By using carbon fibre composite cage plates and jockey pulleys that spin on ceramic bearings, Shimano are clearly looking for more stiffness and less weight.
More weight is saved by the titanium main pivot bolt and cable clamp bolts – bringing the overall weight down to 165g – and the four pivot pins in the mech main body are fluorine-coated to reduce friction and increase durability.
And although that front plate pivot body (the bit that the mech cage fits into) looks like alloy, it isn’t – it’s a resin-reinforced thermoplastic.
The Shimano mech was slightly slower than its Campagnolo Record rival when it came to shifting but out on the road it felt quicker due to the smooth and near silent manner of those shifts.
It has a whopping 33-tooth capacity, which means it handles all of the available gear combinations in the Dura-Ace range with ease.