Why is it called 105?

markhewitt1978
markhewitt1978 Posts: 7,614
edited July 2013 in Road general
Don't know why but this has bothered me ;)

All the others have names, even Claris now ;). But 105 is just a number. I guess the 5 comes from it being number 5 in the Shimano road groupset hierarchy or is it that they used to all be called e.g. 103 for Sora, 104 for Tiagra, and they couldn't think of a name for 105?

Comments

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    The others were never called 103 etc.
    I do not think there is a specific reason why 105 was picked as the numbers for it to have.

    Claris makes me laugh :lol:
    I think they have had enough of the rumour that 2300 is as good as 105 and resorted to giving it a girly name to put people off :wink:
  • IQ of people who think its any good?
    I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles
  • Lycra-Byka
    Lycra-Byka Posts: 292
    Maybe a 105th edition?

    Or

    Anniversary of some kind ?
  • rodgers73
    rodgers73 Posts: 2,626
    ...or the time they finished the design?
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Shimano 105 goes back a long way to the Golden Arrow groupset from the early 1980s which was brought in below DuraAce and Shimano 600 (later became Ultegra) - it predates Sora and Tiagra by nearly 20 years.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    IQ of people who think its any good?

    thats actually above average!!
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Chris Bass wrote:
    IQ of people who think its any good?

    thats actually above average!!

    Thats what he meant. It was a complement :D
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    Sure I read somewhere that 105- was the prefix on the original drawing sequence numbers, and it stuck. I could be as wrong as the next man though. :)
  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 16,433
    i have to come clean, it was me...

    years ago, shimano had contracted naming to a uk marketing agency, but they suffered total failure of inspiration, they'd tried "advat", "ben", "ethel", "centaur", but shimano weren't happy with any of these

    things were tense, the launch was next week, thom van tiem, the chief exec, faced loss of the account, and in japan the team contemplated the honourable option

    in desperation, a fatigued shimano salaryman, still dazed from the previous night's karaoke and suntory, tried one last time to contact the agency, but in his befuddled state he misdialed

    sleepily, i answered the phone

    "hnggg, nooooo, whayouwant?"

    "haro, van tiem?"

    "yougottabeshittingme, ok i look, it's one oh five"

    "banzai! one oh five! subarashii! doumo arigatou gozaimasu! kakkoii! sayonara!"

    "sure, nightynight"

    <click>

    the rest is history
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • alihisgreat
    alihisgreat Posts: 3,872
    Dura-ace was Dura-ace 7100 at introduction... Ultegra was Ultegra 6000... but 105 was A105.

    No consistency.

    Don't know what they're going to do when they develop more groupsets though:

    Dura-ace - 7000
    Ultegra - 6000
    105 - 5000
    Tiagra - 4000
    Sora - 3000
    Claris - 2000

    That only leaves room for a 1000 series and a zero series :roll:
  • markhewitt1978
    markhewitt1978 Posts: 7,614
    Dura-ace was Dura-ace 7100 at introduction... Ultegra was Ultegra 6000... but 105 was A105.

    No consistency.

    Don't know what they're going to do when they develop more groupsets though:

    Dura-ace - 7000
    Ultegra - 6000
    105 - 5000
    Tiagra - 4000
    Sora - 3000
    Claris - 2000

    That only leaves room for a 1000 series and a zero series :roll:

    Isn't the 1000 series the unbranded stuff that's worse than Claris? Tourney?
    Don't forget Dura Ace is 9000 now.
  • Has anyone put on say an Ultegra rear cassette and wondered why the spacers are marked "105"? Only to realise it's actually 10S. As in "10 Speed".

    I wonder if this points to "105" as a legacy canny bit of Shimano smoke and mirror marketing from when it was introduced in the 1990s and the idea of a 10-speed bit of kit was very aspirational? So the next best thing was a 9-speed solution, with a name that looked a bit like it could be 10-speed!?

    It's a bit like my bobbins plastic mini-pump that has that criss-cross carbon fibre effect lacquer.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Dura-ace was Dura-ace 7100 at introduction... Ultegra was Ultegra 6000... but 105 was A105.

    No consistency.

    Don't know what they're going to do when they develop more groupsets though:

    Dura-ace - 7000
    Ultegra - 6000
    105 - 5000
    Tiagra - 4000
    Sora - 3000
    Claris - 2000

    That only leaves room for a 1000 series and a zero series :roll:

    9 groupsets is about 4 too many anyway :wink:

    I won't be losing sleep over what they will do after the new Doris - 1000 comes out and they run out of low 1000 series numbers for the Fiona groupset :shock:
  • cyclingfury
    cyclingfury Posts: 676
    edited July 2013
    Sun god: funniest post I've read for ages! Made me laugh out loud which is VERY rare on this forum...
    ___________________________________________
    Titanium Bertoletti
  • markhewitt1978
    markhewitt1978 Posts: 7,614
    Carbonator wrote:
    9 groupsets is about 4 too many anyway :wink:

    They could get away with 3 really.

    Base Model (2400/Claris)
    Decent Model (105)
    Top End (Dura Ace)
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Has anyone put on say an Ultegra rear cassette and wondered why the spacers are marked "105"? Only to realise it's actually 10S. As in "10 Speed".

    I wonder if this points to "105" as a legacy canny bit of Shimano smoke and mirror marketing from when it was introduced in the 1990s and the idea of a 10-speed bit of kit was very aspirational? So the next best thing was a 9-speed solution, with a name that looked a bit like it could be 10-speed!?

    It's a bit like my bobbins plastic mini-pump that has that criss-cross carbon fibre effect lacquer.

    Yup, I'll put my hands up to that :oops:

    10S TO 105 sounds like a cool reason to name it 105.

    They should dump Tiagra and make Ultegra and Dura ace 11 speed, then it would make complete sense :P
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Carbonator wrote:
    9 groupsets is about 4 too many anyway :wink:

    They could get away with 3 really.

    Base Model (2400/Claris)
    Decent Model (105)
    Top End (Dura Ace)

    I think 5

    Claris (I actually think the name suits it now and quite like it) for the 2300 fan club.
    Sora 9 speed for budget/junior road bikes.
    105 10 speed for your average good road bike
    Ultegra 11 speed for something a little better
    Dura Ace 11 speed for something more than a little better

    With Di2 versions of 105/Ultegra/DA

    Had a go on a Di2 bike the other day and it's the future :wink:
    Was not at all interested in it until I rode one for 5 min.