Shimano Finally Goes All-In on Wheels: The New Dura-Ace WH-R9370 Series

Let’s be honest: when it comes to engineering credibility, Shimano rarely lacks in that department. But one could say that when it has come to things like speed to market with certain things, it’s probably been the engineering team that has kept them behind at times. For example, Shimano’s first groupset dedicated to gravel, the GRX line, was also the very last gravel groupo to offer 160mm and 165mm cranks. When it came to disc brakes for the road, they were first. But they never touched a true carbon fiber rim break clincher.

Shimano is the big dog in the room and forward thinking for the long haul but sometimes that long haul thinking has them one step behind with it comes to micro adjustments within tech. And wheels have been this way for the last 15 years. Great wheels, bbut usually one step behind when it came to quick and important trends in the marketplace. If I ever wanted to be on a bullet proof wheel, I went with Shimano. But if I wanted anything light, aero and nimble, I usually looked elsewhere. And I think that is the same for lot of people. Just look at the Kona bike count over the years. When it comes to groupsets, Shimano has always won. But they have never been towards the top when it came to wheels.

It’s always been the same when you are cross-shopping Zipp, ENVE, Cadex, or Reserve. Shimano just didn’t really cut it compared to those brands. What do those brands have in common compared to Shimano? Those brands are smaller and probably a little more hungrier and because of that they’re trying out new innovations that can sometimes be easier for a brand that size. Today is probably the day that conversation changes.

These Wheels Have Been Hiding in Plain Sight for Six Months

We have seen these new Dura-Ace wheels a lot in 2026 already. In our triathlon community they have been ridden by Kat Mathews and Kristian Høgenhaug. More recently, on some of the bigger cycling race stages, you’ve seen them under superstar athletes like Mathieu Van Der Poel.

We have seen athletes try out different specs and dial in what works best for them. And from what we can tell, this new wheels are for the real options for members of our community, when you compare them apples-to-apples to other options in the marketplace.

The Lineup

The official series naming is R9370 and the family spans five models, purpose-built around modern 28–30C race tires on a 23mm internal rim width and, depending on the wheel depth, the external width varies.

The big news coming out really isn’t that Shimano has finally made a lighter, faster wheel but they have finally completed their line. The C99 front and full rear disc are Shimano’s first dedicated, modern aero race configuration for time trial and triathlon. Sure, there’s the PRO sub-brand that has made these in the past but these are the first deep and rear disc wheels Shimano has actually made at mass scale. Shimano describes the pairing as its “dedicated aerodynamic race configuration for solo efforts against the clock.”

Carbon Spokes, Finally — But Shimano’s Way

The defining innovation of the R9370 series is Shimano’s newly engineered carbon spokes, offered in two profiles: Super Aero (5.2mm × 0.8mm) and Aero (4.0mm × 1.1mm). Spoke type, count, and configuration are tuned per model — 18/21 on the climbing-focused C36, up to 21/24 on the sprint-oriented C60, and the wide-bladed 16-spoke arrangement on the C99.

Cadex proved the carbon-spoke concept. Zipp notably went the other direction this spring, achieving a 1,090g wheelset (the reborn 202 NSW) with steel spokes. Shimano is now planting its flag in the carbon camp — but with a twist that is classic Shimano: the hubs.

The Contrarian Hub Choice

While nearly every premium competitor runs cartridge bearings, Shimano has doubled down on its adjustable cup-and-cone architecture — now with replaceable bearings and improved waterproof sealing. The engineering argument: cup-and-cone allows rotational torque (bearing preload) to be optimized once the wheel is installed in the bike, clamped by the thru-axle, rather than accepting whatever preload the cartridge left the factory with. This of course is something that people debate all the time. It’s usually from mechanics that know how to service hubs and want to take them apart more often than not and “grease” them up.

But leave it to the Shimano engineers and they give the supporting data that comes from a bench test applying identical loads to two wheels — 500N vertical (rider and bike weight), 200N pedaling thrust, 5,000N thru-axle clamping force — and reports 30% lower rotational torque for the new cup-and-cone system versus typical cartridge bearings.

The Aero Claims

Here is the number that will get quoted, argued about, and meme’d on our forum: up to 2.7 watts less aerodynamic drag at 48 km/h (30 mph) on 30C tires, versus the previous R9270 generation — stacked on top of weight reductions of up to 220 grams per wheelset:

• C36: 1,350g → 1,170g (−180g)
• C50: 1,461g → 1,302g (−159g)
• C60: 1,609g → 1,389g (−220g)

Notably, Shimano says each rim profile was refined in simulation and “validated in controlled aerodynamic testing environments to ensure performance across real-world yaw conditions, not just idealized wind-tunnel angles.” Front- and rear-specific rim profiles are tuned per depth, with external widths (29.4mm on the C36 up to 35.2mm on the C99) shaped to balance aerodynamics against crosswind stability.

Where and When it Lands

Let’s get it out of the way: at $2,970 per road wheelset they are not cheap, but the R9370 arrives underneath the premium carbon-spoke competition (Cadex Max 40: $4,500) and in the mix with Zipp’s NSW line, ENVE’s SES range, and Reserve’s Turbulent Aero wheels. The C99 front at $1,595 plus the $3,030 disc puts a complete Shimano superbike rolling stock at $4,625 — squarely against the Zipp 858 NSW + Super-9, ENVE’s new SES 100 PRO + Disc PRO, Reserve’s 99|Disc, HED’s Vanquish V84 + Aero Disc, and the Cadex 4-Spoke + Aero Disc setups.

The sad part is that you still cant have them just yet. While it’s great to see the announcement for planning, it will be at least until September 2026 until consumers can even start to think about ordering them.

I personally have not seen them in person outside of holding an athletes bike that had a pre-production wheel set on. And we still dont know when we will be able to get our hands on them so we will just have to wait and see what they are like in person.

So far, though, the data specs check a lot of boxes that have been missing for a really long time. So the question I have is this: has Shimano finally made wheels that match its groupsets? Time will only tell.

Tags: