# What actual improvements could/should Shimano make?



## asterisk (Oct 21, 2003)

What actual improvements would you like to see Shimano make?

Aside from you know... adding a gear and some more price inflation... 

Personally the left STI shifter has always been the weak point of the group for me. My current ride has 105, prior to that I had 8-speed Campy Mirage. As much as I hate to say it I loved the way the Campy shifter could be trimmed to make the chainline correct for whatever gear you happened to be pushing. Why the indexed in the front? It is just a pain in the ass to adjust and always throws itself out after a while.


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## MDGColorado (Nov 9, 2004)

asterisk said:


> What actual improvements would you like to see Shimano make?
> 
> Aside from you know... adding a gear and some more price inflation...
> 
> Personally the left STI shifter has always been the weak point of the group for me. My current ride has 105, prior to that I had 8-speed Campy Mirage. As much as I hate to say it I loved the way the Campy shifter could be trimmed to make the chainline correct for whatever gear you happened to be pushing. Why the indexed in the front? It is just a pain in the ass to adjust and always throws itself out after a while.


1. What you said. Ultegra works just like your 105, ie, it half works.
2. Compact double crankset(s). 
3. 9-speed cassettes like 13-28 or 13-30.
4. Road triple crank other than 52/42/30. Example: 48/36/26 like Sugino offers.
5. Chains with quick links like SRAM.


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## Evan Evans (Sep 14, 2004)

This is somewhat a bone head tread at best. If some other company offers what you are looking for use then use their product.


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## spookyload (Jan 30, 2004)

Make a Flight Deck computer with a freaking heart rate monitor!


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## zach (Jul 4, 2005)

You can do partial shifts with your 105 shifters to adjust the chain line. Yeah for a computer that costs that much it should have a hrm. I would like to see a carbon version of the dura ace.


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## zac (Aug 5, 2005)

.....


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## zac (Aug 5, 2005)

D/A and Utegra front can be trimmed. Not sure of the 105.

1) better looking big chainring on D/A
2) under the tape shifter cables, like Campy. (I like the STI better than ergos)
3) slightly narrower hoods for split finger riding. (although this is minor)
4) more double chain ring options for Ultegra

Flight Deck
1) option to mount it on the stem as opposed to the bar.
2) hrm option
3) a way to auto-cycle the info (user selected) ie: cadence, distance, time, avg speed. (or whatever you want).
4) smaller magnet


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## Jared (Jun 24, 2005)

Allow for trimmings. And make the brake levers titanium or carbon. And have the cables run internally. And have integrated dampers in the shifters. And make the shifters more comfortable without changing the design.


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## asterisk (Oct 21, 2003)

Evan Evans said:


> This is somewhat a bone head tread at best. If some other company offers what you are looking for use then use their product.


Whoa, lighten up francis! So starting a thread for speculation for improvement by the very people who use the product is a bonehead idea? hrm.

Anyway, I've never ridden D/A or Ultegra shifters but I'm sure they work similar to 105 in that they have a couple trim shift clicks but w/ Campy it worked more like a friction shifter.


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## bsdc (Feb 15, 2002)

I'm a Campy convert for one main reason. I like the flat hoods on the Campy shifters. I wouldn't think of going back unless they make the hoods more comfortable.


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## nodima (Jan 28, 2004)

The ability to downshift multiple gears in a single motion. I believe that the C company has this feature, and it is a nice to have, but not worth it for me to switch.

Rapid-rise road derailers.


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## leadag (Jan 4, 2005)

I've got a bike with 105, and a bike with 9-speed DA. One of the big differences between the two is the DA left shifter / FD combo works much much better. Much more trim on the DA lever (in fact, i don't think there's any trim at all on the 105 lever).


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## StillKeen (Oct 4, 2005)

Hmm, well, changes ...

Lower the price of DA 10, as there was a big increase from 9 to 10 ... what made it so much more expensive to produce?

As far as I can tell, even DA levers are not fully rebuildable. Would be nice if DA became rebuild/reconditionable. Its quite an investment.

No longer use cup and cone bearings in their hubs, or at least start using cups that can be pressed out and replaced.

Sell the dust caps from freehubs separately ... you have to buy a whole new free hub!!!


