Shimano 105 12-speed mechanical - first look

Shimano 105 has long been the staple groupset of the cycling community. For most of us, it hits the balance between performance and cost just right. Today, Shimano have released an update to their mechanical version of 105, and our very own Ollie Bridgewood managed to get his hands on the latest generation to take a first look at it. This announcement comes on the same day that Shimano launched an all-new 12-speed GRX RX820 group that you can read about here.

This is actually Shimano’s first 12 speed mechanical road groupset, by the time Dura-Ace and Ultegra added the twelfth cog to their line ups they had already gone fully electronic.

© GCN

Shimano have built upon the existing 105 Di2 group and modified the relevant components to make the shift to mechanical

105 sits nicely in the middle of the Shimano road groupset hierarchy underneath Dura-Ace and Ultegra and above Sora and Tiagra. A complete run down of Shimano's groupsets can be found in our 2023 complete road bike groupset guide.

When Shimano released the long awaited 105 Di2 groupset last summer it left some people wanting as it had taken one of the great appeals, the price point of 105 and put it out of reach. This is where the new mechanical line-up comes in to fill that gap in Shimano's product range.

The inclusion of a mechanical 105 in Shimano's line up reinstates this groupset as 'the groupset of the people'

Although Shimano are releasing this as a new groupset, there are in fact only three components that are new to 105 mechanical, as the rest is taken directly from the existing 105 Di2 groupset. The front and rear derailleurs are all new to the 105 mechanical group as are the shifters; however the rest are all preexisting in the range.

Join Ollie as he takes a deep dive into the specifics of the new groupset as well as checking out our story that dives into details.