Gravel / Gravé / Gnarmac / Groad / ATB

What about the middle ground of 48/31?

Ultegra groupset with a dura-ace crankset (which is complete overkill for my needs so might swap that out. )

But they is mighty sweet and don't seem to suffer from catastrophic cracking problems like the Ultegras. At least not as often. I'd keep it - matches the black graphics.

Mind you, it'd look even sweeter with the silver/black Dura Ace rotors rather than the silver/silver Ultegra ones...

How is that a middle ground? You need special cranks for that weird shit and all I want is higher top gear. So I'd probably go back to 36 or maybe 40T and stick the 50T back on the front.

In2it. Saw this on eBay and was tempted. What's it like on pavement? A bit more lively than its steel equivalent?

Following on from the narwal shifter, can anyone shed some light on the least dildo-esque mechanical hydro 2x11 shifters? They seem to be forever growing...

Shimano R8020 or something GRX if you like that sort of thing

The GRX shifters look ok. Perhaps depending a bit on the angle of your bars. But i really rate them for comfort. 200k w/o the slightest tingle.

I was pondering the ultegra vs. Dura ace thing. Given the construction is nearly identical, I think the difference in reported failures is probably just a selection effect? Number of units that get fitted to bikes and the cumulative hours of use?

If anything the current range of shimano hydro levers are the most streamlined there have been - not much different to the cable levers. Have you actually seen a pair IRL?

Weird, I rode the di2 GRX levers for a weekend and didn't get on with them. I like their small girth, but the outside edge is really square and dug in quite a bit.

The Ultegra hydro di2 are much smaller than the first gen R785 levers. How do GRX compare with Ultegra?

The seller was great. Bike shed with tools all lined up on hooks and obsessive on the details - exactly what you want to see when picking up a pricey used bike.

Not ridden a steel one but this doesn't feel too ponderous. I imagine the carbon fork helps a lot.
Stiff under power then floats along at speed. Feel like I could ride it for hours. The fork is def gravel centric with massive clearance - to the point that the 30mm max guards look a bit silly from the front - but that's just for winter. I'll run 32mm GP5000 in summer I think.

In case you want to watch it - there are captions now

Haven’t tried the di2s so can’t speak for them.

they are very compact. moreso than rim/mechanical.

A few friends have di2 which are a nice size but I want to stick with mechanical which don’t seem to have come that far from the original ultegra rs685. I haven’t fondled any of the newest range per se but I’d be intrigued to see a size comparison .

I think the difference in reported failures is probably just a selection effect?

This. But has it ever happened to anyone here?

They’re completely different, I’d suggest you get out for a socially distanced fondle down the LBS.

I’ve probably seen about 10 6800 chainset failures now including one of my colleagues. Seems to only be an issue with 6800, not seen it affect any other chainset. I think the design has been corrected on 8000.

They don’t look it, but the latest R7000/8000 is very different to the first generation, and feel smaller than the original 105 5700 (finally).

As I said, R8020

Auto captioning isn’t closed captioning, still hard to watch.

There's also R7025 and R8025, which have a different lever shape, and closer bite point, for smaller hands. The actual hood is the same though, I think.

R8020

Don't think that picture is right; R8020 is noticeably bigger. Picture looks like (mechanical) 6800 to me.

R8020: https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/ultegra-r8000/ST-R8020-R.html

🤷🏼‍♂️ Several shops using that photo which is a bit naughty if it’s wrong

https://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-ultegra-r8020-hydraulic-disc-sti-levers-r8070-flat-mount-disc-brake-set-11-speed-110241.html?