Shimano’s 9-speed Alivio, Acera and Altus Groupsets Adopt Race-inspired Features
Fri 9th Mar, 2018 @ 12:30 am
Is 9-speed still a thing? If it is and you’re game for an upgrade – there must be millions of 9-speed rigs out there that want some love – then Shimano have a range of new tech to give you more style, more adventures, and help you to escape the daily routine.
ALIVIO, ACERA and ALTUS, Shimano’s entry level off road components, are being upgraded with the essential features for real MTB riding, adopting race-inspired designs and more user-friendly features to provide a new way for the next generation of mountain bikers to discover the exciting world of mountain biking.
The redesigned ACERA (FC-MT300-3) and ALTUS (FC-MT210-3/2) cranksets take on an aggressive anodized black look with user-friendly replaceable chainrings.
Together with rear derailleurs and cassettes the drivetrains feature MEGA9 LITE gearing, deliver smooth and easy shifting across the 3×9 (44-32-22T and 40-30-22T) and 2×9 (36-22T) options.
Meanwhile, wheel components are upgraded with the latest Boost-standard hubs bringing stiffer wheels and bigger frame compatibility to entry-level mountain biking with wider front 110mm and rear 148mm O.L.D. hubs (ALIVIO: HB-MT400-B/FH-MT400-B and ACERA: HB-MT200/FH-MT200-B).
ALIVIO’s lightweight race-inspired brake levers (BL-MT400) follow the design cascaded down from XTR to XT, SLX and DEORE, with a 2-finger position allowing for greater control on the handlebars. A 3-finger ACERA version (BL-MT200/1) is also available in steel or alloy. The levers are designed for small hands with a reach of 75mm from the handlebar and a user-friendly reach adjustment of 25mm, allowing for greater customizability of riding preferences.
Finally for 2×9 systems the ALIVIO (FD-M4020) front derailleur redesign allows for wider tyre clearance and provides high level front shifting with side-swing action and high cable-efficiency in any of the four mounting positions.
