53 years of gear shifting: What the new XTR and the first MTB gearbox have in common
Jan Timmermann
· 05.06.2025
The new Shimano XTR is here! Shiny and classy, glossy images of the new flagship derailleur are currently flickering across the screens. No wonder, after all, a new MTB drivetrain from Shimano is a pretty big deal. For a long time, the Japanese company was the market leader for mountain bike parts. What's more, the first groupset ever developed specifically for off-road cycling on wide tyres came from Shimano.
The market launch of electronic rear derailleurs from the biggest competitors put a damper on things. The Sram AXS rear derailleurs were to change the market forever. Suddenly everyone wanted to get rid of cumbersome cables and the wired electric derailleurs of the Shimano Di2 series were also gathering dust. Now Shimano is finally back. It took seven years to develop the new XTR Di2. A look at the Shimano XT from 1982, the great-grandmother of all MTB drivetrains, shows that the road to Shimano's first wireless drivetrain was a long one. Time to look back.
From 65 Deutschmarks to 665 euros: From circuit to robot
When the first bicycle derailleur in history saw the light of day in 1869, mountain biking was not even an idea. Cycling off-road, even on trails? Unthinkable back then. Although there were already professional cyclists back then, they were riding the Tour de France with narrow asphalt cutter tyres and single-speed drivetrains. Their scepticism towards gears for bicycles persisted for almost 100 years.
It was not until the 1960s that the use of derailleurs on racing bikes began to spread. In 1973, the first ten-speed derailleur was born. A few years later, young savages stumbled over the mountains in California on converted military bicycles - the birth of mountain biking. The new fun sport soon became a real movement and Yoshizo Shimano recognised the need for a robust gear system with activation from the handlebars. In 1982, his company presented the young bike world with the Shimano Deore XT M700, a high-end groupset with no less than three times six gears. It wasn't until 1992 that Shimano created a new upper class for mountain bike gears with the XTR.
None other than MTB pioneers Joe Breeze and Gary Fisher were behind the development of the first groupset for mountain bikes. Together with the Japanese engineers from Shimano, they brought the XT from prototype to series production. Both of these two masterminds are still active in the bike cosmos today and over the past 53 years have been able to observe how more and more weaknesses in MTB gears have been gradually eliminated. In the early years, mountain bikers were primarily plagued by the issue of durability: chains snapped during hectic gear changes, rear derailleur cages were decapitated by rocks and mud clogged the drivetrain. But bikers also had to make compromises in terms of function for a long time. For a long time, the narrow gear range of the cassettes meant that a front derailleur and several chainrings were needed to climb steep mountains. It wasn't until 2019 that Shimano launched the first twelve-speed drivetrain on the market.
The fact that the Shimano XTR from 2025 can shift twelve gears is no surprise to anyone. The fact that it does this without any shift cables or wires is a major innovation from the Japanese company. The Shimano XTR Di2 M9200 relies entirely on electronics. Visually, the modern rear derailleur is almost twice the size of the 1982 model, yet it is "only" a good 130 grams heavier including the battery. State-of-the-art electrical engineering and economic developments have driven up the price from 65 Deutschmarks at the time to 665 euros for the rear derailleur alone today.
Does that make the XTR Di2 generation 2025 ten times as good? Definitely! The precision with which the part changes gears is in a completely different league. Despite fewer components, the shifting group realises enough gear range for long tours. The functions of the Shimano XTR Di2 M9200 can be customised in the app. On e-bikes, it even shifts fully automatically if desired. With extra strong rear derailleur stabilisation, a more compact cage, stronger links and pulleys, rounded surfaces and an automatic recovery function, the new XTR is also likely to be the most stable Shimano drivetrain of all time.
Details of the Shimano Deore XT M700 gear shift from 1982
- Gears: 3 x 6 (mechanical)
- Weight: 254 g
- Price: 65 D-Mark
Details on the Shimano XTR Di2 M9200 rear derailleur from 2025
- Gears: 1 x 12 (electronic via radio)
- Weight: 388 g
- Price: 664,95 Euro
Braking power on another level: Shimano brakes over time
Of course, it's not just gears that have developed enormously in 53 years. Thanks to technical progress, mountain bikes could be ridden faster and faster through the terrain. Increasingly powerful brakes were needed to control the new speed. The Shimano Deore XT groupset from 1982 also included a set of rim brakes - a real anchor by the standards of the time, as Breezer and Fisher, in lively dialogue with other test riders from the USA and the developers in Asia, had ensured that the brake pads did not just harmlessly caress the rim. Compared to the drum brakes that were widely used at the time, this was real progress! Formula developed the first hydraulic disc brake back in 1987 in Italy. Shimano had already experimented with disc brakes on bicycles 15 years earlier. However, it was only the hydraulic Deore XT from 2003 that was really suitable for off-road use. In 2017, the first four-piston brake for even more deceleration power followed in the XT family.
Shimano has made a name for itself over the years with the performance of its disc brakes. The Shimano XTR from 2025 builds on the successes of recent years and comes with small but subtle improvements to details. For example, the lever has been redesigned for better ergonomics and the lever travel should be translated particularly smoothly and directly into braking force. The brake calliper, in turn, comes with a four-piston option for enduro and trail bikers. Cross-country racers can still opt for a lightweight two-piston version with a carbon lever. An optimised mineral oil and improved internal seals are designed to keep the pressure point constant. You couldn't even dream of this much braking power 53 years ago.
Jan Timmermann
Editor
