i believe shimano and campagnolo have strict agreements on teams using complete drivetrains for sponsoship. cervelo/garmin have a contract to use rotor crankset for 2012 hence they need to buy parts.

any guess the total weight of the new group. historically shimano remove over 100gm of weight when introducing new dura-ace iteration.

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Current Rides:

2010 SWorks SL3/DI2

Don't buy DA 9000. Wait for 9001.

Is this the quickest update ever for DA?

Not sure, so I tried to come up with this completly from my 40 year-old memory:
- Don't ask me the number but Dura Ace EX was first
- Dura Ace AX was next, why has no-one made anything as pretty since? Those brakes, the crank with the big pedal holes, the housing-less rear derailler, the use of blue plastic! ahhh lovely
- 7400 came out in 1985 as 6 speed (I bought it 7sp in 1986)
- 7400 saw some big running changes which Shimano doesn't do any more without releasing a new groupset:
....1. moved from 6sp to 7sp in 1986 (big visual change was silver to dark anodized shifters)
....2. got the more spindley crank arms in 1988 or 1989
....3. moved from single to double pivot brakes around the same time (?)
....4. we got some really nice Look-based pedals in 1990
....5. and, of course, moved to STI in 1990 or 1991
- 7700 came out in 1996
- 7800 came out in 2002 (Lance used it in Tour that year) then 2003 to the masses
....* biggest running change was the 7810 carbon crank set, which didn't last :-(
- 7900 came out in 2007
....* Di2 release when, 2010?
- 9000 will come out in 2012. So by my calcs it's the same interval?

EDIT: Hammertime, thanks for reminding me about the 8sp , Road STi was only ever 8sp or more. I guess the 7400 to 7410 number *was* like a new groupset but b/c the FD, RD, HS, seatpost remained the same they didn't change the 74xx series. Although there was a lot of jiggery-pokery with the rear ders, you had to buy one with "6s 7s" on the cage to work with 7speed. Then they changed the cable pull when they moved to 8 speed so it was probably a new parallelogram even tho it looked identical.

6 speed "New" Dura Ace (first Shimano indexed shifting) was 7400.
7401 was 7 speed.
7402 and 7410 were 8 speed.

The 7810 carbon chainset is still readily available...

i do wish shimano would stop copying campy, first it was putting the gear cable under the tape to ruin shifting now its 11speed.
Is it now a race to make the worst groupset out there and will they beat sram?

7800 came out in 2003 to some of the pros (Lance at the tour in 2002)

I thought 7900 was a 2008 release for the pro's and a 2009 wide release
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/components/groupset/road/product/review-shimano-dura-ace-7900-groupset-09-34164/
http://velonews.competitor.com/2008/06/bikes-and-tech/shimano-unveils-the-new-dura-ace-7900_76923
Di2 in 2009 as well I thought:
http://www.roadbikeaction.com/fly.aspx?layout=content&taxid=67&cid=505

so it does look like a pretty quick turn around from 7900

That makes sense,still suprising that they shunned SRAM and they prefer to buy equipment out of their own budget though. CSC did the same a while back in their early days and more recently HTC did the same with wheels.

Good spot, first time I saw 7900 on a non-pro or non-shop bike was a Mallorcan training camp in March 2009. cheers

I'm actually curious as to what this means for Ultegra and below (mostly because I can never afford the best stuff ). If they just released Ultegra Di2, will they use the 10 vs. 11 speed as the differentiator between the two? What about mechanical Ultegra, will they bump it up to 11 speed late 2013 and leave it's more technologically advanced electronic counterpart in the dust (not in actuality, but in the marketing speak of 11>10, thus it's better)?

Team Sky will be on 11 speed Di2 next year as a Shimano test team.

Yes but only if UCI allows disc brakes for road racing...

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Cycloblog.gr

You're forgetting they allow it for cross and that the overwhelming majority of customers don't care if their bikes are UCI compliant or have even heard of the UCI.

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Doing bike things.

Twitter

I think disc brakes are going to take a while to catch on in road cycling. Manufacturers having to offer 2 versions of frames, wheel manufacturers changing all their all designs, weight and I cant see the UCI allowing it on the road for a while either, and a lot of people are driven by what the pros are using.

Discs would solve the carbon clincher problem though!! You wont have to build that rim to withstand heat buildup.