Here…

Shimano Ultegra R8000 picks up mechanical, Di2 & disc brake Dura-Ace tech

Gets a bit of a DA look to it (including the fugly rear mech) and sheds a few grams. Nothing to get too excited about.

HG800 11-34 cassette is an interesting option for MTB 2x setups if you don’t like the wide spacing inherent in the wider range cassettes.

Bit surprising they haven’t included a subcompact chainset

Agree it’s a bit underwhelming.

I prefer grey, this looks too MTBish now.

and sheds a few grams

Sort of… mech groupset without wheels is actually heavier than the previous gen. 😕

Interested to see what they’ve done with the carbon laminated wheels though. Big fan of the RS81s.

I’ve always felt the font of Ultegra could do with an update 😕
Very 80’s.

Apart from that. Yeh, ok.
I’m still running 6700 from 8 years ago. Might be time to upgrade 🙂

Agreed needs a sub compact option surely

Unless they have plans for an adventure grouppo

I miss the Garmin buttons on my RS785 STIs, may have to change, like the idea of more tactile buttons too. Quite meh otherwise. Really dislike the look of the chainset.

Hope they iron out the front mech mechanics for the cable version. Too much tension required- setup was a pain.

Agreed needs a sub compact option surely

THey’ve got a CX one.

36/46 on the cx – needs 30/46

that rear mech is hateful looking. is it designed to allow a wider range?

it’s a meh from me, but then I think the new Dura Ace is fugly too.

And the crankset

shedding 2g

😆

Shimano have always under-rated their components capacity too, the cynic would suggest so they can upsell and provide room to ‘upgrade’ in the future. My aging 10spd 6700 short cage mech works perfectly with a 30T cassette, the brake calipers happily clear 28mm tyres, and I’ve set up Munqe-Chick’s 5800 short cage to work perfectly with a 32T cassette (and in fact that’s how Bikepoint Tenerife set up their rental bikes – my Focus Cayo Ultegra came with short cage and a 32).

You missed that the stack height on the pedal is reduced by a whopping 0.7mm.

that rear mech is hateful looking. is it designed to allow a wider range?

It suggests it’s to handle up to 34t rear.

That crankset is ming-tastic!

Seems they’ve got rid of barrel adjusters on the mechanical group and moved it to an allen key. So no more stopping and tweaking or even tweaking while you ride, you’ll need to get a tool out. Seems a pointless change.

They mean the inline adjusters in the cables. You can see in the shots that the rear mech still has an adjuster at the cable entry point.

And you can still fit your own inline adjusters if you want, it’s just that the set doesn’t come with them.

“Hope they iron out the front mech mechanics for the cable version. Too much tension required- setup was a pain.”

The current ones are awful. Done deliberately to encourage a move to Di2 ?

I’m still running 6700 from 8 years ago. Might be time to upgrade

Still running 6600 on my winter bike. It shifts better than the 6800 on my race bike, that shifts better than 6700 on my old race bike (6700 really was poor).

I doubt it will shift better than 6600. Hidden cables was a retrograde step. Move along please, nothing to see here…

I’ve only just gone from 7800 to 6700, I agree the external cables were better, although the 11 speed groupsets are pretty good. 6700 and 7900 were terrible though!

Still running 6600 on my winter bike. It shifts better than the 6800 on my race bike, that shifts better than 6700 on my old race bike (6700 really was poor).

I totally agree – but here’s a question for you:

Is Dura Ace 7900 better than Ultegra 6800?
I know ‘better’ is hard to quantify…but, y’know…..

Is Dura Ace 7900 better than Ultegra 6800?

Of course not, Dura Ace is never much better than Ultegra anyway, never mind a groupset that must be nearly 10 years old!

I think that new stuff looks a bit minging, as did the last iteration, and the one before. Can’t beat the 10 speed stuff IMO.