The aero industry is investing in automating the carbon fiber layup process because the tiniest imperfections (trapping little bubbles inside for example) can cause a lot of structural problems. Neither cost nor scale are motivating much of their investigations and the processes don't actually lend themselves to be of much help or relevance in the cycling industry. I can't speak as to what the auto industry is researching but I can say with authority what the aerospace industry is doing won't be of a help anytime soon in this regard.

I for one applaud Shimano's approach. Their reliability is amazing and they are being extremely competitive at all relevant performance markers. As an added bonus, their materials do a lot less damage to our planet. I hope they continue.

You are so right about that. I've been riding on a Dura Ace WH 7850 Scadium wheelset for over 3 years with over 14,000 miles on them. They have never required truing or any adjusment other than regular maintenance. I have them serviced twice a year. No parts have ever been replaced. My LBS service manager says they are good for thousands more miles. Their performance has been nothing short of amazing. My group is a Dura Ace 7900 group. After two years, I had a malfuction in my right shifter. Shimano promptly replaced it.

It's because of their performance and reliability that I chose to remain with Shimano and put a Dura Ace 9000 C-35 wheelset and a Dura Ace 9070 group on my new road bike, a Specialized S Works Roubaix SL4. I just wish Shimano would ship the 9070 group soon. I've been waiting over two months.

I've been waiting 5 months for 9070.
Shimano....if anyone is reading this...quit d!cking around!!!!
I'm beyond the point of very pissed.

Horacio, even Giant are having delays.

You would think if any one would have their orders filled first it would be them..

Deep breaths. Relax.

I know. It's hard. I have a boat-load of dough wrapped up in my project that's doing absolutely nothing for me. All I get is speculation. I wish Shimano had the respect for its customers to give us a hard release date instead of a different date depending on who you talk to.

Totally agree with you Horatio. I made my purchase in December, thinking it would only be a couple of weeks. It's frustrating to me. I would be going totally crazy if I had been waiting as long as you. Shimano is doing us a great disseverice. Their customers deserve a firm release date to plan on.

It's not as simple as just picking a date and delivering product. There are a myriad of problems that can and do arise that each cause some kind of delay.

Another factor is that Shimano will supply the OE market first since all those bikes are assembled first. Once OE demand is satisfied they will they supply the aftermarket. If the OE demand is high the aftermarket release is delayed.

For the record, Shimano is often late with delivery.

_________________
BDop Cycling Co., Ltd.
www.bdopcycling.com

You'd have thought so but my 2013 Giant TCR (OEM) won't be available until late March (at the last time of asking), yet group set parts are available online. I'm forever being told that Giant are the biggest manufacturer in the world and always get supplied by Shimano first but it never actually seems to work out that way...

Indeed, as seemed the case with Ultegra Di2 in 2011/2012 when I was looking to buy and the delivery dates slipped and slipped and slipped - so I cancelled my order. This year seems like a repeat performance of that so sadly it looks like Shimano don't learn from past supply chain mistakes.

I have noi idea why the Giant bikes are delayed in your market. It could be groups or anything else in the supply chain.

Giant and Shimano are partnered which means they are VERY tight. I would be more than a little surprised if Giant wasn't at the head of the line when Shimano starts releasing product.

_________________
BDop Cycling Co., Ltd.
www.bdopcycling.com

When in the history of time have components ever flooded the market en masse, on time?

Those new polymer cables have arrived in Europe. Bike-components has them in stock, only in black though.

http://www.bike-components.de/products/ ... 9000-.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sounds like it may just be geographic import issues. That plus low initial stock can leave some area with nothing.

That's true. Haven't seen any of the groupset component manufacturers do it at all. Especially when it comes to their popular groupsets. Be it Campag, SRAM or Shimano and even Rohloff for that matter since their internal gear hubs are very popular too.

With the mechanical 9000 stuff, Shimano was all over the place sending stuff out: 4 bbs here, nine cranks there, then everything else EXCEPT rear calipers and front derailleurs... Kinda weird, I think we couldve requested everything be in stock before shipping, but who wants to wait if we're only missing - for example - a barrel adjuster?
We got some Cannondale EVOs and a couple Tarmacs with 9070 so far...

Someone has a take-off listed on Ebay for $6500.
I'd purchase the whole bike before I paid that price.