Well?

I'm an old git, and look back to those happy 7 speed days when things were simpler and less prone to clogging up with crap.

What next… 11 speeds? Razors with 5 blades? Electric plant pot sharpeners?

If they make em, I'll use em.

marketing and advertising depts are probably pretty keen…

11 Speed is already out on the road equipment side, along with Di2 electronic Shimano gearing.

It's all Research & Development.

9 speed is more than enough on an MTB in my opinion, but I can only presume that SRAM XX , with 10 x 2 is to allow a greater range of gearing while doing away with the weight of an inner ring. That an that fact most WC XC racers often do away with the inner ring anyway.

10 speed on a road bike is the norm now.

Not sure about 10 spd at the moment TBH..There comes a point when the ratios just wont work – I mean who needs more than 22-34 on a MTB? Ive never had a problem with the gaps in the ratios (& I have a Rohloff as well & that is no problem either) Yeah you can argue that it you could take off the granny ring but thats ok if you only ever ride in the UK or are XC whippet but try riding XC in the Alps say with only 2 rings..Ouch is all I say.

( I might try it if the tech trickles down to XT on my race bike but I certainly wont go for it if its only XTR..)

Bargain.!

I use 22-34 quite a bit, I ride up some steep long hills.

I think there would be more of a market for less gears but an abuse and mud proof setup.

This gets trotted out with each addition of a sprocket. I remember it with 8 speed, 9 speed and now 10. I've never found any real difference despite doing most of my riding in less than dry conditions – they all wear at the same sort of rate (at least, I've never once noticed any significant difference between different bikes) and I've never had any issues with shifting in mud since about the mid 90s when I started using a full length cable outer. Similarly I've got friends with 10 speed cross bikes which have been ridden through horrendous conditions with no obvious issues.

I'll have no issue using it when I need new chain and cassette.

But you'll need to buy some new shifters too, Dylan!

Well yeah but I can live with that and I'll only actually need one.

Still waiting for Shimano to build something similar to a Rohloff always wanted one but dont want to pay £800

Still waiting for Shimano to build something that can actually change gear accurately once the Welsh typhoon season hits.

It doesn't matter how many gears you start with, in a 'normal' Welsh winter ride you'll be reduced to 3 or 4 useable gears.

No one needs it. This time i think it runs more true than previous moves up.

I started with the non index 6 speed blocks that were fairly poor.6-7 was a big index improvement with "STI". The move from 7-8 gave little improvement in shifting performance but for me added useful gear range.

But the step to 9 speed was a big improvement. Shimano added the extra spring in the rear mech that upped the shifting accuracy and confounded those that said it wont work in the mud. The 34-11 rear tooth option is also a great help for me! I find it works well with a 2 ring setup & bash ring.

I recently bought this years XT thumbshifters. They are the smoothest shifters i have ever used(i was cynical before buying them). Its hard to imagine better shifting!! Running full length cables is also something I do where possible & helps reduce maintenance.

The trouble is that if they are moving to 10speed they will need to up their game again for the mud & durablility could be questioned. The biggest hassle will be whether they keep producing the 9sp stuff. For me 9 is plenty!

The 10 speed SRAM chains need new joiners every time you split them I understand!!?? I like to remove the chain for cleaning on my mtbs.
I'll be sticking with 9 speed i think..

Been using 10 spd on my road bike since 07 and found it great except the triple crank-should have bought a double!

Been using 9sp on my winter roadbike and thats been smooth as silk.

Just got hold of a 9sp cassette for the road bike and no need for to go 10 spd until it breaks etc.

9sp XTR on my mtb as been fine but I never ride in gloop and only found that I needed to maintain 10sp or 9sp or any other spd as long as I cleaned and serviced the running gear.

10sp on a mtb and no granny ring would be ace.

I want Shimano to produce a nice 3 speed disk hub half the weight of an Alfine.
I'm still waiting for a moon on a stick too 🙂

And also tougher than xc alfine and Winter riding/servicing would be ace.

Why not add belt drive?

IGMC…

Harry – waddaya mean 'you're an old git'?? You're not that old… 😆

IdleJon – Member
Still waiting for Shimano to build something that can actually change gear accurately once the Welsh typhoon season hits.

really? I've ridden in all sorts of horrendous conditions including Wales at it's worst and never seem to have this problem. The worst I've had is bad chainsuck in the granny ring on really gritty mud. While I fo know what I'm doing plenty of the other guys I ride with are the same. I always figured that the other riders with slipping gears just hadn't set their bikes up well including lack of one piece outer. Maybe not?

clubber, I've run XT/XTR for years and I find it takes a certain amount of adjustment, especially as it gets older and worn. I was never too bothered about the fiddling as it was my race bike and that of course needed a certain amount of fiddling between races anyway. The gears on this bike were stripped off last year when I did a SS conversion.

But then about 8 years ago I bought a Cannondale hardtail with Deore on it and found that to be the same. Plenty of fiddling. When that got worn I replaced it with Sram X7 and found that to be brilliant. Put it on the bike, adjust gears and ride the bike. Don't adjust gears again. Ever.

This time last year I bought a new 'dale with Sram X7/X9 on – it hasn't needed any attention at all to the gears – this morning they were all slotting in as nicely as they were last year.

However the Genesis I bought over the summer (Deore/SLX) needs to be adjusted every so often as grit gets into the system and was the bike responsible for my comment about typhoon weather – two weeks ago riding in normal Welsh rain I was reduced to about 4 random gears whenever the bike allowed it. Once I dried it off we were back to changing gears in a two down, one up style. This bike will be changed to Sram in the not too distant future.

I want my gears to work whenever I ride the bike. I don't want to spend 20 minutes every week adjusting gears. I don't care how many sprockets are in my cassette, I just want to use what's there.

I'm also suspicious about Shimano claims to be a Japanese company. As far as I'm aware Japan gets lots of rain. If so, to add to the above, why do my Shimano boots NEVER dry out. Hmmm?

Of couse we dont need more gears. But what we need and what we end up buying are two different things. Put yourselves in the shoes of the manufacturing companys. They need to sell stuff, so they will always be inventing stuff we dont actually need, but the marketing chaps will sell it to us. The whole world is full of stuff we buy but dont need. Razors is a good example, but its endless really.

We will sadly buy what they market to us and in a lot of case we wont have a choice.

What better for profit than to start marketing an new block that needs new shifters $$$$$$

Singlespeeders may feel smug about bucking the trend, but clever marketing bods are comming up with special cogs and chains and stuff aimed at singlespeeders !

Its called capitalism and it pays our mortgages.

I have 10 speed on my road bike and have no shifting issues but there must come a point on an mtb where the cog spacing just becomes too narrow to allow any reasonable shifting in filthy conditions.

But pantsonfire you're already using 10 speed. aren't you?

I've just had Campagnolo 11 speed on my road bike, you need the official tool to join the chain as it needs to be peened, it cost me £100 from Parkers it's even more everywhere else

http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=T0087