Choice is the Name of Shimano’s New Di2 Game

The Move to Wireless

Shimano’s move to wireless on their new XTR Di2 group was only a matter of time. With the ubiquity of dropper posts and the two-piece framesets of full suspension mountain bikes, there never really was a viable wired XTR Di2 option with the seatpost battery used in the Di2 road and gravel groups. Shimano cleverly worked around existing patents to position their removable battery inside the body of the derailleur, rather than clamped on the end where it is more vulnerable to damage.

With this advent of the Di2 wireless XTR derailleur comes these other useful updates, which we hope will trickle down to other Di2 groupsets in the future.

• Move away from a clutch with an on/off switch to a dual spring design. Though I never considered my Shimano clutched derailleurs to required a lot of maintenance, Shimano states that the dual springs require no maintenance in comparison to the clutch. The new dual spring also removes the need to make sure your clutch is switched on when riding mixed terrain.

• Automatic impact recovery rather than crash mode. No longer do you need to reset the derailleur after it enters crash mode. You simply keep riding and the derailleur resets itself. Shimano states that you may not even notice that the new XTR Di2 derailleur entered crash mode.
  
  
• Compatible with ALL 12-Speed wireless shifters. The fact that the M9200 derailleur is 12-Speed backward and cross compatible is such a welcomed change. The history of Di2 has been marked by the lack of cross compatibility, but if the new XTR Di2 system is an indicator that is now changing. There’s no doubt that the M9200 derailleur heralds Shimano’s move to wireless. The M9200 derailleur is compatible with Shimano’s wireless GRX and road shifters, which makes it possible for a wireless setup on your 12-speed Shimano gravel bike.

• Not direct mount dependent is also a good move in the cross compatible direction. The M9200 derailleur uses a traditional derailleur hanger and is not dependent on a direct mount system like UDH. The M9200 will work well on the regular and UDH derailleur hangers. For my money, this is a smart move that allows for maximum choice for considering which bike you’d like to use the derailleur on. Using the M9200 derailleur on gravel bikes is a certainty; how long until we see them used in cyclocross races with R9270 Dura-Ace shifters?

• Hyperglide+ cassette and chain compatibility can keep on keeping on, as far as I’m considered. I’m always turned off by when a new component group introduces yet another cassette or chain standard. So, I’m excited that the new XTR Di2 group can be used with any Hyperglide+ road or gravel cassettes, and I don’t need yet another chain tool. Having worked on 13-speed drivetrains, I can tell you I’m in no hurry to see Shimano move away from 12-speed. The XTR 9200 Di2 group did introduce a new 9-45 cassette that has a new externally splined lock ring that can be fitted on to the Microspline freehub body. Going down to 9 on the cassette allows for a smaller front ring and tighter range on the cassette.

• Two derailleur sizes. The XTR M9200 derailleur comes in two sizes. The medium length cage can handle the up to the 9-45 Hyperglide+ cassette. The medium cage raises up the cage by 23mm, making it a little less likely to come into contact with obstacles. The long length cage can handle up to the standard 10-51 Hyperglide+ cassette.

• Customize the buttons and shifting styles. The E-Tube app allows you to customize the buttons on all the Di2 wireless shifters for your shifting preferences, as well as compatible devices such as your bike computer. I’m looking forward to the variations people come up with for setting up their wireless drivetrains.

• All these changes mean more choices. I hope we won’t have to wait too long until Di2 wireless derailleurs trickle down to Shimano’s road and gravel groups. However, in the meantime there is no reason why we won’t see the medium cage M9200 derailleur appearing on gravel and cyclocross bikes very soon.

Upgrade Kit

To expedite the conversion to the new XTR Di2 M9200, Shimano is offering an upgrade kit consisting of the rear derailleur, shifter, battery, battery charger, and 12-speed quick link. All the major retail outlets have them ready to order for $985. This will be a welcome change to those of us running mechanical Shimano groups on our mountain bikes. Many of us have a bird’s nest of housing on the front end, especially if you are running dual lockouts and a dropper post, or a complex routing system through our frame.

Confession

My personal bike stable is almost exclusively Shimano. I started racing on Shimano in the late 80s. I moved to SRAM in the early 00s (we were one of the first teams to run the first generation Force group) and maintained SRAM brand loyalty because of that past sponsorship. In the last 15 years or so, I moved back to Shimano drivetrains and prefer them over everything else for my personal use. All that said, I build a lot of bikes with SRAM drivetrains, and I can’t argue against how easy they are to set up with wireless derailleurs. Today I’m finishing a GRX 2x Di2 build that required all the extra steps to wire the derailleurs and the seat post battery. So for me, the move to wireless by Shimano is a welcomed change that has been a long time coming. And, the fact that Shimano is maintaining all of this backwards and cross compatibility makes me a happy bike mechanic. Looks like the only new tool I will need to pick up is new TL-LR021 external splined lock ring tool for the 9-45 cassette.

Tags: