Shimano’s flagship MTB race groupset, XTR, has been electric in the past, but the latest e-version was released in 2015 so there is almost a decade of electric shifting experience in the company since its last crack of the whip. Since then the Japanese componentry giant has fallen back to relying on its cable-actuation expertise for mountain bikes, despite its GRX gravel groupsets coming in electronic versions (albeit only 2x ones), and on the road Di2 shifting being on offer down to 105 level, and even incorporated into its latest Cues commuter groupsets too.
This latest XTR groupset is a reassertion of the brands faith in electronic shifting, and, now that SRAM has gone fully electric at all tiers, and we are likely to see an electric 13sp gravel groupset from Campagnolo on the horizon soon, a broader, industry-wide endorsement of electric as the way to go on all terrains.
