Shimano's expansive CUES range has until now lacked a good set of options for entry-level performance road bikes. Today’s announcement of an all-new rear derailleur and HG 11-speed cassettes looks to address those omissions.
In November, I wrote about how CUES had failed to ignite the entry-level road bike market, with most major brands ignoring Shimano’s all-encompassing CUES range, which replaced Acera, Altus, Alivio, Claris and Sora.
In its favour, CUES has established a good foothold in gravel, utility and urban bike specs.
Hyperglide for CUES
The new RD-U6040 2x11-speed Rear Derailleur, combined with the recently launched CS-RS400-11 11–36T Hyperglide cassette (part of the revamped Tiagra group) look set to enable bike brand product managers to create much better options for lower-tier performance road bikes.
The cassette forgoes CUES' adaptable and hard-wearing Linkglide, switching to the more familiar Hyperglide technology, which means a weight reduction of 200g.
Rear 11-speed derailleur optimised for modern chainlines
The cassette is joined by a new rear derailleur, the RD-U6040. It's noticeably more compact and slender than the off-road derived standard CUES derailleur.
In fact, it bears more than a passing resemblance to Shimano’s previous-generation 105 (R7000). That's no bad thing, because R7000 is a legendary groupset in terms of performance per pound. However, here the design is optimised to work with modern wider tyres and the existing CUES front derailleur and HollowTech II crankset.
Like the cassette, the rear derailleur offers significant weight savings over the existing CUES example, dropping 100g.
An affordable 2x11 option
The 2x11-speed option combines the new RD-U6040 rear derailleur and the 11-speed 11-36t CS-RS400 cassette, which launched alongside new Tiagra, with the existing UD6030 front derailleur, which has a 2.5mm outboard chainline design, allowing for wider tyres than Shimano’s older 11-speed mechanical groups.
It uses the FC-U6040 50/34 HollowTech II crankset, designed to work with the wider derailleur, along with the ST-6030 STI units.
The 47mm chainline this creates should enable the use of up to 45mm tyres, dependent on frame design. That makes these additions to CUES ideal for the latest generation of wide-tyre optimised endurance bikes, and plenty of all-road options.
With the rear derailleur priced at only £69.99 (USA and EU prices TBC), and the cassette an equally affordable £64.99 (USA and EU prices TBC), I expect these to be popular aftermarket as upgrades to older 11-speed components, as well as becoming commonplace on complete bikes.
Genesis, the UK bike brand under the same umbrella company as Shimano distributor, Madison told us it'll be bringing CUES road options to its range, with both new models and running upgrades in its plans.
