Shimano gears, BEST IN THE WORLD (Shimano Deore)

Member Name: fpsninja

Product:	Shimano Deore
Date:	27/05/09 (355 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good quality

Disadvantages: often out on cheap bikes, give impression the bike is good, more expensive

Shimano is a company that manufacturer gears for bikes. All of their gears are really reliable and well constructed, but obviously some are better than others. As there are different types of gears, some of the gears Shimano make are better than others. For example, the standard Derailleur block gears are no where near as good as the hub gears, but then again, they are no where near as expensive!

So, what is there to like about Shimano, i mean are they really worth the extra price?
Shimano gears are the only make of gears that i personally know that wont just fail on you. As gears are the most complex system on a bike, you want to know that its made by people who know what they are doing. The cogs on the gears don't chip, and the springs and various parts that get it working never fail. Infact, i have never had a problem with a shimano gear, ever!

Are there any cons?
There are 2 cons of shimano gears.
Firstly, some of the cheaper bikes that you can get with shimano gears aren't "properly geared". What i mean by this, and especially folding bikes, is that one revolution of the pedal should be "tailored" to the bike, depending on the bikes wheel size. This isn't really Shimanos fault, they only make gears to the specifications that they are told, but my advice would be to try the bike, to see if the gear numbers and spacing matches the use and design of the bike.
The second con with shimano gears is that they cost a bit more, I do think that the price is justified, but this does create a slight problem. I shall give you an example. There is a bike available from omstar markets as "folding bike with 6 speed shimano gears". This gives the impression that the bike is high quality, but in actual fact, all of omstar's bike tend to fall to bits, notably around the handle bars! But the shimano brand is used to give the bike a sense of being well made.
My advice on this?
Class the gears as separate from the bikes quality, whilst making sure that it suits the bike, tricky to do at first, but over time you will get used to it.

Summary: Just because it has good gears, doesn't means its a good bike