abstractform20

why does shimano keep becoming uglier with each new generation?










*actually, not as bad as i thought

Homebrew01

Why do you think I use Campy. Shimano levers are fugly too.

David Bierbaum

Isn't it just because of simple economics? Ugly is just CHEAPER to manufacture than Pretty! [/nonconstructive opinion]

Jed19

The japanese have never been known for their "originality" in design. Functional and reliable? Yes.

PatrickGSR94

I like the 3rd pic best

4th pic looks the worst to me, though I'm sure that one "omitted" arm saves some weight. Maybe.

youcoming

Eye of the beholder.

mattm

+1

Shimano levers are HUGE.

eja_ bottecchia

Italians are the master of design, the Japanese are not.

I am not sure if this is a cultural thing, however.

M_Wales

+1

I'm using a Ultegra 6750 crank and like the looks and think the Dura ace cranks look even better...

Front end shifting is as good, if not better than anything on the market.

pdxtex

proprietary crank arm/chain ring configurations are the problem, and alot of them tend to be ugly, like the last 10 years of dura ace. i agree. that doesn't mean some more standard issue designs are off the hook either though. fsa mid level cranks can be really bad too. ironically, new tiagra is starting to look pretty decent.

milkbaby

They look just fine to me except for the mountain bike cranks in the 4th photo...

RJM

I think the new Dura Ace crank looks great, I really do.....Of course, I liked the 6700 Ultegra crank (in dark grey only) enough to put it on my Rivendell too. If you want to talk about hideous, you have to bring up Sram cranksets.

ruindd

There's not an omitted arm, the rings bolt onto the back of the crank arm. Instead of equal spacing between arms, they positioned them to line up with the most powerful parts of your pedal stroke. You don't need a stiff crank at the bottom of your pedal stroke, but you do need a stiff crank in the middle of it. So rather than wasting chainring strength strength on the bottom of your pedal stroke, they've redistributed it closer to the middle of your pedal stroke.

Drag

Ive always liked the simple beauty of the DA7800 cranks. Not so much for stuff that came out thereafter.

bikerjp

Sram did something similar too but suck with equal spacing (I think). It bolts behind the crank though. I wonder who was first?

Jed19

Pretty, ain't it?

The issue, as I see it, is that Shimano makes great stuff, but as an engineering-focused company, they do need to outsource their design. If you really want to see what "great design" can do for products, look at what Jonathan Ive has done at Apple. just looking at an Apple product, you want one even before you are convinced beyond doubt by its usefulness and/or superiority over what you currently have.

The human specie is a very visual animal, thus emphasizing the importance of design in the order of things and in consumer products. This is one thing the Italians and other europeans understand very well. That is why Ferrari sells a lot of cars, because they are gorgeous to look at, and they perform well.To illustrate this point, I once had a very revealing encounter at a Ferrari dealership with a wealthy surgeon. He owned about eight expensive Ferrari sports cars, was looking at another on the sales floor, but had brought one of his cars in for some work. He ranted endlessly about the unreliability of some of his cars, but told me he had promised himself as a young man that he'll own a Ferrari someday, and when that day came, he bought one, then couldn't stop collecting them. He did emphasize that he "hated" how much time they needed to be worked on. Like I said, it was a very revealing conversation about human beings.

Fox Farm

Campy has been doing this with Record for as long as I can remember

vettracer

Campy C-Record Cranks, Mid 80's

ntjp

I kind of agree. Plain aluminium (the way shimano used to be) looked good. All this dark stuff looks bad..

achoo

You only pedal with your right leg?

Bah Humbug

This is personal, because I can't stand the way bright polished metal looks, but love the dark 6700 stuff.

Gordy748

Shimano road stuff looks like a dog's breakfast, but their track stuff is really nice. I think it's the result of their designers playing a Final Fantasy game too far while the NJS tells them they need to have the trackie stuff just so.

abstractform20

inspired to make this thread because i recently took off my 7800 group (complete...wheels too) to save up for a car repair...such a beautiful crankset...so sad.

Adrianinkc

Don't understand why so many people love the 7800 crank but everyone has different taste. I kinda like the dark ultegra but pefer SRAM or campy in the looks department.

RobertL

To each their own, I think that the newest crankset in the most attractive.