“This is genuinely the closest to Dura-Ace performance we’ve ever come with Ultegra,” says Tim Gerrits, Shimano product manager.
Set among the Austrian Alps is a town called Au, where we’ve come to find out more about Shimano’s Ultegra R8000 groupset series and, more specifically, the all-singing, Di2 Disc R8070 version. Shimano announced details of the latest Ultegra in June.
For all intents and purposes, under the hood, the new Ultegra is packed with Dura-Ace technology. It heralds a more integrated approach towards product development for Shimano and Gerrits is effusive in his praise of the new Ultegra.
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And well he might be, because once he gets going on the details, it’s clear that the trickle-down concept Shimano helped pioneer has itself received a shot in the arm.
No longer is tech simply transferred over from groupsets higher up the food chain, with tweaks to increase affordability; Gerrits says Dura-Ace and Ultegra are now designed together – something which becomes wholly apparent over the course of two days of riding.