Shimano 5800...

[BobbyJones]

...who's been putting some miles on it?

Going to 11 this winter on a couple of other bikes. The commuter is in need of a handful of consumables and I figure for a couple of hundred more might as well make the jump from 9 to 11.

Would love to hear about overall durability.

Thanks!

[mtechnica]

Built my girlfriend's bike up with it, it's perfect, not much to say really.

[Gummee]

Shimano had a sale on it, so I bought a group. So far, I've installed the shifters on my B-bike for CX (but haven't ridden it yet), so can't comment.

Seems well-built tho

M

[Deucer01]

I have two sets, one my Litespeed Vortex Compact and another on my Airborne Carpe Diem (CX). Bought these from Ribble this spring. They've been trouble free and shifting is light and precise. Overall much better than my previous 5700/6700. From the reviews I read I couldn't justify going to 6800 and haven't' regretted my decision.

[cinema]

great group once dialed, i despise the FD setup. read the documentation four times and watch a couple videos on youtube if they exist before you install

[peanutgallery]

Still better than SRAM:)

If you follow the directions the FD works great and is easy to set up. Throw everything you've learned about an FD out with the the trash and follow the procedure that Shimano provides. Even most shops seem to set it up wrong. Kit is a great bargain at about $400

great group once dialed, i despise the FD setup. read the documentation four times and watch a couple videos on youtube if they exist before you install

[foo_fighter]

Great group, comes in silver or black.

[henrypretz]

It came stock on my GT Grade (with FSA cranks). I liked it so much that I picked up another set for my Serotta to replace the 6600. It has done all that I've needed it to do with no issues at all. My only gripe is that the crankset is butt ugly. But then I'm butt ugly too so it's all good.

[zennmotion]

I've been running it on my steel Hampsten since February and it's great. The crank is ugly, but then every Shimano crank has been ugly post-Octalink, 58/6800 looks better than previous generations IMO, but whatever you'll forget about the looks when you discover the best FD mechanical shifting you've ever experienced- I never realized how much I used to avoid using the front mechanism until this, it's really a game changer, especially for compacts with a big 16t jump. I don't think I've used the services of a professional mechanic in nearly 40 years, but my recently higher income bracket, limited time and a shop area in total chaos was the tipping point and I had a pro put most of it together for me, and I think it was worth the money this time, although I still insisted on placing the levers and wrapping the tape myself, being really picky, along with having to argue to get my favored moto-style brake orientation. Anyway, I'm sure install isn't difficult for a decent home mechanic depending on how much time you have to fuss to get the shifters properly adjusted. Some little details about 5800 that you may not yet know- the silver isn't really silver but rather anodized a very light bluish gray, not classic polished aluminum, no big deal but it does not exactly match other polished parts that you may be planning to use (eg Nitto, Ritchey Classic etc) The brake calipers have a little more clearance for real 28mm tires as compared to previous generations, and the brakes feel better- power and modulation- subtle difference but definitely improved. I like the shape of the brifters, not too big not too small, my subjective preference over previous generations of both Shimano and Campy.

[arthurlo]

I had a chance to ride the 5800 components on a new rental Scott Solace 30 for a week. When brand new out of the box, they seemed a little "ratchety" and not as smooth as my older 6600 shifters. The brakes worked fine, though the rear was not a Shimano part as Scott has put the brakes under the chainstays.
The cranks were non-series (maybe to increase the Q-factor to account for the rear brakes?) and shifted a little clunky at first.
Then, about 60 miles later, everything had broken in and it was smooth for the rest of the week of 400+ miles. Everything worked great, even after a day of riding in the rain.
Absolutely no complaints.

[hida yanra]

it is fantastic.
end of story.

[zank]

it is fantastic.
end of story.

Yup. I agree. I have a bunch of bikes with 5800 out on the pavement and dirt, and each customer reports happy times and excellent performance. I think it's the best bang for the buck group on the market.

[sandyrs]

Nothing but good things to say after 2000 miles.

[biker72]

Set it and forget it. No adjustments or problems after 1800 miles.

[SpokeValley]

I've installed two groups and the riders love it.

Great price, functionality. I found no install or set up problems.

[juanj]

With the new 5800 being so good, does it make sense to upgrade to Ultegra or Dura-Ace? Other than saving a few grams, do the next steps up provide tangible benefits?

[eBAUMANN]

With the new 5800 being so good, does it make sense to upgrade to Ultegra or Dura-Ace? Other than saving a few grams, do the next steps up provide tangible benefits?

weight and finish/looks, thats about all you get with 6800/9000 over 5800.

