Shimano 6800 vs 9000?

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santabarbara
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by santabarbara

Can you use 9000 cables on 6800?
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by Weenie


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cajer
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by cajer

I believe they use the same cables

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bike
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by bike

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Last edited by bike on Mon May 26, 2014 12:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Tinea Pedis
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by Tinea Pedis

Running 6800 (with an inline adjuster for the FD) and it's genuinely very hard to split the difference between it and 9000 (which I rode all of last year).

Hoods feel just 'slightly' larger with 6800. RD maybe also just a little smoother in shifting.

But really, it's still sensational performance from a second-tier groupset.


hiro11
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by hiro11

Surprised by the negative comments here on Ultegra durability. I have a bike with 2005 6600 with many, many thousands of miles on it that works perfectly. It has outlasted two frames already, the finish on all the parts still looks new (I use a little Pledge every once in a while, works wonders).

If your shifters start getting a little balky, spray a bunch of wd40 or mineral spirts in them, let it drip and then relube with Prolink. This is messy, do it outside. I do that about twice a year. Also, I have to say that in my experience 6600 works better than the 6700 on my wife's bike.

commendatore
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by commendatore

hiro11 wrote:Also, I have to say that in my experience 6600 works better than the 6700 on my wife's bike.


The 6600 on my cx bike DEFINITELY works better than the 6700 on my road bike, and the 6600 is typically coated with dirt/mud.

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MarkGiardini
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by MarkGiardini

DA9000 on my TCR still shifting flawlessly after a year of pretty hefty ks. Tho in saying that, my 7900 was pretty spot on for years without dramas too.

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dunbar42
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by dunbar42

In regards to the cable snapping issues I had 9000 cables installed on my 5700 group for 6 months / 4500 miles. I saw a thread like this on another forum and decided to inspect the cables. I peeled the hoods back and my RD cable was badly frayed. The FD cable looked new but I don't do much front shifting. I had my shop install the older PTFE cables and SP41 housings. I miss the light shift action of the polymer coating. The PTFE cables easily take twice as much effort to downshift the RD. This leads me to believe 80-90% of the improvement in shift quality on 6800/9000 comes dowwn to the polymer coated cables. I'm not in a big hurry to upgrade to 6800 anymore until Shimano fixes the polymer cables.

Here's a pic of the RD cable (it's Google+ so I hope it shows.)

Image

skinnywellfed
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by skinnywellfed

Tinea Pedis wrote:For one rider it was. However that was after he changed the inner and not the outer. I also don't know if he followed the above ferrulles (so that doesn't quite help working out the issue).

Our wrenches are looking in to it, as last thing we need is for it to happen in a race (like it did with me).



Hey Tinea, any up-dates on the issue of failing cables. Have your mechanics discovered any reason / reasons. I searched up all the other threads on this and other Forums. The subject has gone a bit cold. No one is making any follow-up posts about what is going on?

Attermann
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by Attermann

is it worth to go with the polymer cables on ultegra 6700?

or go with this one instead?

https://www.bike-components.de/en/Shima ... ad-p30558/

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Tinea Pedis
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by Tinea Pedis

skinnywellfed wrote:Hey Tinea, any up-dates on the issue of failing cables. Have your mechanics discovered any reason / reasons. I searched up all the other threads on this and other Forums. The subject has gone a bit cold. No one is making any follow-up posts about what is going on?

I moved to a different team and bike had 6800. No cable fraying issues with that. And as far as 9000 went, the recommendation was to "keep an eye on the cables" and catch fraying before it gets bad.

Not really the ideal kind of solution I was hoping for, but not heard any advance on that.

skinnywellfed
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by skinnywellfed

Thank you Tinea for cable break follow-up.
Could you describe different feel between 9000 & 6800 front derailleur shifting?

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Tinea Pedis
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by Tinea Pedis

The difference would be so minimal that if the hoods were the same size I do not doubt I would genuinely struggle to pick either in a blinded test.

