The "Plus" part is what is cool. It is all about a little clutch mechanism in the pivot for the derailleur cage which can be switched "On" to prevent the cage from swinging and detensioning the chain over rough terrain. This is audible on "non-Plus" derailleurs as chain slap on your chain stay. But the big deal here is that since I run a 1 X 10, I may be able to ditch my chain watcher since it won't have to keep a flopping chain in check. The chain won't be flopping over rough stuff because the derailleur cage won't be swinging. Good stuff.

New shoes

Finally, I swapped tires for these new On One Smorgasbord tires. Listed as 2.25's, they actually measured slightly bigger than that on the Stan's Flow rims, (tubeless of course).

Out of the gate they measured 2.28", so with a bit of stretch they become 2.3"ers, which is a good, all around trail tire width.

The weight of these tires suggests that they may be pretty dang tough too. 860/870 grams for the pair. They are made by Maxxis and have what On One calls "ekso" sidewall protection. The sidewalls are thicker in the hand than many tires I've handled. The tires are definitely for bashing about, they have a nice, aggressive tread with an open pattern, and should prove to work well in tough conditions.

I have not had a chance to really put these to the test, so no ride reports yet, but I'll be back here with some observations soon.

Meanwhile, all the newest fat bike goodness has been slowly leaking out from Saddle Drive in Utah. The Salsa bikes will have some new features. Mukluks will now have Altenator drop outs, and there is a new model called the Beargrease. It has shorter stays, handles more like a traditional mountain bike, and weighs less than 29 lbs out of the box. Tapered head tube and frame tubing like a Mamasita. No Altenators on the Beargrease, which is a "race" version of the Muk.

Sounds awesome, but I'm fat-biked up for now, so I guess I'll be okay with what I've got here. Just wish my Titanium Muk had a 44mm head tube!

Gear Heads

2X, 29"er gearing

Gearing: Ask a single speeder what gearing is best, and it might spark some mild debate, but ask a 29"er freak about gearing and you may be in for a long rant on the disparity between gearing for 26"ers and 29"ers. I found out about that from a recent post we put up on Twenty Nine Inches recently, (seen here).

The thing is, what is 29"er gearing? I don't have any clue, since the comments I read are all over the place as to what folks think that is. Some want super low gearing. Some want triple crank sets for the widest range of gearing, and still others are saying a 1X set up is all they will ever need.

What about me? Well, I never have liked the front dérailleur. I will say that Shimano's and SRAM's latest have gone a long way in impressing me though. I also will say that a lot of what I ride can be done on a 2X set up hear on my local trails. That doesn't mean I think it is perfect at all.

Probably the coolest set up I have ridden is the new DynaSys 10 speed. The thing that makes it work is not what you would expect at all though. Shimano actually identified something I wish was focused on more than it is, or seems to be.

Road riders have identified an advantage in close ratio cassettes, and actually, that's been the case for that discipline for a long time now. However; in the case of mountain bikes, it wasn't possible to have a close ratio and a wide range of gearing with only 15 speeds, so jumps between gearing were big. This persisted throughout the modern mountain bike's development up until recently.

Shimano realized that tightening up the jumps between cogs meant less loss of momentum and less rider fatigue due to a lower cadence when shifting to higher gears and a cadence that was too fast when switching to lower gears. They fine tuned DynaSys to help eliminate this, and to my mind that was the major selling point to me for the new 10 speed group.

I found there was less shifting between cogs up front, and when you did, you only had to readjust one, maybe two clicks in the rear to accommodate your cadence. I found the tighter ratios in the middle of the rear cassette to be gold for me on longer, grinding climbs when you could find a gear that was "just right".

Is DynaSys my perfect set up then? No, it is not, but to my mind the way Shimano is thinking about mountain bike gearing is making sense to me more and more. I just wish that Shimano would give the riders that low, low gear some are wanting, but Shimano has never really been about low, low gears either. I don't expect to see a change there.

Maybe an "ala carte" system similar to Surly's "Mr. Whirly" cranks, but without the weirdness that crank set has would be the ticket. Then make a cassette with user customizable ratios and we'd have everyone covered. But whatever the "perfect 29"er gearing" is, I'm sure it won't be available anytime soon. That is something you can take to the bank!

