Shimano offers groupsets for road and mountain bicycles, among others.
Road groupsets
Current list of road bike groupsets in order of descending tiers:
- Dura-Ace
- Ultegra
- 105
- Tiagra
- CUES (new standard that replaces Sora and Claris)
- Sora (being phased out with CUES)
- Claris (being phased out with CUES)
- Essa
Mountain groupsets
The first Shimano MTB groupset was Deore XT in 1983. It was based on a 1981 Deore derailleur built for touring.
Current list of mountain bike groupsets in order of descending tiers:
- Saint (Gravity-focused)
- XTR
- Deore XT
- SLX
- Deore
- CUES (new standard that replaces Alivio, Acera, Altus, and parts of Deore)
- Alivio (being phased out with CUES)
- Acera (being phased out with CUES)
- Altus (being phased out with CUES)
- Essa
Mountain bike groupsets include:
Gravel groupsets
GRX was launched in 2019 as a line of gravel cycling specific groupsets intended to be compatible with road groupsets and mountain cassettes. All GRX brakes are hydraulic disc.
Other groupsets
Other current and previous groupsets include:
- Capreo [F700] â Groupset designed for small-wheeled bikes such as folders and features a cassette with a 9-tooth sprocket.
- DXR [MX70] â Performance BMX racing component.
- Nexave [C810] â Several sub-groupsets are designed for comfort and commuting bikes, some of which feature internal hub gears and roller brakes.
- Tourney - Lowest-end groupset, a mix of inexpensive components including 6-, 7- and 8-speed.
- Zee [M640] - Lower-priced version of Saint, SLX-performance level.
Groupsets no longer offered include:
- 70GS and 100GS - budget groupsets in 1990-1992
- Exage Action, Exage Sport, Exage Motion - 1988 (Shimano A450)
- Hone (M600 : 9-speed) â discontinued in 2008
- Metrea [U5000] â Groupset designed for urban riding, promising reliable performance with clean, simplistic design. Introduced in 2015 and discontinued in 2020.
- RSX -1995 (Shimano A410) Positioned below RX100. Replaced by Sora.
- RX100 - 1990 (Shimano A550) Comparable to Tiagra
- Santé - 1987 (Shimano 5000 : 7-speed) Positioned between Dura Ace and Ultegra 600. Characterized by white paint scheme.
References