A road bike groupset includes any parts involved in braking, changing gear or running the drivetrain. This includes the shifters, brake levers, front and rear brake calipers, front and rear derailleurs (sometimes called mechs), crankset, bottom bracket, chain and cassette.
Other components like pedals may also share the groupset's name but they're not considered part of the 'core' groupset.
When you're buying a new bike, after the frame, the groupset is the second determining factor in value for money. Groupsets higher up the hierarchy will be lighter, may last longer, and in some cases may have improved functionality such as more immediate responses to shifting and braking.
Increasingly, the highest spec groupsets are electronic, where a battery and motors shift gears for you in response to electronic commands sent either via wires or wirelessly to the derailleurs.
There are three main manufacturers of groupsets and bike components. Shimano is the largest and best known, while the other two of the 'big three' are Campagnolo and SRAM. All three manufacturers offer a range of groupsets at competing price points.
Read further down the page for information on individual components - whilst you'll find information about the 'big three' providers below...
Shimano groupset hierarchy
The large majority of built road bikes come with a primarily Shimano groupset, though you'll sometimes find they include some components from other brands to keep costs down - such as TRP brakes or FSA chainsets.
The Japanese brand offers a wide range of groupsets - starting with Claris and Sora, which you'll find on entry level road bikes. Tiagra is the next step up, followed by Shimano 105 which is typically specced on bikes costing upwards of $2,000 / £1,500.
Shimano 105 is considered Shimano's first performance groupset, and for many people it is the best option in combining performance, value and longevity. Shimano offers 105 with mechanical (cable operated) shifting, but also with 12-speed electronic shifting, called Shimano 105 Di2.
Ultegra is next and is very similar to Dura-Ace in terms of performance, though Dura-Ace is lighter. You'll find Ultegra on bikes from around $5,000 / £4,000 and Dura-Ace on the most expensive bikes, typically retailing for $8,000 / £7,000 and upwards.
The latest versions of Ultegra and Dura-Ace are 12-speed, with Shimano's Di2 electronic shifting system.
Dura-Ace, Ultegra, 105 (but not 105 Di2) and Tiagra models offer the option of hydraulic disc brakes as well as rim brakes. Lower down the pecking order, you'll either get mechanical disc brakes or rim brakes, often from a brand other than Shimano.
Shimano also produces GRX, its first dedicated gravel bike groupset, offering it in both mechanical and electronic 11 speed, as well as mechanical 10 speed, and all with hydraulic disc brakes.
Within each groupset there's a series number, so the latest Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 supersedes the older Dura-Ace R9100, which itself was a successor to Dura-Ace R9000, etc. If you're looking to replace parts of a groupset make sure that you've got the right series number; many parts are cross-compatible between series but some aren't.
Shimano Dura-Ace R9100 was superseded by Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 in 2021. This new 12-speed groupset is semi-wireless with the option of wireless communication from the levers to the derailleurs, which are powered via wires to a central battery mounted within the bike's frame. It also features improved disc braking technology.
Whilst Shimano will continue to manufacture parts to serve existing set-ups, new Dura-Ace is now Di2 only. There is still a rim brake option if you prefer rim brakes.
According to Shimano, Dura-Ace 9200 offers an increase in shifting speed, with a claimed 58 percent decrease in rear derailleur operating time and a 45 percent decrease in front derailleur operating time.
The shifters have grown in size; Shimano said this was because they'd become too small, and pros complained they felt unstable on uneven ground, but the argument could be made that tech changes made a hood size increase necessary. Dura-Ace can be set up with satellite shifter buttons that are wired into the main levers, allowing you to shift from the bar tops or the drops in addition to the main levers.
The groupset uses a Hyperglide+ cassette - similar to the brand's mountain bike options, which is claimed to speed up rear shifts. The cassette still starts with an 11t sprocket, the gaps are just now smaller between the 6th, 7th and 8th sprockets.
Shimano has released a new 54/40 chainset, replacing the 53/39 - the 50/34 and 52/36 still exist. You can buy a dual-sided Dura-Ace power meter as well as a non-power meter chainset.
At the back, the two options are 11-30 and 11-34, there is no longer an 11-25 as Shimano said few riders opted for this narrow range. An 11-28 was promised at launch but is not yet available.
Shimano made changes to the braking tech within this launch. The gap between the pad and rotor was increased, and 'Servo Wave' tech was incorporated - again, this comes from the mountain bike family and is aimed at reducing the free stroke and creating a more immediate connection between the pads and rotors.
You can read our full review of Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 here.
Shimano Ultegra is considered to be the thrifty racer's choice, carrying much of the performance of Dura-Ace, with a reduced price tag. This applies even more so with the launch of Shimano Ultegra R8100, which coincided with that of Dura-Ace R9200 - meaning the groupsets share a lot of identical tech.
