Jared88

My LBS had the first group in today. The shifters looked a lot like campy, but they were a lot more understated without the carbon weave. The cranks and brake calipers looks gorgeous. To me the highlight is defintely the braking power. Its simply different from all the other groups. Squeeze the lever and there is sort of a resistance which feels really really nice. It's hard to describe. I didn't get to shift it though, the mechanic is still working on it.

AEO

yeah, they changed the cable pull ratio for the brakes too.
You can't use the new calipers with the old brifters.

Thirstyman

7900 brifters are compatible with all 7800 and ultegra calipers and rear deraileurs. not compatible with any other front der except 7900. see this:

https://dura-ace.com/downloads/interchangeability.pdf

kblacy

I got to shift through the new group on a test bike they had set up at the Hotter N Hell last weekend. Shifting felt identical to current DA, but the hood shape was an AMAZING improvement over the previous generation. It just naturally fits instead of having to figure out a place to put your hands like the current stuff. The crank is about the sweetest looking thing ever too.

JayC

Yea.. they finally decided to copy SRAM's ergonomics on those brifters.

patentcad

Until Pcad has it in his hot little hands, it is total, utter, complete friggin

V A P O R W A R E

Booger

Unremarkable, but Shimano does just enough to stay ahead. Small, incremental improvements for every component add up. I'm interested to know how the trimless FD works.

tekhna

Is the change in hood shape worth an extra thousand bucks?

kblacy

It seems to work great on the test rig. Of course I was just spinning it on the stand, it may act different with tension on the chain. The throw on the lever was noticeably shorter though, a nice touch.

Phoible

So I could upgrade to 7900 by replacing just the brifters and FD?

I have 7700 on one of my bikes (with an R700 crank), and the shifter ergonomics just don't do it for me (I really like the top-of-the-hoods position, and that position doesn't really work on the 9-speed brifters). I would obviously need a new chain and cassette, but I assume that everything else should work ok.

ShadowGray

Are they planning to change the hood designs for the rest of the groupsets as well?

kblacy

The shimano guy I spoke with said Ultegra should follow in 2010. no word on what it will look like, possibly metal levers instead of carbon i'm guessing.

Banzai

RD too. All the cable throws have changed.

That would actually be a pity. I honestly prefer the shape of my current 105 levers (new, 10 speed 5600 group) to everything else. It's irritatingly ergonomically perfect, at least for me. They only changed that shape like, what...2 years ago? I thought it was an amazing change. Now they've decided to copy SRAM.