Anyone else turned off by Shimano's latest gen cranks?

[richwagmn]

Regarding the 6700 and 7900 cranks...

It's not the spacey looks that get me, it's the crazy cost for say a new outer chain ring. I understand that you can probably use a chain ring for a long time IF you change your chain regularly and keep your chain relatively clean, but the cost seems astounding. $100+ for an Ultegra outer ring? Wow.

I guess I'll stick with my 6600 cranks for a while.

 

[MR_Sarcastic]

Meh, if you don't change things around every few years, people will stick with thir old equipment until it actually wears out. If Shimano never changed from their DA7700 crank, how many people would feel the need to buy a new crank when they switched to 10 speed? Crank sets almost last forever. Chainrings should last for years and years, if you take care of them.

 

[Notso Swift]

Yes it does put me off, the other thing is you need OEM parts or it looks really crap

If you look at quite a few manufactures the cranks are the only thing they dont utilise in the group. I use to see that as a penny pinching way to say a bike is DA while having (for a common example) FSA cranks. I no longer see that as such a negative

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Regarding the 6700 and 7900 cranks...

It's not the spacey looks that get me, it's the crazy cost for say a new outer chain ring. I understand that you can probably use a chain ring for a long time IF you change your chain regularly and keep your chain relatively clean, but the cost seems astounding. $100+ for an Ultegra outer ring? Wow.

I guess I'll stick with my 6600 cranks for a while.

Cost of having Di2 and Ultegra Di2...needs a STIFF big ring, which means hollow aluminum which means BIG $$(altho Di2 works fine with other cranks, just not as 'well'.)

 

[richwagmn]

Shimano seems to be saying their latest gen cranks aren't backward compatible with the previous gen chains? Is that just marketing BS?

 

[blutto]

Shimano seems to be saying their latest gen cranks aren't backward compatible with the previous gen chains? Is that just marketing BS?

...yeah they have been playing on that backward compatibility issue for decades and have made a fortune off it...one of the reasons I really dislike the brand...

Cheers

blutto

 

[DirtyWorks]

Meh, if you don't change things around every few years, people will stick with thir old equipment until it actually wears out. If Shimano never changed from their DA7700 crank, how many people would feel the need to buy a new crank when they switched to 10 speed? Crank sets almost last forever. Chainrings should last for years and years, if you take care of them.

You guys need to cut Shimano a little slack here.

There have been times when the backward compatible reasoning was fake. But overall, they tend to have a good reason when they use it. In order to make it work well, there tends to be very tight tollerance/specs. Having just graduated from 8-speed to 10-speed I am very aware of the differences.

What if they stopped developing crank models to only when needed? It would mean a bunch of little guys with CNC equipment would be back in business churning out a new crank every 12 months.

Plus, the look of the component group is very important and it would be more or less stuck at the DA7700. Consumers would start to question the 'value' of Shimano vs. another company like SRAM kicking out a new look every year or so.

I agree that some of the consequences are awful. But, until consumers behave differently, that's how it works.

Note, I am very critical of some of the industry practices. This is not one of them.

 

[richwagmn]

Well, I did buy a 6750 compact crank after all and yes, it does shift better than the 6600.

I also noticed that I can run my front derailleur much closer to the chain ring without any rub at all.

I'm also super happy with the extra low gearing a compact crank gives with a 12x25 cassette.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Shimano seems to be saying their latest gen cranks aren't backward compatible with the previous gen chains? Is that just marketing BS?

BS, 7900 and 6700 cranks work with just about any chain...even 9s non shimano ones on 9s 'systems'.