Product Image:
Product name: Shimano CUES U6000
Price paid: £150
Score (out of 10): updated from 3 to 7
Review: I had originally left some thoughts in the thread below, but have decided to add my own review of this specific product.
www.emtbforums.com
I used to run sram 11 speed xd cassettes, but being 1 piece as soon as a gear wears out, usually the 12t, the whole expensive cassette is junk.
I then moved to a steel HG shimano freehub & shimano slx 11/46 & microshift 11/46 cassettes.
These were paired with an xt shifter & a mix of xt, deore & slx mechs, changing them as they got broken. I also swapped out the 13t cog as required when it started skipping with a new chain.
So along comes linkglide & its x3 durability claims. I decided I have no need for 11 speed, but the 10 speed deore mech only goes upto 43t and I didnt want to drop back from the 46t I was used to.
I must admit I found the cues range a bit confusing at first, but it appears as below. Its all supposedly very cross compatible. I don't understand fully why there is overlap between products though.
CUES
U4000 - 9 speed
U6000 - 10 or 11 speed
U8000 - 11 speed
LINKGLIDE
M5100 - 10 speed deore
M8100 - 11 speed xt
Compatibility matrix
It seemed the U6000 range would fit the bill.
CS-LG300-10 11/48 cassette £47
RD-U6000 10/11 mech £50
SL-U6000-10R windowless shifter £30
CN-LG500 - chain £25
TOTAL £152
The 10 speed cassette is a good saving over the 11 speed one, about 1/2 price.
All installed & the shifting was poor. It either indexed fine on the big cogs or the small ones, but not both at once.
Additionally I don't like the adjuster on the mech, requires a bigger cable loop than usual.
The quality is also very poor as shown in the videos below, lots of slop in the mech in the main pivots & the cage pivot, plus a wobbly shifter. Possibly this causing the shifting issues?
I fitted a new gear cable outer a few months ago.
Additionally the 2 small cogs were loose after each ride. The lock ring wasn't coming loose as I marked it.
I may have fixed this now by tightening more than recommended. 40NM with the torque wrench then another few clicks by hand. I was really really leaning on the spanner to do this. I've never had to tighten a cassette up this much before.
11t sprocket - good amount of chain wrap, should reduce skipping.
48t sprocket
I have just fitted a new hanger , £11 from specialized with free postage
Its now indexing ok in the workstand, far from perfect though. I haven't ridden it since & will update when I do.
So far my impression of this is the cassette should be be ok as long as it stays tight, but the CUES range mech & shifter are bottom tier garbage & should be avoided.
I have the option of getting the expensive M8130 11 speed xt mech at £90 & pairing it with my 10 speed shifter, assuming the shifter doesn't completely fall apart, or the M5130 10 speed deore mech at £40, which is only supposed to go to a max of 43t but as per the video below has been tested with the 48t cassette.
UPDATE - 3oct23
Despite the new hanger, the shifting was still not great. Appreciate the hanger may need straightening from new, but I didn't have the tool and the old hanger was ok with the previous slx hg setup.
Struggled to go up the cassette without an overshift near the middle. Any tightening of the barrel adjuster and the chain wouldn't downshift from the 48t.
I had thought the chain slightly too long, so dropped it from 120 to 118 links. This made no difference.
The derailleur has markings for b tension as below.
Based on previous transmission setup, this gap between teeth looked too big to me at 18mm.
The tech doc doesn't give a measurement for the u6000, but it's close to 19mm given for the dedicated 10 speed u6020 derailleur.
I wound the b screw out and dropped the gap as low as possible without interference and ended up with 10mm. Looked much better.
Now it started to shift cleanly. After a ride at the bikepark the shifting was faultless. No further adjustments needed, no crunching, ghost shifting, skipping. Absolutely
%
Based on this I will likely update my score to 5 or 6 out of 10 after some more rides.
Despite the poor quality of the shifter and mech it was all very cheap after all, so you get what you pay for. It was at least £120 more for the top tier xt 11 speed linkglide groupset.
Time will tell the longevity of these parts and I'll update this review accordingly.
Also the cassette has stayed tight now for 2 rides after overtightening the lockring. It's a steel lockring and freehub, so unlikely to strip the threads.
The lesson here being - don't read the manual!
UPDATE - 17oct24
After a few more rides I must say I'm now impressed. Shifts very well up and down whilst under power with a satisfying clunk rather than the grinding the hyperglide setup produced.
Scoring is a tough one. It feels very cheap but is very cheap, but also works faultlessly if you ignore the Shimano setup instructions.
The top tier 11speed linkglide comes in at around £280.
This was £150.
Based on these factors I'm bumping the score up to 7/10.
I will swap the mech out for the m5130 deore once I smash this one. I generally get through one a year.
With hindsight and a bit more research, I would have bought the 10 speed deore mech and shifter in the first place as linked to at the top of this review. Prices are very similar.
UPDATE - 24nov24
A black friday deal saw the m5130 mech & shifter at £54 so I purchased. Quality is way better than the u6000 cues. I like the look of the short cage & I actually think the gear indicator will be useful despite looking dorky, as It will be easier to check im in the 13t before setting off the start ramp.
Not fitted yet as Im waiting for a new bike to be delivered.
I'll have to keep the u6000 cues as spares.
Product name: Shimano CUES U6000
Price paid: £150
Score (out of 10): updated from 3 to 7
Review: I had originally left some thoughts in the thread below, but have decided to add my own review of this specific product.
