Sheldon Brown's Shimano Page
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Shimano is the leading manufacturer of bicycle parts. Shimano has come to dominate the industry, and to have a near monopoly on many parts categories. This gets them a lot of bad press, because they are perceived as the Goliath of the industry.
They achieved this position because they have the most successful research and development program in the industry. They pioneered many key technologies:
An earlier product called Cyclebinding ® almost dominated this category in 1984, but delays in production of the special shoes required caused the company to fail.
| SPD Pedal/Cleat Interchangeability | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M858 | M747 | M636 | M545 | M535 | M515 | M434 | M737 | M525 | A525 | M323 | 7410 | 6500 | SPD-R | |
| SM-SH70 (No Float ) | ok | ok | ok | ok | ok | ok | no | no | no | no | yes | yes | no | |
| SM-SH71 (With Float) | ok | ok | ok | ok | ok | ok | no | no | ok | ok | yes | yes | no | |
| SM-SH50, 51 "Single-release" | no | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| SM-SH52 "Single-release | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| SM-SH55 "Multi-release | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| SM-SH56 "Multi-release | For PD-M959, PD-M540 & PD-M520 pedals. | |||||||||||||
| SM-SH90 SPD-R (No Float ) | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | yes |
| SM-SH91 SPD-R (With Float ) | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | yes |
| Table courtesy Eric Salathé | ||||||||||||||
Shimano has many trademarks for different quality levels and technological features/gimmicks.******
| 105 | 6-speed version, became 105SC when 7-speed and dual-pivot brakes were added. |
|---|---|
| 200GS | Replaced by Altus |
| 300GS | Replaced by Acera-X |
| 400GS | Replaced by Alivio |
| 500GS | Replaced by STX |
| 600 | Became 600EX when indexing was introduced, 600 Ultegra (Gray finish) when 7-speed added. When it became an 8-speed group, the 600 designation still existed, but it was usually referred to as just "Ultegra". With the '98 model year, 9-speeds came in and the "600" designation was completely dropped from Ultegra. |
| Deore | Originally an early '80's touring group, designed so that almost all adjustments could be made with a single 6 mm Allen wrench. Evolved into Deore XT MTB group, DX and LX spun off later. |
| Deore DX | Discontinued designation, replaced by LX |
| Exage | ("EXcellence" + "New AGE") This was divided into Exage Country and Exage Trail at one time. The first group to feature front indexing, roughly comparable to Acera-X/Alivio. |
| Ultegra | ("ULTimate" + "IntEGRity") is the second highest level "road" group. The Ultegra name was added as a suffix to 600 when 7-speeds (and the gray paint finish) came in in the early '90s. For the 1998 model year, Ultegra became a 9-speed group, and the 600 designation was retired. |
See also the Nexus and Alfine page.
There are interchangeability issues with older Dura-Ace parts, and I have an article on Dura-Ace interchangeability. See also the 1973 Shimano Dura-Ace Catalogue on this site.
This was rather a good idea biomechanically, but never caught on. In practice, the pedal bearings turned out to be underengineered for the loadings they had to deal with.
Shimano's patented design places the right cone much closer to the end of the axle than does a conventional hub, greatly reducing the chance of bending or breaking axles. For more detail see my article on Shimano Cassettes. 
See also the Nexus and Alfine page.
Positron was a valuable learning experience for Shimano. Their original theory was that experienced cyclists already knew how to shift, but that beginners could benefit from a system that didn't require fine-tuning of the shift lever position. For this reason, Positron was offered on entry-level bikes, often department-store models. This marketing theory turned out to be unworkable. The parts had to be made very cheaply to meet the price points required. This caused less-than-impressive performance. In addition, the fact that Positron was only supplied on bottom-end bikes caused it to acquire a poor connontation, as something to be outgrown, and not to be considered by a "serious cyclists."
Shimano went back to the drawing board, and the next time they tried indexed shifting, in 1984, they started at the top of the line, with Dura-Ace S.I.S. Cyclists were initially dubious about this feature, but it worked so well that most resistance was overcome. Once the pros started using it, this now-glamorous feature rapidly trickled down to the hoi polloi. The result was Shimano's complete domination of the bicycle parts market, much as Microsoft dominates the computer software market. By 1986 it had become almost impossible to sell a bike that didn't have indexed shifting.
See the 1982 Shimano Catalogue on this site.
Many Positron-equipped bikes also featured the Front Freewheel System, but this was not a specific linkage...either of these systems could and did function without the other.
As a result, some manufacturers have taken to adding devices that deliberately sabotage the functionality of the front brake, out of fear that an unskilled rider will take a header as a result of improper use of the front brake.
These sabotage devices are commonly called "power modulators" and sometimes are marketed as if they were a version of ABS braking as used on newer cars.
This is a very foolish approach, probably driven by the common superstition that the use of the front brake is inherently dangerous. The result is increased stopping distance. This is a "safety" feature that is actually more likely to be a detriment to safety.
See also my article on Braking and Turning
Also see the Rollerbrake page.
The spline pattern was chosen to premit the spindle to fit through a Front-Freewheel bearing set, which wouldn't permit a standard sized square tapered BB spindle to fit throgh the front freewheel bearing assembly.
These turned out to be rather unreliable, due to the small diameter of the splines, and Shimano abandoned the system. The did continue to supply spare parts for many years thereafter, but these are no longer available.
| Year Letter |
Year | Month Letter |
Month | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1976 | 2002 | A | January |
| B | 1977 | 2003 | B | February |
| C | 1978 | 2004 | C | March |
| D | 1979 | 2005 | D | April |
| E | 1980 | E | May | |
| F | 1981 | F | June | |
| G | 1982 | G | July | |
| H | 1983 | H | August | |
| I | 1984 | I | September | |
| J | 1985 | J | October | |
| K | 1986 | K | November | |
| L | 1987 | L | December | |
| M | 1988 | |||
| N | 1989 | |||
| O | 1990 | |||
| P | 1991 | |||
| Q | 1992 | |||
| R | 1993 | |||
| S | 1994 | |||
| T | 1995 | |||
| U | 1996 | |||
| V | 1997 | |||
| W | 1998 | |||
| X | 1999 | |||
| Y | 2000 | |||
| Z | 2001 | |||
Last Updated: by Harriet Fell