It’s heavy, it’s ugly and it’s targeted at that elusive creature - the general leisure cyclist - so it must be ‘the future’.

The Shimano Nexave Di2 (C810) follows in the hallowed footsteps of the Shimano Positron, combining the very latest in derailleur thinking with the lowly steel (and plastic) technology of the Shimano Tourney. Just as the embarrassingly unsuccessful Shimano Positron system prefigured the industry-changing Shimano Dura-Ace (7400), so the Nexave Di2 is the embarrassing mad uncle of Dura-Ace Di2. There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.

The Nexave Di2 (C810) has some interesting features, the adjustment screws are in the front knuckle - like  1960s SunTour, there is a strange sliding ‘reach’ adjustment on the front knuckle, the rear knuckle is held together with ‘Tri-Wing’ headed screws (like Phillips but with only three grooves) - which I have only ever seen previously on Nintendo products and finally it comes with its own numerical code which you have to enter into the controller before it will operate - cooooool!

But does it work? My only experience of Nexave Di2 has been of demonstration models at trade shows - and they seemed to work exactly as well as ‘normal’, cheaper, lighter, simpler Shimano derailleurs.

A ‘solution looking for a problem’ or a harbinger of an electronic future? The jury is still out.

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1. •Brand: Shimano
   

2. •My category: Shimano - weirdness
   

3. •Country: Japan
   

4. •Date of introduction: 2004
   

5. •Date of this example: unknown (there is no two letter date code)
   

6. •Model no: C810
   

7. •Weight: 408g
   

8. •Maximum cog: 33 teeth (Source: Shimano)
   

9. •Total capacity: 44 teeth (Source: Shimano)
   

10. •Pulley centre to centre: 86.5mm
    

11. •Index compatibility: 8 speed
    

12. •Chain width: 3/32”
    

13. •Logic: top normal
    

14. •Pivots: two sprung pivots
    

15. •Material: an eclectic mix of aluminium rear knuckle and outer pulley cage plate, steel inner parallelogram plate and inner pulley cage plate and plastic front knuckle and outer parallelogram plate.
    

16. •My theme: Professor Piehead’s weird technology selection
    

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