The newest 12-speed Shimano Ultegra family - R8100 supersedes 11-speed Ultegra R8000 and the two are not compatible.
The new groupset uses the same semi-wired platform as Dura-Ace R9200 and enjoys Servo Wave tech at the brakes whilst also featuring the same increase in the size of shifter hood.
As per Dura-Ace, there is the option to spec the groupset with a power meter as standard.
It's rare for Shimano Dura-Ace and Ultegra to be launched simultaneously, and this pattern allows consumers to enjoy many of the technologies that would usually take a year to trickle down - immediately.
Whilst both rim and disc brakes are supported, new Ultegra is Di2 only; Shimano is aware that there are many users still enjoying existing mechanical Ultegra, and it will continue to make these components available.
You can read our assessment of the key differences between Dura-Ace R9200 and Ultegra R8100 here.
Shimano 105 is currently split into two strands, the newer 12-speed, electronic R7100 groupset and the older 11-speed, mechanical R7000 groupset.
Touching on the 11-speed and mechanical version first, over the years 105 R7000 has earnt a reputation for being the 'groupset of the people'. The performance in terms of the shifting and the braking was near identical to that of Dura-Ace and Ultegra - Shimano's flagship and second tier groupsets, and yet the retail price of 105 is significantly less than those two product lines.
There is, naturally, a weight penalty between mechanical 105 and its more expensive counterparts. But, on the other hand, 105 is very hard wearing, making it an excellent choice for a more performance oriented winter bike.
Shimano 105 Di2, with its 12-speed cassette and electronic shifting, is similarly a cheaper version of Ultegra and Dura-Ace - and again has only a handful of minor penalties in comparison to those more expensive groupsets. Again, 105 Di2 does weigh more and it doesn't get Shimano's latest and greatest 'servo wave' braking technology, meaning it doesn't ascend to the same heights as the most expensive groupsets.
But, on the other hand, you get those excellent new gear ratios, providing a greater range with smaller jumps between the gears. On the road you'll experience this as being less likely to run out of gears when climbing and having enough at the high end to not spin out on fast descents - as well as being less likely to find yourself stuck between two gears, one too hard and the other too easy.
Then there are the benefits of electronic shifting - crisp shifting every time and never having to rethread a gear cable through your frame as part of your yearly servicing. Plus the brake calipers have been redesigned to make the bleed process easier, as well as ergonomic changes to the shifters making those more comfortable to grip from a greater range of positions.
You can read more about Shimano's 11-speed mechanical 105 groupset in our review here.
Otherwise, for more information about Shimano's 12-speed electronic 105 Di2 groupset, you can read that review here.
Shimano Tiagra groupsets and below have yet to receive the more recent updates, retaining the older rear derailleur shape instead of Shimano's more wrap-around Shadow rear mech profile.
The 2016 update - Shimano Tiagra 4700 - however, did incorporate gear and brake cables that could be fed beneath bar tape, reducing the "anti aero loop" on previous editions. It's compatible with flat bar bikes, too.
Tiagra is also still 10-speed, and the chainsets available are 52/36t, 50/34t, 48/34t and 50/39/30t - the larger, more race focused 53/39t option available higher up the foodchain won't be found here. There is the option for hydraulic disc brakes though.
Shimano showed its Sora groupset (R3000) a bit of love in 2017, with new shifters, brakes and rear derailleurs which carry a more sophisticated aesthetic.
The chainset, like Tiagra, is now four arm which allows it to be lighter - and it comes as a 50-34 compact or 50-39-30 triple and the whole setup can be introduced to flat bar bikes (on a five arm crankset with chainguards). Cassettes can be as large as 11-32, which allows plenty of gear options.
The groupset continues to be 9-speed, but it does have new shifters which allow for neater internal cable routing. The rim brakes are said to be improved with 20 per cent greater stopping performance on the previous version thanks to the addition of dual pivot calipers. There's no in-series disc brake option.
Shimano's entry level Claris R2000 groupset is 8-speed, provides excellent value and has the clean looks of the brand's higher spec options.
There is a cheaper option - Shimano Tourney - but you won't find it on many built bikes and Claris has one up on it because it uses the same Dual Control shifting action and hidden cabling as the other key groupsets for its drop bar levers. Tourney, on the other hand, still features a thumb lever on the inside of the hood to shift up. Claris also has its own matching brake system and there are flat bar shifters available, as well as double and triple chainsets.
Though Claris is perfectly effective, the letdown is its 8-speed shifting. You can get six different cassettes with ranges from 12-25 up to 11-34, so there are plenty of gearing options. But with only eight gears, the larger range cassettes have large jumps between ratios, which can lead to clunky shifting.
