chickendrumsticks
Senior Retro Guru
Oh! My ar*e.. I know how that hurts..That must have hurt![]()
Oh! My ar*e.. I know how that hurts..That must have hurt![]()
Yes, big props to Shimano for putting the 7400 group together, that must have made Tullio go reaching for the cheque book to catch up, but by then the writing was already on the wall. Some say they Japanese are merely imitators or copyists, but the 7400 group was imo completely revolutionary in bringing together a lot of bicycle technical threads and making something very useful and appealing to a mass market racing and by and by touring community.I believe they put unprecedented investment into R+D, and computer modelling (in the mid 80s) particularly with 7400, which was a landmark in shifting at least. Very subtly engineered, savvy design.
As was the 1050 and 6400Yes, big props to Shimano for putting the 7400 group together, that must have made Tullio go reaching for the cheque book to catch up, but by then the writing was already on the wall. Some say they Japanese are merely imitators or copyists, but the 7400 group was imo completely revolutionary in bringing together a lot of bicycle technical threads and making something very useful and appealing to a mass market racing and by and by touring community.
For all of the talk of 7400, 1050 and 6400 did the real damage, esp as OEM fitment. 1050 was the first group where they fired all the guns at once (SIS, SLR, Biopace, Uniglide) in an affordable package.As was the 1050 and 6400
Neil Denton's reflections on this are well worth reading:
https://dentoncycles.co.uk/2017/12/...-7410-series-road-component-system-1984-1996/
Whilst there are annoyances with how Shimano did certain things like deliberate incompatibility of parts between tiers of group to keep people locked in (and inconvenience vintage fans 40 years on trying to obtain the right hoods to fit their obsolete DA brake levers), I think it is undeniable how important a set of components the 7400 range is and was. The functionality is still amazing today, and the durability surpasses most modern kit!
I'm not sure deliberate incompatibility is true. Everything from 7 to 10 speed is interchangeable and indexes . For some reason DuraAce 8 speed mechs are an exceptionNeil McGowran's reflections on this are well worth reading:
https://dentoncycles.co.uk/2017/12/...-7410-series-road-component-system-1984-1996/
Whilst there are annoyances with how Shimano did certain things like deliberate incompatibility of parts between tiers of group to keep people locked in ...and inconvenience vintage fans 40 years on trying to obtain the right hoods to fit their obsolete DA brake levers! I think it is undeniable how important a set of components the 7400 range is and was. The functionality is still amazing today, and the durability surpasses most modern kit.
I'm not sure deliberate incompatibility is true. Everything from 7 to 10 speed is interchangeable and indexes . For some reason DuraAce 8 speed mechs are an exceptio
IMO not collaborating on a standard for cassette bodies (or adopting it later on) was a huge mistake for Campagnolo. Sure it's possible to make Campagnolo 9 speed work with a Shimano cassette and rear derailleur but it's a technical faff/force. SRAM have really capitalized on being able to use Shimano bodied wheels, chains and cassettes. I guess pride got the better of the Italians in the end and they've lost a good part of their market share and a place at the grand tours table (albeit with the exception of one team).I'm not sure deliberate incompatibility is true. Everything from 7 to 10 speed is interchangeable and indexes . For some reason DuraAce 8 speed mechs are an exception