[zennmotion]

There I revived a silly thread just so I can say that I said it. I have a healthy amount of incredulity for bike biz marketing. I pride my cheapwad ways. I still run 8 speed Shimergo because it works and it's what I still have spares for, possibly forever given the modest miles I realistically put in these days. Early this year I sucked it up and bought 5800 on a holiday sale because I wanted seamless harmony, start a clean slate with 11 speed etc, and I've used it for nearly a year now and it's functionally nearly perfect, it does indeed do everything better than the old stuff. So now I'm anticipating a new custom frame, one that "deserves" something "nicer" than 5800. I lost my head and bought some 9000 shifters that cost as much as my first "real" race bike back in the day, and I'm holding a 5800 shifter in one hand and a 9001 in the other. Theres a definite weight difference, but I kind of like the heft of the 5800, for no reason than it "feels" more durable, maybe or maybe not in reality. Probably mostly due to the carbon vs Al levers. But the 5800, in silver, actually would look nicer on the new steel frame. And the minor weight difference- it'll be a steel frame and fork, whotheeff cares? Will I send the 9001 levers back at nearly 3X the price? No. Why? Because I am an idiot. Save me.

BTW, I'm anticipating unsolicited comments that reek of italian garlic- I thought about Campy, but Shimano has always just made life easier- getting replacement parts, mechanics who understand it, and I've ridden it since the early 80s when it was much better in every way than C for anybody who was paying attention- and bike parts don't have a soul:cool:.

[TimD]

Timely for me, I am starting the migration to 11 and want a silver group for one of my bikes. In particular, one which is running 7700... :eek:

[zennmotion]

Timely for me, I am starting the migration to 11 and want a silver group for one of my bikes. In particular, one which is running 7700... :eek:
The 5800 is in every way better than 7700. However, the silver is not the polished silver of the older stuff, it's more like a very light gray anno- the days of polished are gone, and everything after 7700 got a little more industrial looking IMO. But all the 11 sp stuff all works better and weighs less. Front shifting feels amazing. Even the calipers are better, they pull with a lighter touch than my 6500s comparing new cables on both, and the 5800s have a touch more tire clearance which is nice. For me, it's time to move on, including at least selectively resisting the knee jerk compulsion for only buying Ultegra and above. Enough is enough.

[Bostic]

I'm about to dive into the 11 speed 5800 waters myself. The whole front derailleur setup has me a bit worried but I'll pour over all the documentation. Your right zen, enough is enough.

[inlimbo87]

it is fantastic.
end of story.

This. Love my 5800.

[Bostic]

I installed the 5800 over the weekend. Question on the front derailleur. When I trim the front derailleur from the big outer to big inner it doesn't move all that much to the left. When in the small chain ring and I trim it over with the big lever to the 'outer' inner ring position the derailleur moves quite a bit to the right. Is this correct? It seems to be working ok, I can run 34x11 and not have any noise or rub.

[Gummee]

I've got at least 1 each shifters from Shimano. From 9k down to 5800.

If budget is the driving factor, the 5800 stuff is nice enough to be nice. If budget isn't the driving factor, the 6800 and 9k stuff has a better tactile feedback and will presumably last longer.

HTH

M

[don compton]

After being a Campy fanatic since the early eighties, I had finally had enough. I recently purchased a new Riv Roadeo and broke down and bought a 6800 group from Ribble ( $608 delivered ). After 1500 miles, it's flawless. I never gave 5800 a thought, but I bet it's also hard to beat. Why did I wait so long?:crap:

[TimD]

I installed the 5800 over the weekend. Question on the front derailleur. When I trim the front derailleur from the big outer to big inner it doesn't move all that much to the left. When in the small chain ring and I trim it over with the big lever to the 'outer' inner ring position the derailleur moves quite a bit to the right. Is this correct? It seems to be working ok, I can run 34x11 and not have any noise or rub.

I think the documentation (http://si.shimano.com/php/download.php?file=pdf/dm/DM-FD0002-05-ENG.pdf) is worth a read, not least because one is presented with the opportunity to learn some new terminology. The documentation in question is 18 pages long; the terminology includes "low", "low trim", "top", and "top trim".

To your question - I installed 6800 on one of my bikes this weekend and spent quite a bit of time aligning things, setting the limit screws, and adjusting the cable tension per the manual. I observed that when shifting from the L-trim position to the L position the FD barely moved, but it moved enough to clear the chain in the small ring / small cog combination. I didn't pay much attention to the T-trim / top position movement.

Sounds like yours behaves as Shimano intended, so just ride it and smile :)

Incidentally, the FD cable alignment tool is available for around $7 online, in case you did not receive one with the bike or the group.

[Bostic]

I did give all the tech docs a good read through before attempting. The 5800 group from Ribble didn't include the TL-SD58 plastic doohickey so I bought one from Jenson to have in the toolbox for future use. For my frame the correct setting is the converter on for the 5800 front derailleur. It was a fine art of limit screw adjustments and a quite a bit of cable tension to get 50x11 and 34x28 to have the 1mm clearance without rubbing.

The shifting is silly good, a definite improvement over the 6700 levers. The last time I rode a bike with this smooth of a lever was in Nov. 2012 with a rental Trek on Maui for my climb up Haleakala as it had 6600 levers. Shimano got it right. The shape of the hoods and levers is also an improvement over the previous generation.

I noticed there is only one way to route the shifter cables now, on the inside of the handlebar.

If the lever action on the new Tiagra triple 4703 is this good I'm considering swapping out the 6703 parts on our Tandem.