New groupset: Shimano Cues. Replaces Tiagra, Sora, Claris, Deore, Alivio, Acera and Altus.

https://bike.shimano.com/en-US/information/news/shimano-unveils-new--highly-compatible-ecosystem-with-shimano-cu.html

"Shimano unveils new cross-compatible CUES groupsets for city, touring and mountain bikes, consolidating Claris, Sora and Tiagra"
https://road.cc/content/tech-news/shimano-unveils-new-cues-groupset-family-299609

CUES consists of three levels of components across all riding disciplines: U4000, U6000 and U8000. The U4000 range is 9-speed, U6000 is available in both 10- and 11-speed and the U8000 comes with 11-speed components. All of these are cross-compatible, to a certain extent.

You will find all of the CUES groupsets designed to use an 11-speed chain - meaning all of the cassettes have the same spacing between the sprockets and can be run with any existing 11-speed chain

CUES components will not be backwards-compatible with outgoing Tiagra, Sora and so on because the pull ratios are different to the older groupsets.

Seems like a sensible development.

Just been reading about it and I does sound like a step forward. For the “lifestyle” riders as least :) it’s a shame they have come up with yet another standard though for the pull ratio, rather than using one of the existing ones, but I guess whichever one they picked it would have been the wrong one for most people.
The price sounds pretty good too.

I think it's a reaction to the marked improvement in the Chinese budget groupsets. Shimano probably rightly realise that they cannot compete so have simplified but also raised the cost of entry to position themselves as a more premium provider.

does sound like a step forward.

Yeah, I agree. I think it's win win win really; easy to communicate to consumers, availability for oem's should be good because of the consolidation, and they can tweak what they spec if availability of one form of Cues is weaker than another without a major sales penalty, because all bikes in a given range will now have the same groupset. Availability and cost improvements will discourage oem's specifying anything else.

yet another standard

I suppose the people who lose out are those who maintain their bikes over buying a new one - broken part may mean new groupset 'investment'. These lfgss types though will find a way to make it work 😃

I'm not a fan of the name. Then, I'm also not a fan of the groupset names below Tiagra and Deore either... It's almost as if those who pick these names know how to talk directly to me... 🤔

This may finally convince me to move on from Positron.

Terrible name, but Shimano has always had random names.

Curious to understand how they made all the speeds compatible - so if I get this right the 11speed CUES shifters will work with 9 speed CUES cassettes?

I think this is because the thickness and spacing of the cogs are the same across 9,10 and 11 speed.
However, this implies that a 9 speed cassette will need what, 4 spacers on the inside to maintain the same overall width as an 11 speed cassette.

How many people are going to walk into the bike shop with their internet bought Shimano Cues kit complaining that it doesn't work with their Sora, Acera etc.

This is smart. Sad to see the end of Tiagra and rim brakes though

This Rivendell article talks about the pull ratio of the new CUES stuff being 1:1.
https://us7.campaign-archive.com/?u=ad1569fa93a2ab2374ead2fde&id=8ec2759e52

Which means that Shimano CUES should be compatible with SRAM Exact Actuaction (also 1:1) components. I don't like the shifter feel of my rival derailleur with an XO flat bar shifter and thought about changing the whole drivetrain to GRX. With CUES I "should" be able to buy a CUES shifter and keep the rest of the SRAM drivetrain. :-)

If the rivendell guy is pissed off, Shimano is doing something right!

I’m not sure that’s what that means. Doesn’t 1:1 just mean that the derailleur moves the same distance as cable pulled? Cues and sram could be compatible, but the shifters could pull different amounts of cable?

Shimano has said the current drivetrain options will stay in the brand's offerings for at least the next seven years as they are being slowly phased out.

You will find all of the CUES groupsets designed to use an 11-speed chain

Just another observation; presumably Shimano will stop manufacturing chains below 11 speed once all the other groupsets are phased out.

ABS yo!

Nahh. I wish they'd stop with the TZ shit though man

I think that’s probably unlikely. A lot of weird stuff still lingers in Shimano’s range

Shimano still offers 9 speed XT and 10 speed Ultegra chains and cassettes.

...and Altus CT-91 cantilever brake arms...

Right. I’m really not concerned about parts going unavailable any time soon.

Yeah, they would definitely not, so you might be able to keep the old bike working for many years to come.

But when buying/building new... I think CUES is a good thing, there is joy to be had out of reasonably prized equipment, you can mix and match the gear range, chainset setup and handlebar style(when road levers become available) and end up with a cohesive groupset with good chain management

LinkGlide 300 9-Speed
11-46t (11-13-15-17-20-23-28-36-46)
11-41t (11-13-15-17-20-23-28-34-41)
11-36t (11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-36)
LinkGlide 300 10-Speed
11-48t (11-13-15-17-20-23-28-34-41-48)
11-39t (11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-34-39)
LinkGlide 400 9-Speed
11-46t (11-13-15-17-20-23-28-36-46)
11-41t (11-13-15-17-20-23-28-34-41)
11-36t (11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-36)
LinkGlide 400 10-Speed
11-48t (11-13-15-17-20-23-28-34-41-48)
11-43t (11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-36-43)
11-39t (11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-34-39)
LinkGlide 400 11-Speed
11-50t (11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-36-43-50)
11-45t (11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-34-39-45)
LinkGlide 700 11-Speed
11-50t (11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-36-43-50)
11-45t (11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-34-39-45)

2x chainsets
36/22, 40/26, 46/30, 46/32
1x chainsets
30/32, 40/42

Particularly for 2x setup, you may want to pick a 9 speed, "narrow range" cassette, as the gear progression is the same al over, in order to keep crosschaining (and even weight?) Under control. Not a single 1 tooth jump to be seen, so racers of course may dislike this.

There are already in the market 2 "higher end" mtb groupsets CUES/LINKGLYDE conpatible (10s Deore M5130 and 11s Xt M8130) so there is already people suspecting that everything higher end will become Di2 only going forwards

I’m currently on a mixture of old, and super reliable, 9 and 10sp stuff on my all-rounder, and also excited about cues. Will likely make the jump when drop bar levers are introduced down the road. Or, when Microshift releases a Cues compatible thumb/bar end shifter.

My groadbike rolls on claris levers, 105 old skool derailleus, miche graff chainset, 11-32 "el cheapo" black shimano 8s cassette and r451 brake calipers

...And... Im just starting an ATB build project around a 7s 26in MTB that i get in exchange of a set of avid vbrakes from a friend of mine...

I believe this is one of the most important releases from shimano in a long long time and as you, I found myself in the enthusiast side of the target market. Only sad thing is, that in true Shimano style, they release new product thats not available to purchase anywhere

I thought the idea with Cues was that a derailleur was a derailleur and would work with shifters and cassettes of whatever speed?

Yes but...

You still need to match the range of the cassette/1x-2x chainset with the correct geometry of the derailleur cage. You are otherwise free to mix within the linkglide ecosystem

So where I’m seeing 10speed derailleur/11 speed derailleur that’s Not to do with the ratio of cable pull to mech movement?