The latest 12-speed electronic road bike groupsets are excellent – but I reckon Shimano Ultegra R8000 is a better choice, even eight years after its launch.
I'll explain why, before outlining the groupset's one problem.
Ultegra R8000 offers rim brakes or disc brakes with mechanical or electronic shifting.
That choice has been lost with modern top-end disc-brake only electronic groupsets. You'd have to lose a number of speeds if you wanted a mechanical rim-brake setup.
Modern disc brakes are good, but in most cases rim brakes were good enough. They had plenty of power and worked well on both alloy and carbon brake tracks.
If you did go for new-fangled disc brakes, Shimano's Ultegra R8000 and Dura-Ace R9100 groupsets were the first to get ServoWave, which gave progressive, non-linear brake pressure for loads of control.
Ergonomics
The levers are your only point of contact with your groupset and the R8000s have great ergonomics.
There's reach and lever-pull adjustment, while the Di2 levers have the extra hood buttons to control your bike computer.
Shifting quality
Shimano upped its game with the R8000 groupset, using a more compact front derailleur that gives more power and a lighter lever feel. Setup is easier too.
Rear shifting is quick, accurate and easy to tune. It works anywhere, even over the cobbles.
Price
You can still get your hands on Shimano's 11-speed groupset, with the mechanical/rim brake option available new for less than £700. That's £1,000 less than the current-generation Ultegra R8100, which is electronic and disc-brake only.
SRAM's current options are electronic and disc-brake only, while mechanical SRAM Force 11-speed is no longer available.
All the features you need
Although both Shimano and SRAM down-spec their lower-tier groupsets, Ultegra R8000 has everything you need and everything you'll find in Dura-Ace R9100 – only slightly heavier, a lot cheaper and more robust.
But there's a problem…
The one slight problem with Ultegra R8000 was the tendency for the cranks to disintegrate, which led Shimano to issue a global recall of 2.8 million cranksets after around 4,500 recorded breakages.
Any sets sold today wouldn't have the problem though, Shimano assures us.
And a few niggles
R8000 Di2 doesn't have in-built Bluetooth, so you need to buy a separate wireless connector unit and plumb it into your wiring – most Di2 bikes don't come with it.
Shimano's disc brake rotors were prone to warp under heat too, resulting in that annoying rubbing.
But apart from that, I reckon Shimano Ultegra R8000 gives you everything you need and a lot more choice than current road bike groupsets from any of the big three brands.
