Shimano numbering system

dmch2

Not sure if this belongs here or not...

I think I understand the basic Shimano numbering system. They have various groupsets that start with the 2 series and go up to the 7 series. Most of them have a name as well as a number eg 4 series is tiagra. Every now and then they replace a model range so 2200 went to 2300, Dura Ace 7800 went to 7900. OK I still understand that.

But then they do weird things. You can get Dura Ace wheels but they're called 7850 - what's the 50 for?. The Ultegra wheels are called RS80 rather than 6700 and I've no idea what groupset the RS10 and RS20 live.

Then shoes and pedals. I have R540 pedals. That's only a 3 digit number but I guess they're 105 level pedals? But WTF are my R076 shoes?

Are SRAM and Campagnolo any better? Or is Mr Shimano just tryign to mess with my head?

Confused of Durham...

(Too tired from yesterday to ride tonight. But I'll be out tomorrow so I won't be subjecting you all to my ramblings...)

sungod

you are assuming there is some logic to marketing

there isn't :-)

like the primes, the numbers may appear to follow a pattern, but it'll soon break down

care to have a guess what comes after 7900?

dmch2

I assumed it was designed to confuse and make us spend more but as a new cyclist the first thought is to get everything matching. So if you bought a bike with mostly tiagra (like mine) and then the shop/Shimano pointed out that I could get tiagra wheels to replace the cheap things that came with it then I might have been tempted.

Instead I've been on here a while and will probably get wheels from Fulcrum one day and Shimano have lost out.

I guess they'll do something like NVIDIA the GFX card manufacturer did a few years ago. They did 4xxx, 5xxx, 6xxx, 7xxx, 8xxx then realised they were running out of numbers and started again from 2 with three digit numbers.

So I guess everything will loose a digit and we'll have 210, 310/sora, 410/tiagra etc and possibly a few random renames just for fun... Or do you know the answer already?

dmch2

This is why I'd be no good at marketing too much logic and OCD in my head. So I'm a computer programmer which works perfectly

plowmar

care to have a guess what comes after 7900?

10a ? I knew it would be right where do I pick up my prize?

EKIMIKE

Shimano have product ranges for all sorts of things from drivetrain to shoes.

Not every product range will have the same number of levels as the drivetrain/groupset range. Surely it's not too hard to find out what sits where in each range based on price. For example a £100 pair of shoes is probably gonna be about Ultegra level. £150 wheels are going to be about Tiagra level whereas the Dura Ace ones cost about £550.

As far as i'm aware, wheels have never been considered part of the term 'groupset'. Nor Shoes.

The website states they have about 14 models of shoe with a 3 bolt road style cleat fitting. They have 7 road groupsets (from 2300 to Di2) and 6 pedals for 3 bolt road style cleats. That's a right pain to match up.

dmch2

If they were entirely separate then fine but they seem to half match up so you get ultegra pedals but mine are just R540. You can get dura Ace wheels but RS20s don't get a groupset name.

I'm not going to get them to change their mind I just wondered if there was a reason other than it depends on whatever the marketing department are smoking that week!

FransJacques

The offroad groups are mainly 3 digits while the road groups are 4. My first DA group on my 1996 Team Miyata is Dura Ace 7400. They started at 7100 for their top flight group set in 1977 (same year as the Clash's first LP) so don't go thinking that this is totally abstract or random - these are Japanese afterall!

They'll go to 8000 when they need to. But they will milk 79xx as much as possibly b/c 8000 will need to be a fricken ace in the hole groupset to merit this number.

Don't relate shoes to gruppos but only to other shoes. High level road shoes are always 3xx and descend from there.

For the wheels, they are milking the 79xx range. I must admit I do not understand RS80 but it's more in line with RS10, 20, 30 etc. I'm not sure why their wheels are RSxx when their wheels are usually WH-79xx or WH-7700. I like WH-xxxx frankly. It makes more sense.

Best thing is to puruse the Shimano website for a while and take the time to understand it.

dmch2

If we all read the manufacturers websites there'd be no chat on the forums!

Good point though, I'll have a browse...