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## Fanaticbiking (Sep 14, 2005)

CARBON!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Every other company is using it. SRAM, Campy, TruVativ

Why not the world's largest seller.


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## Mr. Scary (Dec 7, 2005)

Comments below...



StillKeen said:


> Hmm, well, changes ...
> 
> Lower the price of DA 10, as there was a big increase from 9 to 10 ... what made it so much more expensive to produce?
> 
> ...


undefinedThe shifter cable routing and hood shape are the big ones for me.


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## slowdave (Nov 29, 2005)

Shimno needs to look at the competition and IMO move away from the ugly exposed gear cables, that is the main problem i see with the line other thoughts from me, a line of road wheels that rival campag, maybe rapid rise works for road but they should think about the horror they have created for themselves in mtb before they make the rapid rise change again. Trimming on the front should be fixed and just for what its worth carbon. oh yeah all this is avaliable in campag....


waiting for the abuse!!


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## Mr. Scary (Dec 7, 2005)

slowdave said:


> Shimno needs to look at the competition and IMO move away from the ugly exposed gear cables, that is the main problem i see with the line other thoughts from me, a line of road wheels that rival campag, maybe rapid rise works for road but they should think about the horror they have created for themselves in mtb before they make the rapid rise change again. Trimming on the front should be fixed and just for what its worth carbon. oh yeah all this is avaliable in campag....
> 
> 
> waiting for the abuse!!


Yep, now Campy just needs to figure out how to get their groups to shift like Shimano (read: smooth, precise, accurate, light) and they would be onto something.


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## arvid (Jan 24, 2006)

*cable routing*

For what it's worth...

I've been told by my LBS owner that Shimano can't make an internal cable routing in the shifters because that's patented by Campagnolo. So I'm afraid you'll have to forget that improvement...
By the way, I like the look of the exposed cables, it makes the bike look tougher


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## odeum (May 9, 2005)

if you compare the weight of ergopower shifters to sti you will see what is up, as for the shifting, it is like comparing bach to beethoven.

anyway as per the ot, i would like to see custom sized and positioned hoods and levers, we ride sized frames with adjustable posts, saddles and stem yet are stuck with the one-size levers, ergo or sti.

cranks/bb to adjust arms for measured leg length and unequal lateral q-factor as well,,,these are the frontiers of accurate sizing that are largely unexplored.




QUOTE=Mr. Scary]Yep, now Campy just needs to figure out how to get their groups to shift like Shimano (read: smooth, precise, accurate, light) and they would be onto something.[/QUOTE]


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## mikbowyer (Feb 20, 2006)

Things I would like:
Bumperstickers for my non-bike stuff so I can show off my love (like my computer case stc.)

Features for the flight deck
-heart rate
-use the pace arrows for more things, like set a cadence rance, and have the arrows show you when to bump up or down so you can be on, say stopwatch, and still keep your beats goin', this could also be good for target HR if there was a monitor.
-backlight (i ride wayy too much at night, but the sun sets so darn early, and sometimes I work (deliveries) until 4AM....
-beeping (this could go with the up/down arrow functions.
-show next gear, as in next ratio in the order you last shifted. like if you got out of your set cadence range, if it would flash the gears you could go into to get back in your range.
-computer (laptop) interface (this would make setup much easier, and datalogging would be sweeeeeet.
-and the ultimate, integration with a HRM and the next-gen electric shifters for an automatic workout with a set range for heart rate. Then your bike would be more like a treadmill, and people spend $3000 on treadmills, so wouldn't it be great if they could just buy a trek1000 frame and fork, a cheap wheelset, a rear wheel trainer, and this new ultimate shimano setup, spend about $1200 and get a full indoor training machine that could be taken outside if it was really nice.
-and if you were inside with it, you could monitor things on a laptop screen, or interface with a video game, now THAT would be fun to play with, tour-de-livingroom...or even just set a college bracket (As, Bs) and see how you'd do "theoretically"

---yea I really want to work for SHIMANO in a few years.


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## Evan Evans (Sep 14, 2004)

Ugly exposed gear cables makes me feel secure. i hope they never change them. Just like the old days when Campy was good.


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