Gear Heads

2X, 29"er gearing

Gearing: Ask a single speeder what gearing is best, and it might spark some mild debate, but ask a 29"er freak about gearing and you may be in for a long rant on the disparity between gearing for 26"ers and 29"ers. I found out about that from a recent post we put up on Twenty Nine Inches recently, (seen here).

The thing is, what is 29"er gearing? I don't have any clue, since the comments I read are all over the place as to what folks think that is. Some want super low gearing. Some want triple crank sets for the widest range of gearing, and still others are saying a 1X set up is all they will ever need.

What about me? Well, I never have liked the front dérailleur. I will say that Shimano's and SRAM's latest have gone a long way in impressing me though. I also will say that a lot of what I ride can be done on a 2X set up hear on my local trails. That doesn't mean I think it is perfect at all.

Probably the coolest set up I have ridden is the new DynaSys 10 speed. The thing that makes it work is not what you would expect at all though. Shimano actually identified something I wish was focused on more than it is, or seems to be.

Road riders have identified an advantage in close ratio cassettes, and actually, that's been the case for that discipline for a long time now. However; in the case of mountain bikes, it wasn't possible to have a close ratio and a wide range of gearing with only 15 speeds, so jumps between gearing were big. This persisted throughout the modern mountain bike's development up until recently.

Shimano realized that tightening up the jumps between cogs meant less loss of momentum and less rider fatigue due to a lower cadence when shifting to higher gears and a cadence that was too fast when switching to lower gears. They fine tuned DynaSys to help eliminate this, and to my mind that was the major selling point to me for the new 10 speed group.

I found there was less shifting between cogs up front, and when you did, you only had to readjust one, maybe two clicks in the rear to accommodate your cadence. I found the tighter ratios in the middle of the rear cassette to be gold for me on longer, grinding climbs when you could find a gear that was "just right".

Is DynaSys my perfect set up then? No, it is not, but to my mind the way Shimano is thinking about mountain bike gearing is making sense to me more and more. I just wish that Shimano would give the riders that low, low gear some are wanting, but Shimano has never really been about low, low gears either. I don't expect to see a change there.

Maybe an "ala carte" system similar to Surly's "Mr. Whirly" cranks, but without the weirdness that crank set has would be the ticket. Then make a cassette with user customizable ratios and we'd have everyone covered. But whatever the "perfect 29"er gearing" is, I'm sure it won't be available anytime soon. That is something you can take to the bank!

Dyna-Sys 10 Speed: "Dyna-mite, or Dyna-Thud"?!

It's here! The dreaded day has come when your 9 speed stuff is "old school". Yep, that's right my dirt bikin' friends, you are off the back now with the introduction of Shimano's XT Dyna-Sys 10 speed, and SRAM's already famous XX 10 speed. SRAM is also set to soon be flooding the market with 10 speed groups all the way down to its X-7 level. New XTR is, of course, 10 speed, and so is Shimano's workhorse SLX group. Yep! You can officially start hording 9 speed stuff and call yourself a "retro-grouch" if you are into 9 speed stuff.

Of course, I jest, but to some degree, this is our perception of the new 10 speed, no? I recall when 9 speed XTR came out. Wow! There was a lot of grousing and folks murmured how they were "never going to ride 9 speed", and how Shimano was "ramming it down our throats". Hmm..........I wonder how many riders still feel that way about 9 speed in 2010? Especially now that 10 speed mtb is a reality. 

And I'll be the first to admit that I have been on record as saying this 10 speed thing was/is a bad idea. Road 10 speed is none too impressive, in terms of durability and wear life. I was and still am expecting that 10 speed mtb stuff will also fall short of 9 speed in this critical area. One thing I will also admit is that the SRAM XX 10 speed stuff I have ridden is dreamy! The best shifting I have experienced in the field yet, hands down. Especially the amazing front changer. I used to hate front derailleurs until I met the XX front derailleur and shifter.

My co-writer on Twenty Nine Inches and The Cyclist, Grannygear, and I talked about the implications of 10 speed groups for off roading just the other day. He wrote this excellent post on his blog about the subject, which I highly recommend reading. I pretty much agree with his estimation that the biggest downfall of the ongoing race to add another gear to our cassette, (and in many instances, take away a chain ring too), isn't so much about lack of performance, but about cost of ownership. This stuff will be expensive to replace once the parts wear out.

