# Dura Ace 7900 price dropping - why?



## OxfordUKRider (Feb 7, 2004)

Here in the UK I'm seeing full Dura Ace 7900 available for £999 at the moment. Is this because there is something new coming for 2010 and dealers are trying to clear stock before the announcement or is it something to do with the economy or exchange rates. Seems like a pretty good deal to me.


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## MattSoutherden (Jun 24, 2009)

I saw that price point too...

..so I just bought a gruppo. Arrived this afternoon. :-D

The 7900 cranks are jaw droppingly sexy.

I would be surprised if they update it, as it's only been available for a few months. More likely that the pound has been getting stronger against the Yen over the last months, and shops are cutting margins against each other to have the best offer.


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## Wheelman55 (Jul 10, 2009)

In the US they are offering a free pair of DA pedals when you buy a 7900 or 7970 group.


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## thechriswebb (Nov 21, 2008)

I've seen some nasty reviews on the new 7900. Carlos Sastre flying up mountains on international television with "outdated" 7800 (by choice) is not helping them very much. 

I'm not going to buy it; I will keep my Ultegra, which works great. 

7900 sure is pretty, though....


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## gibson00 (Aug 7, 2006)

thechriswebb said:


> I've seen some nasty reviews on the new 7900. Carlos Sastre flying up mountains on international television with "outdated" 7800 (by choice) is not helping them very much.
> 
> I'm not going to buy it; I will keep my Ultegra, which works great.
> 
> 7900 sure is pretty, though....


My thoughts too. I've been very tempted as I like the looks, have Shimano wheels, etc., but I keep reading nasty reviews about the braking not being smooth due to the internal routing, the rear shifting not working well, missed shifts, and very noisy.
I'm now thinking of switching to campy 11, as the Chorus groups can be found quite cheap. Kind of sucks about the $180 chain tool though....


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## pgk (Jun 30, 2008)

I just installed a full 7900 group on my bike last week and I'm experiencing none of the problems mentioned above. The brakes are by far better than anything Shimano has made so far, the shifting is quick, precise and basically the whole drivetrain is very quiet. Go figure.. Actually I was kind of gun shy on spending that much money on this group after reading some negative reviews but after putting some miles on it I'm a very happy camper. I'm no expert on tuning up a group but this group seemed to be more sensitive to adjustments with H & L limits on front and back Derailuers and also with cable indexing, but once dialed in it's been a dream to use. The cable layout is much improved over the Ultegra Sl that It replaced. I think it boils down to the fact that Shimano, Campy, and Sram all make very nice Groups now days, take your pick. A friend of mine had purchased the Sram Red group, installed it and wasn"t all that impressed with at first. After messing around with it he finally took his bike to a mechanic that was very good with Scram and transformed his initial thoughts on Red from ok to Fantastic. My .02


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## JacksonDodge (Mar 26, 2006)

thechriswebb said:


> I've seen some nasty reviews on the new 7900. Carlos Sastre flying up mountains on international television with "outdated" 7800 (by choice) is not helping them very much.
> 
> I'm not going to buy it; I will keep my Ultegra, which works great.
> 
> 7900 sure is pretty, though....



As far as I know, the whole reason behind Sastre and Cervelo going back to the 7800 groups had to do with the Rotor Cranks/Chainrings they run. The 7900 FD didn't seem to work with the elliptical rings.


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## cpark (Oct 13, 2004)

After spending extensive time with it,I'm not impressive with 7900 at all especially for that price.
Other than slightly more powerful brake, internal cable routing and more comfortable hood (subjective), it's no better than 7800.


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## OxfordUKRider (Feb 7, 2004)

cpark said:


> After spending extensive time with it,I'm not impressive with 7900 at all especially for that price.
> Other than slightly more powerful brake, internal cable routing and more comfortable hood (subjective), it's no better than 7800.


I would be happy with no worse than 7800. I find 7800 easier to setup that Campag Record 10 and quieter which is why I'm considering switching back to Shimano. I definitely would not be happy if I switched and 7900 turned out to be noisier and more finicky.


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## terbennett (Apr 1, 2006)

7800 was a great setup; 7900 looks better IMHO. Still in functionality, I was not pleased with 7900 on the three bikes that I have ridden with them. The hoods don't feel as natural and the brakes aren't that great. I give them props for hiding the cables though and to me, it shifted just as nicely as the 7800. It also seemed a little quieter, but that's subjective IMHO. Maybe that's why the bikes I've seen with the 7900 group are going for quite a bit less now. Go to any bike shop and see how much they are slashing off of the prices on 7900 equipped bikes. One shop I went to, had a 7900 equipped Trek Madones going for only $600 more than their Ultegra SL bikes. The question will be how well the Di2 system will do. Battery life of 4 hours doesn't sound attractive.


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## JacksonDodge (Mar 26, 2006)

terbennett said:


> Battery life of 4 hours doesn't sound attractive.



I've gotten as little as 1000 miles on a charge and as many as 1400. That's a week and a half worth of riding for me between charges.

4 hours is no where close to being accurate.


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## raptor3x (Jun 3, 2006)

JacksonDodge said:


> I've gotten as little as 1000 miles on a charge and as many as 1400. That's a week and a half worth of riding for me between charges.
> 
> 4 hours is no where close to being accurate.