If low weight and Dura Ace kudos are your goal, go 9000. If it's a race bike and function (and price) come first, go 6800.

11.4
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by 11.4

Thought I'd throw in my two cents here, since I've always ridden 7700, 7800, 7900, and now 9000 (both mechanical and Di2) but set up a couple bikes with 6800 (and one now with 6870/RS785) after doing 6500 and 6600 (skipped 6700) and put a good number of miles on them as well.

First, I think that observations from older generations of either Dura Ace or Ultegra are not informative. Ultegra has taken some great steps forward and both performance and durability are markedly improved relative to the group's predecessors and also relative to 9000/9070. So I'd discount people comparing from older generations.

Second, 6800 and 9000 both have weak spots. The front derailleur on 6800 isn't as nice as the 9000. The 9000 cassettes aren't trustworthy like the 6800 ones (and 6800 has some combinations that aren't available in 9000). The 9000/9001 shifters have cable wear problems that it appears 6800 doesn't have, but instances of cable wear are spotty and many people have no problems at all while others have incessant issues (I haven't had any problems with either 9000 or 6800). But for the most part, the parts come down to small cosmetic differences, a fair bit of weight, and in some cases a perceptible but very small difference in operation.

The 9000 front shifter does an outstanding job on any crank and any chainring combination including non-approved ones (I'm riding 39/50, 34/42, and 36/46 Shimano rings and 36/46 Praxis rings with no problems at all). The 6800 front shifter does really well with most approved ring combinations and with most Shimano cassettes but peak performance is with 34/50 rings and 28- and 32-tooth Ultegra cassettes. It doesn't do as well with 11-23 Dura Ace cassettes, with 7950 cranksets, with Rotor rings or with other specialty brands. The 9000 does a better job overall. But both fade compared to how either 9070 or 6870 shifts.

The 6800 and 9000 bottom brackets, the cranksets, the brakes are all pretty much interchangeable except for weight. I've put enough dirty rides on both and haven't seen any problems with the 6800 finish -- if anything, it's tougher than 9000 (7950 cranksets were a lot tougher cosmetically in my experience than 9000 ones). The 6800 chainrings don't have all the detailed ramping and pinning that the 9000 ones do, but as long as I'm on standard approved ring combinations I see slight difference between 6800 and 9000 and nothing at all after going to 6870 or 9070. I'm not sure the 6800 brake blocks are the same as 9000, and thought there might have been better blocks on the 9000, but I swapped up the brake blocks on the 6800 and both versions were superb and indistinguishable.

The 9000 hubs go for a couple years and still act like they're brand new. My oldest 6800 hubs have been through two long wet winters and loaned out for lots of cross, and still feel like they're new. I haven't seen any sign at all that 6800 hubs don't have practically lifetime durability. The 6800 free hubs seem like they don't have the ratchet count of the 9000's, but it doesn't affect the riding and the 6800 free hub shells are definitely more durable than the 9000 ones. The quick releases are identical except for a little bit of extra finishing and shaping on the Dura Ace.

In short, Ultegra has become a better and better group and closed much of the historical gap to Dura Ace. Current Dura Ace is an improvement over 7900, but that's mostly in small increments except for significant improvements in cable action. When we go to 6870 or 9070, it's a push button. I've swapped pieces back and forth and not been able to sense a difference between any of the drivetrain components with either 6870 or 9070. You can feel slight differences in the levers, but that doesn't mean the 6870 was a problem in any way -- it's just aluminum versus carbon fiber, or a slightly bulkier shape instead of thin. I'd be hard pressed to pick between 6870 and 9000, but most of my equipment has 9070 now and I'm gradually going entirely Di2. It really is that good. I'd use 6800 in a heartbeat on any bike. I have no concerns about durability or about quality of performance with any of the four groups, and I couldn't quite say that about 6500 or 6800 or frankly about 7700 or 7900.

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