In the end, the riders will decide what will happen. Will Dyna-Sys be a Dyna-thud, or a huge hit? Riders embraced 9 speed eventually, and the market fully supports it now. However; if the cost to replace an XT cassette and chain, not to mention that composite middle chain ring, is astronomical, and we find ourselves racing to replace those XT bits with Deore, or SLX just so we can afford to ride, it isn't going to go over too well. The flip side is how will those lower priced 10 speed options perform? It's going to be hard to accept an X-9 cassette that doesn't shift as well as a high dollar XX 10 speed one, even if you did save some money. Maybe that gulf between the lower end's pricing and the upper end's will just be too much to take, or maybe it won't.

At any rate, it's a new day. A 10 speed mountain bike day, and you can choose to not play along, but it isn't going away any time soon. I'll have the XT Dyna-Sys group on test on Twenty Nine Inches and locals can check it out in the flesh. Just give me a shout out here in the comments or by e-mail, and I'll be glad to let you check it out.

Hmm...........I think I'll go for a ride on my single speed today! Have a great Wednesday!

Dyna-Sys 10 Speed: "Dyna-mite, or Dyna-Thud"?!

It's here! The dreaded day has come when your 9 speed stuff is "old school". Yep, that's right my dirt bikin' friends, you are off the back now with the introduction of Shimano's XT Dyna-Sys 10 speed, and SRAM's already famous XX 10 speed. SRAM is also set to soon be flooding the market with 10 speed groups all the way down to its X-7 level. New XTR is, of course, 10 speed, and so is Shimano's workhorse SLX group. Yep! You can officially start hording 9 speed stuff and call yourself a "retro-grouch" if you are into 9 speed stuff.

Of course, I jest, but to some degree, this is our perception of the new 10 speed, no? I recall when 9 speed XTR came out. Wow! There was a lot of grousing and folks murmured how they were "never going to ride 9 speed", and how Shimano was "ramming it down our throats". Hmm..........I wonder how many riders still feel that way about 9 speed in 2010? Especially now that 10 speed mtb is a reality. 

And I'll be the first to admit that I have been on record as saying this 10 speed thing was/is a bad idea. Road 10 speed is none too impressive, in terms of durability and wear life. I was and still am expecting that 10 speed mtb stuff will also fall short of 9 speed in this critical area. One thing I will also admit is that the SRAM XX 10 speed stuff I have ridden is dreamy! The best shifting I have experienced in the field yet, hands down. Especially the amazing front changer. I used to hate front derailleurs until I met the XX front derailleur and shifter.

My co-writer on Twenty Nine Inches and The Cyclist, Grannygear, and I talked about the implications of 10 speed groups for off roading just the other day. He wrote this excellent post on his blog about the subject, which I highly recommend reading. I pretty much agree with his estimation that the biggest downfall of the ongoing race to add another gear to our cassette, (and in many instances, take away a chain ring too), isn't so much about lack of performance, but about cost of ownership. This stuff will be expensive to replace once the parts wear out.

In the end, the riders will decide what will happen. Will Dyna-Sys be a Dyna-thud, or a huge hit? Riders embraced 9 speed eventually, and the market fully supports it now. However; if the cost to replace an XT cassette and chain, not to mention that composite middle chain ring, is astronomical, and we find ourselves racing to replace those XT bits with Deore, or SLX just so we can afford to ride, it isn't going to go over too well. The flip side is how will those lower priced 10 speed options perform? It's going to be hard to accept an X-9 cassette that doesn't shift as well as a high dollar XX 10 speed one, even if you did save some money. Maybe that gulf between the lower end's pricing and the upper end's will just be too much to take, or maybe it won't.

At any rate, it's a new day. A 10 speed mountain bike day, and you can choose to not play along, but it isn't going away any time soon. I'll have the XT Dyna-Sys group on test on Twenty Nine Inches and locals can check it out in the flesh. Just give me a shout out here in the comments or by e-mail, and I'll be glad to let you check it out.

Hmm...........I think I'll go for a ride on my single speed today! Have a great Wednesday!