Shimano wants to make your bike as smart as your car
By Aaron Gulley, Outside
The rise of automatic shifting, integrated computers, lights, power meters, and radar has made us wonder: How much is too much?
I just discovered that the latest road bike components on the market are smarter than I am. Five months ago, Allied Cycles shipped me one of the first test models of its All Road, and though I loved the frame of this carbon shapeshifter from day one, I didn’t comprehend the potential of its components until recently.
The bike’s Dura Ace R9170 Di2 group set—Shimano’s first-ever, top-level road components with dedicated hydraulic disc brakes—get some improvements over past iterations: the shifters have been pared down to match the size and ergonomics of the mechanical group set; the new Shadow-style rear derailleur allows for a wider gear range, with an 11-30 cassette; the weight difference between them and the mechanical group has narrowed to a mere six ounces; and the aesthetics are sleeker. Nice but negligible evolution, I thought.