Review - Shimano Linkglide 10 speed drivetrain.
Product Image: Product name: Shimano Linkglide 10 speed drivetrain. Price paid: 275 Score (out of 10): 8 Review: First up , some context for this review. I have been riding MTB since 1999 , EMTB since 2017. My current bike is a Mondraker Crafty RR 2022 model. I am 57 years old. I...
www.emtbforums.com
I used to run sram 11 speed xd cassettes, but being 1 piece as soon as a gear wears out, usually the 12t, the whole expensive cassette is junk.
I then moved to a steel HG shimano freehub & shimano slx 11/46 & microshift 11/46 cassettes.
These were paired with an xt shifter & a mix of xt, deore & slx mechs, changing them as they got broken. I also swapped out the 13t cog as required when it started skipping with a new chain.
So along comes linkglide & its x3 durability claims. I decided I have no need for 11 speed, but the 10 speed deore mech only goes upto 43t and I didnt want to drop back from the 46t I was used to.
I must admit I found the cues range a bit confusing at first, but it appears as below. Its all supposedly very cross compatible. I don't understand fully why there is overlap between products though.
CUES
U4000 - 9 speed
U6000 - 10 or 11 speed
U8000 - 11 speed
LINKGLIDE
M5100 - 10 speed deore
M8100 - 11 speed xt
Compatibility matrix
It seemed the U6000 range would fit the bill.
CS-LG300-10 11/48 cassette £47
RD-U6000 10/11 mech £50
SL-U6000-10R windowless shifter £30
CN-LG500 - chain £25
TOTAL £152
The 10 speed cassette is a good saving over the 11 speed one, about 1/2 price.
All installed & the shifting was poor. It either indexed fine on the big cogs or the small ones, but not both at once.
Additionally I don't like the adjuster on the mech, requires a bigger cable loop than usual.
The quality is also very poor as shown in the videos below, lots of slop in the mech in the main pivots & the cage pivot, plus a wobbly shifter. Possibly this causing the shifting issues?
I fitted a new gear cable outer a few months ago.
Additionally the 2 small cogs were loose after each ride. The lock ring wasn't coming loose as I marked it.
I may have fixed this now by tightening more than recommended. 40NM with the torque wrench then another few clicks by hand. I was really really leaning on the spanner to do this. I've never had to tighten a cassette up this much before.
11t sprocket - good amount of chain wrap, should reduce skipping.
48t sprocket
I have just fitted a new hanger , £11 from specialized with free postage
Its now indexing ok in the workstand, far from perfect though. I haven't ridden it since & will update when I do.
So far my impression of this is the cassette should be be ok as long as it stays tight, but the CUES range mech & shifter are bottom tier garbage & should be avoided.
I have the option of getting the expensive M8130 11 speed xt mech at £90 & pairing it with my 10 speed shifter, assuming the shifter doesn't completely fall apart, or the M5130 10 speed deore mech at £40, which is only supposed to go to a max of 43t but as per the video below has been tested with the 48t cassette.
UPDATE - 3oct23
Despite the new hanger, the shifting was still not great. Appreciate the hanger may need straightening from new, but I didn't have the tool and the old hanger was ok with the previous slx hg setup.
Struggled to go up the cassette without an overshift near the middle. Any tightening of the barrel adjuster and the chain wouldn't downshift from the 48t.
I had thought the chain slightly too long, so dropped it from 120 to 118 links. This made no difference.
The derailleur has markings for b tension as below.
Based on previous transmission setup, this gap between teeth looked too big to me at 18mm.
The tech doc doesn't give a measurement for the u6000, but it's close to 19mm given for the dedicated 10 speed u6020 derailleur.
I wound the b screw out and dropped the gap as low as possible without interference and ended up with 10mm. Looked much better.
Now it started to shift cleanly. After a ride at the bikepark the shifting was faultless. No further adjustments needed, no crunching, ghost shifting, skipping. Absolutely
%Based on this I will likely update my score to 5 or 6 out of 10 after some more rides.
Despite the poor quality of the shifter and mech it was all very cheap after all, so you get what you pay for. It was at least £120 more for the top tier xt 11 speed linkglide groupset.
Time will tell the longevity of these parts and I'll update this review accordingly.
Also the cassette has stayed tight now for 2 rides after overtightening the lockring. It's a steel lockring and freehub, so unlikely to strip the threads.
The lesson here being - don't read the manual!
UPDATE - 17oct24
After a few more rides I must say I'm now impressed. Shifts very well up and down whilst under power with a satisfying clunk rather than the grinding the hyperglide setup produced.
Scoring is a tough one. It feels very cheap but is very cheap, but also works faultlessly if you ignore the Shimano setup instructions.
The top tier 11speed linkglide comes in at around £280.
This was £150.
Based on these factors I'm bumping the score up to 7/10.
I will swap the mech out for the m5130 deore once I smash this one. I generally get through one a year.
With hindsight and a bit more research, I would have bought the 10 speed deore mech and shifter in the first place as linked to at the top of this review. Prices are very similar.
UPDATE - 24nov24
A black friday deal saw the m5130 mech & shifter at £54 so I purchased. Quality is way better than the u6000 cues. I like the look of the short cage & I actually think the gear indicator will be useful despite looking dorky, as It will be easier to check im in the 13t before setting off the start ramp.
Not fitted yet as Im waiting for a new bike to be delivered.
I'll have to keep the u6000 cues as spares.
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