Alex321
Guru
- Location
- South Wales
In terms of cycling, and particularly cycling components, it is.
But that doesn't stop me buying Shimano.
Does anyone else hate Shi**no as much as I do?
- Thread starter mickle
- Start date
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In terms of cycling, and particularly cycling components, it is.
But that doesn't stop me buying Shimano.
T4tomo
Legendary Member
Its estimated it has 70%-80% of the global cycling component market by value, so it has an effective monopoly, so I would say it is massive in the grand scheme of things.
raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
What about their fishing reels, isn't that where Shimano started.
Alex321
Guru
- Location
- South Wales
It is, and in fact as a teenager, it is what I knew them for, rather than cycling products.
But they have never had a s big a market share there as they do in cycling componentry.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Shimano has about 70% of global share in bicycle gears and brakes, and approx. 50% of the overall bicycle components market
https://d3.harvard.edu/platform-rctom/submission/shimano-dominating-the-bicycle-components-market/
Shimano sales constitute an estimated 70–80% of the global bicycle component market by value
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimano
The above may be a bit out of date as they've had a recent drop in sales, but it's not clear whether it's due to drop in % share
https://road.cc/content/news/shimano-suffers-huge-fall-sales-amid-bike-industry-woes-307991
Smokin Joe
Squire
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
I wonder has anybody tried one of the Chinese groupsets? They match the big players on spec but undercut them on price and some of the reviews I've seen on Youtube on both mechanical and electronic systems have been quite favourable.
I've never seen any in the real world nor heard of anyone on CC using one.
I've never seen any in the real world nor heard of anyone on CC using one.
T4tomo
Legendary Member
sensah groupset on a bike build...
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/a-shiny-thing-i-built-look-upon-my-works-ye-mighty.279489/page-3
@Xipe Totec any long term update?
Hover Fly
Lazy so and so
- Location
- Besides the lake, beneath the trees
I replaced some old, but not worn out, Campagnolo with Sunrace* front and rear derailleurs, they seem to work alright new, but will they last?.
*Taiwanese, sort of Chinese.
We try and avoid using Sunrace at work, it’s not the best
All uphill
Still rolling along
- Location
- Somerset
I recently bought a new Sunrace rd and it worked OKish.
I replaced it with a scuffed and scraped 15 year old Deore rd which works much, much better.
When one of my neighbours wants a freebee bike repair I'll stick the Sunrace on their bike.
Xipe Totec
Frrrg rrrrf yrrrr crrrnds
- Location
- Between The Thirteen And The Nine
Yep.
Binned the Sensah bitsa groupset best part of 2 years ago, as soon as (and the OP won't like this!) a cheap 105 deal came up.
The Sensah (which I only used because it was a pandemic era project & 105 was either unavailable or eye-wateringly expensive) was OK, but as I might've mentioned, the mech springs were incredibly stiff. While this made little difference to actual shifting, probably because of the shifter design, it murdered the life of cables & outers, so you'd get maybe 1000 miles before everything just became mushy & unadjustably inaccurate. That was probably exacerbated by the fact my frame necessitates full-length outers, meaning more to compress & go spongy.
So the Sensah's on my indoor trainer bike now, where such things don't matter so much - & I barely use the bloody thing anyway.
By contrast the 105 (mechanical 11sp) has been excellent, flawless shifting & needing no ongoing adjustment once set up. I've only just had to replace the rear cable in the last month as it started to fray inside the shifter - like various other Shimano groups I've used, it became laggy & miss downshifts when the cable started to die. Replaced that & it's back to normal so presumably plenty of life left in the outer.
On the broader topic, I've used a lot of Shimano stuff, going back to the 'gold arrow' 105 back in the 80s & broadly it's been good to great - functional, reliable & often looking pretty trick too. Every bike I've had in the last 15 or so years has been Shimano-equipped & that's covered all the road range from mechanical Ultegra down to the 2300 that came before Claris - all a piece of p!ss to work on, set it up properly & it does what it's supposed to.
However I'm less than impressed with the direction they're taking with their range, and it's disappointing to hear this do-it-all Cues series is a drop in quality & functionality. Elevating 105 to borderline unaffordability & binning the lower tiers rather than upgrading the tech seems like a mistake, and I suspect they may lose that affordable midrange market to the likes of Sensah & LTwoo if those brands continue to improve their tech. And that ain't a bad thing.
Alex321
Guru
- Location
- South Wales
I think they maybe realised the mistake they were making with 105, when a few months after going Di2 only, they released a new mechanical version, several hundred £ cheaper for the full groupset. Back into the same sort of range as the previous 11sp version (which is what is on my bike).
Nah, they probably always planned to do that, but you get better(?) press from the DI2 only release and it'll get in peoples minds. Drop the mechanical version a few months later for more positive press. Other industries do this all the time.
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
Having never used better than tiagra level from new i cant comment on quality of anything better , i do have 105 10 speed on one bike but that was given to me when someone went to the latest 105 and it does have 4600 derailleurs and found it clunkier than tiagra 4700.
A bit of a lie as i have rival 22 on one bike , again second hand stuff and found although its nice i have to tweak the gears a lot to keep it sweet , the tiagra just worked as long as you kept on top of changing the cables .In fact i have half a mind to sell the rival and replace it with shimano again .
A bit of a lie as i have rival 22 on one bike , again second hand stuff and found although its nice i have to tweak the gears a lot to keep it sweet , the tiagra just worked as long as you kept on top of changing the cables .In fact i have half a mind to sell the rival and replace it with shimano again .
PedallingNowhereSlowly
Senior Member
I had SRAM on an MTB bike back in the late noughties and I think the spares availability put me off.
Shimano kit has, to date, not let me down in any big way and cross compatibility is generally good, although i accept that's changing now.
I've had one campag equipped bike (Veloce 10 speed?) and riding on the tops of the brifters in the wet - they were just the wrong shape. The more bulbous Shimano ones felt more secure.
I don't think the groupset manufacturer would really influence my choice when I buy a bike. I'd be slightly more likely to buy a bike with a groupset I've already got to make spares a bit easier, but other considerations (fit, clearances, quality, finish) would be prioritised over that.
Shimano kit has, to date, not let me down in any big way and cross compatibility is generally good, although i accept that's changing now.
I've had one campag equipped bike (Veloce 10 speed?) and riding on the tops of the brifters in the wet - they were just the wrong shape. The more bulbous Shimano ones felt more secure.
I don't think the groupset manufacturer would really influence my choice when I buy a bike. I'd be slightly more likely to buy a bike with a groupset I've already got to make spares a bit easier, but other considerations (fit, clearances, quality, finish) would be prioritised over that.
