>>1718008Road is more or less like that. As it goes past 9 cogs, it loses features, too.
>Tourney7sp BSO crap. Shifters have asstastic thumb buttons instead of STI.
>Claris R20008sp, similar design as 11sp, pull ratio compatible with 8sp MTB and all other Shimano 8sp ever, has STI, trigger shifters, downtube shifters, short & medium cage RDs, available triple.
>Sora R3000Same as Claris but 9sp. Officially no downtube or barcon shifters but you can use 9sp Dura Ace components for that or 3rd party stuff. Shimano 9sp may still be the most widespread so there are lots of quality 3rd party components and parts.
>Tiagra 470010sp, not compatible with any other Shimano 10sp groupset, including old 105/Ultegra/DA, because 4700 uses the 11sp pull ratio. But it's not compatible with 11sp stuff. Has available hydraulic disc brakes. No downtubies.
>105 R7000, Ultegra R8000, Dura Ace R9000/R910011sp. Drops trigger shifters and triple, still has barcons. 105 left shifter has reliability issues due to cheaper materials. Ultegra/DA has Di2 electronic option. Dura Ace is more expensive than Ultegra because lighter materials save you half as much weight as having a good hard piss. Mainly, DA is bling for high-end builds.
>Ultegra R8100 and Dura Ace R920012sp, electronic only. Shimano thinks mechanical is dead for racing, but they're hedging by continuing to manufacture R8000. Or at least trying to.
MTB is a clusterfuck:
>TourneyMTB flavored shit. There are even lower grades of Tourney that go onto BSOs so Shimano can slap their logo on Shart*Mart turds to make them seem more legit.
>Alivo/Acera/Altus7-9sp. Generally reliable.
>Deore/SLX/XT/XTR10-12 speed. There are lots of nuances but the main thing is that as you go up in price, weight goes down. XT/XTR shifters change the shifting action a bit to where the shift happens right as you click the shifter, not when you release. They also add an electronic option.
>Zee/Saint10sp, downhill-specific.
