Which Groupset?

Will 2013 Super Record 11 speed shifters and mech run happily on an Ultegra cassette? Any gotcha’s to consider?

Yes.

Finding a silver shimano 105 7000 groupset is quite of a hassle too...

Merlin have got the full groupset. not sure about individual components

covid increasing demand and impacting supply

Are you sure it's not more due to Brexit?
There seems to be plenty available in German e-stores

No gotchas. Should work just fine.

Any after market 1x chainrings for GRX 600, other than Wolftooth?

Spécialités TA .

TA to you! Wonder how much that would come to with import fees

How about a Campagnolo chain on an Ultegra block?

As long as it's all 11sp it will work. But it will be 'better' using a shim chain on shim cassette, campag chain on a campag cassette. But we are talking minute differences.

Seems more mad shimano let sram get the drop on parenting. Wild.

A wireless groupset that has a wire to battery is not exactly wireless...

A wireless groupset that has a wire to battery is not exactly wireless...

Yeah it is surprising. Shimano have been slow to catch up with trends over the years but thats maybe starting to change now, grx etc

Will be interesting what the next gen DA group will look like. It seems most likely it will be a wire going to a battery, but even that is still too much faff compared to etap for me.

I've read some online rumours that a new 12 speed DA group could be arriving this spring but I'm sceptical. If a 12 speed DA group was ready for release in spring then there would have been the inevitable spy shots of it appearing on pro bikes for the past few months. I haven't seen any at all yet, the supposed spy shots of Remco Evenepoels bike was very obviously 11 speed DA.

Recently seen articles showing shimano patents for groups using piezoelectricity, but cant imagine thats coming to market any time soon.

Really such a thing as wireless derailleur with removable battery should not be patentable worldwide. Stiffles competition.

I know, right?!

I don't have any knowledge of how patents work really, but wonder if it's a time limited thing and will eventually expire?
Or Shimano will somehow get around it with some clever key difference? Or just ignore it and go with removable batteries on the mech?
I find it hard to believe such a thing can be patented.

I cant find any solid info on it all online, googling leads me to folk arguing about it here on weight weenies https://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=156208&start=825

You can patent software concepts, so patenting a physical concept like a removable battery for a mech is perfectly reasonable. Shimano themselves have multiple patents granted so they play the game themselves. They can’t copy what SRAM did unless they agree a license with them, but I’m sure there are Shimano patents that SRAM would like access too, so a cross licensing patent agreement should be possible. That’s how it works in other industries.

so a cross licensing patent agreement should be possible

Interesting, do you think it's likely to actually happen though?

I prefer Shimano through using it pretty much since day one, Shimano shifting does, to me, feel better than Sram in road and mountain bike. (I say this as someone who currently runs sram on road bike and mtb)
Edit - I think the shifting is down to Shimano cassettes being superior and having decades more r&d behind them. If Sram sorted cassettes I might think differently.

Wouldn't sram be shooting themselves in the foot if they licensed it? It might impact sales of their own etap/axs stuff.

Do you know of any cross licensing patent agreements that currently exist between Sram and Shimano in other areas? Would be interesting to know if they do co-operate in some areas.

Shimano may not want two batteries, depends on what their engineers think is the optimal path- if it’s wireless comms from the shifters to the mechs, which are connected to a single battery that is in for e.g. the seat tube then that would tidy up the handlebars a little. I’d be sticking with eTap on my travel bike though as that has no wiring loom at all, but I would very much prefer Shimano front shifting performance from it. As it’s a travel bike lack of wires over front shift is the order of priority, but for a conventional frame it would be reversed.

Yeah I've thought Shimano might simply think that a single battery is optimal somehow.
But let's face it, most folk want the complete wireless aspect, if you have the choice no wires would likely win.

Charging etap is also very simple. I'd guess if Shimano go with wires to a single battery then it would probably stay in place and be charged through a port on the mech. For me etap would win again in that scenario.

Or use a non removable battery, that is charged wirelessly...

Ha!

I imagine a nice big 2 square meter charging pad you can just sit the bike on. Genius.

The DA powermeter I have is charged by a magnetic clip on cable.

Wire-ish charging.

Same as my old Sony phone and Mac laptops and anything you plug one of those magnetic USB adapters into

Yeah and so is my macbook, it's still a wire! 🤢

I'd rather get a single battery inside the frame than one detachable in each derailleur. No bulk, better waterproofing, would last better.
And I'm one of the weirdos that choose SRAM.