You're putting in 1000 miles/week? Holy crap.


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## JacksonDodge (Mar 26, 2006)

raptor3x said:


> You're putting in 1000 miles/week? Holy crap.



No. 1000 miles is about a week and a half to two weeks for me. 10/12-14 days. 

Really depends on my work schedule and the weather.


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## terbennett (Apr 1, 2006)

JacksonDodge said:


> I've gotten as little as 1000 miles on a charge and as many as 1400. That's a week and a half worth of riding for me between charges.
> 
> 4 hours is no where close to being accurate.


If you're getting 1,000 miles on a charge good for you. Four different LBS's have told me that Shimano claims 4 hours battery life. Not only that, they all were planning to carry the Di2. Your experience trumps their claims by a long shot. Impressive.


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## JacksonDodge (Mar 26, 2006)

terbennett said:


> If you're getting 1,000 miles on a charge good for you. Four different LBS's have told me that Shimano claims 4 hours battery life. Not only that, all four plan on carrying the Di2. Youer experience trumps their claims by a long shot. Impressive.


Simple answer:

Those four shops are completely full of it. They don't know what they're talking about. My Shimano rep and his direct boss both quoted me 1100-1500 miles of life per charge. They're both riding the group and put in big miles.

The two bikes I've built w/ Di2 thus far (not including my own) are getting almost exactly the quoted miles/charge. (+/- 5-10%) 

You can quote me on this. Four hours of battery life is absolute BS.

Also, I've never actually let the battery run out. I run it until it hits roughly 25% and recharge it. I'm not sure how many more miles I could get if I ran it all the way to empty.


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## chase196126 (Jan 4, 2008)

terbennett said:


> If you're getting 1,000 miles on a charge good for you. Four different LBS's have told me that Shimano claims 4 hours battery life. Not only that, all for plan on carrying the Di2. Youer experience trumps their claims by a long shot. Impressive.


Think about this for a second. Shimano has been sponsoring multiple teams with Di2 this year. The average pro race is over 4 hours , (for example Paris-Roubaix is over 6, SKIL rode Di2 there) Would designing a battery system that wouldn’t make it through a normal race really be a good plan?


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## JacksonDodge (Mar 26, 2006)

chase196126 said:


> Think about this for a second. Shimano has been sponsoring multiple teams with Di2 this year. The average pro race is over 4 hours , (for example Paris-Roubaix is over 6, SKIL rode Di2 there) Would designing a battery system that wouldn’t make it through a normal race really be a good plan?



:thumbsup:


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## MattSoutherden (Jun 24, 2009)

chase196126 said:


> Think about this for a second. Shimano has been sponsoring multiple teams with Di2 this year. The average pro race is over 4 hours , (for example Paris-Roubaix is over 6, SKIL rode Di2 there) Would designing a battery system that wouldn’t make it through a normal race really be a good plan?


I was gonna say. I thought it was a real shame when we lost al those riders in the Tour when they couldn't finish the stages. Especially Wiggins, he was doing so well until his batteries gave up.


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## thegreatdelcamo (Aug 20, 2008)

I'm averaging just under 300 miles per week and after three weeks or so I charge the battery even though testing it still shows a green light. 

Di2 is fantastic. I smile every time I hear the front automatically trim in response to a rear shift. Front shifts are so fast that I still giggle when I go from the small to big ring. I love riding with my hands on the hoods such that my pinky finger touches the buttons and does the shifting. I find that I much less frequently need to shift weight to my left hand to enable moving the right hand to make a shift. Consequently, my left hand has had fewer numbness issues. Because the hoods contain mechanical components for only breaking, the pivot point of the break lever is higher and I can thus apply more breaking power from the top of the hoods.

As occurred with STI when it came out, Di2 has quite literally changed the way I ride.


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## terbennett (Apr 1, 2006)

JacksonDodge said:


> Simple answer:
> 
> Those four shops are completely full of it. They don't know what they're talking about. My Shimano rep and his direct boss both quoted me 1100-1500 miles of life per charge. They're both riding the group and put in big miles.
> 
> ...


I believe you.


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## psardain (Jul 25, 2008)

pgk said:


> I just installed a full 7900 group on my bike last week and I'm experiencing none of the problems mentioned above. The brakes are by far better than anything Shimano has made so far, the shifting is quick, precise and basically the whole drivetrain is very quiet. Go figure.. Actually I was kind of gun shy on spending that much money on this group after reading some negative reviews but after putting some miles on it I'm a very happy camper. I'm no expert on tuning up a group but this group seemed to be more sensitive to adjustments with H & L limits on front and back Derailuers and also with cable indexing, but once dialed in it's been a dream to use. The cable layout is much improved over the Ultegra Sl that It replaced. I think it boils down to the fact that Shimano, Campy, and Sram all make very nice Groups now days, take your pick. A friend of mine had purchased the Sram Red group, installed it and wasn"t all that impressed with at first. After messing around with it he finally took his bike to a mechanic that was very good with Scram and transformed his initial thoughts on Red from ok to Fantastic. My .02


Hi,
Still happy with the 7900 group?
Is it a compact on the picture or the standard 53/39?
Thanks!


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