An ace up their sleeve

New Shimano Dura-Ace is coming – we speculate as to what it might look like and when it should appear

- Simon von Bromley

Shimano launched their first fully wireless electronic groupsets earlier this year, with options across mountain biking (XTR, Deore XT and Deore) and gravel (GRX).

Historically, the Japanese brand’s Di2 drivetrains have shared technologies across disciplines, but wireless groupsets for road bikes are conspicuous by their absence.

New tech is almost always introduced at the top tier of Shimano’s range, trickling down to cheaper groupsets as they're released. That means the (inevitable) launch of a wireless road bike drivetrain will start with Dura-Ace, Shimano’s flagship road offering.

Assuming Shimano follow their usual four-year product cycle, Dura-Ace is almost due for an update, with R9200 released in August 2021. So with that in mind, I wondered what GRX Di2 RX827 and XTR Di2 M9200 could tell us about the next generation of Dura-Ace...

1. Dura-Ace Di2 R9300 will be fully wireless

Dura-Ace Di2 R9200 features slim, semi-wireless derailleurs and the convenience of just a single battery to charge. However, the direction of travel for the bike industry - and most other technologies - is clearly towards fully wireless components. Given Shimano’s new gravel and mountain bike rear derailleurs are compatible with their existing 12-speed Di2 road shifters, I expect to see them implement the same protocol and batteries on any new (what I assume will be called) Dura-Ace Di2 R9300 derailleurs.