A brand new Shimano GRX gravel groupset has broken cover at Unbound Gravel today.
Taylor Lideen, the Shimano-sponsored Arizonan who is riding the 352-mile ‘XL’ route today, has been spotted with the all-new groupset aboard his Pivot Vault gravel bike.
First noticed by Ben Delaney and shared on his The Ride YouTube channel, the groupset looks largely similar to the current GRX groupset at face value, but on closer inspection, it becomes clear that this is indeed an all-new version of Shimano’s gravel groupset.
The most significant difference is the upgrade to a 12-speed cassette. Current iterations of GRX, of which there are three, include a 10-speed option known as RX-400 and two 11-speed options comprising mechanical RX-600 and electronic RX-800 Di2.
The move to 12-speed was widely predicted – if not expected – for the new GRX, given that options within both Shimano’s road and mountain bike ranges had made the same change, but there were no clues as to when it would come.
Interestingly, according to Delaney, Lideen’s bike is actually using an XTR cassette rather than a GRX-specific version. This proves an element of cross-compatibility across the brand’s gravel and mountain bike groupsets, as has been possible with existing GRX. The cassette in question is a 10-45T. The existing 11-speed GRX had a maximum cassette size of 11-42, so this confirms new Shimano GRX will be able to handle wider cassettes than before, even if it doesn’t confirm the maximum available capacity.
The new GRX groupset shown on Lideen’s bike is mechanical, rather than the more premium Di2 electronic shifting technology. This is almost certainly due to the arduous 352-mile task ahead and the increased reliability offered by mechanical shifting under such circumstances, rather than any omission of an electronic option within the new GRX range. We’d be very surprised if the latter was actually the case.
Positively, this does confirm that the new Shimano GRX won’t exclusively be an electronic groupset, such is the way that the brand’s Dura-Ace, Ultegra and 105 road groupsets have gone in recent years.
The rear derailleur itself has seen a fairly significant aesthetic update, as shown in the…
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