Why everyone needs to try Shimano's CUES U6000 drivetrain.

The Seal of Approval (Bark! Bark!)

I am going to let you behind the curtain for a second. Contrary to my single-speed riding, friction-shifter loving, hardtails & rigid mountain bikes for everyone Luddite schtick, I do not scroll these articles onto parchment paper with iron gall and a quill. From refrigeration to fans, from music to mailing labels, I belong to the age of electricity. It even extends to coffee.

This story takes place some six or seven years ago now, on a beautiful Friday morning. My daughter and I are in a park by the ocean having coffee with a gaggle of other bicycling enthusiasts. The weekly event is all courtesy of the organizational efforts of Radavist wordsmith Morgan Taylor and their partner Stefanie, the dynamic duo operating as Found In The Mountains .

I am sitting next to my friend Terry as he pulls the assorted components of his coffee-making apparatus from various frame bags. He is not going to harvest the Arabica cherries while we watch but the rest of the process is happening in real time. Now he is pouring the gas. Now he is lighting the stove. Now he is measuring out the beans.

(And if you just thought to yourself, I bet that Terry guy was riding a discontinued Surly with rim brakes - you are not wrong)

Terry, Model-T as I call him, loads up his ancient-and-well-oiled-looking hand grinder, steels himself to the process ahead, and starts cranking when my, then three-or-so-year-old, grom interrupts him and indicates she would like to take over. Beaming, Terry hands her the box and, with an ear-to-ear grin, she grabs it from him and away she goes.

One crank.

Two cranks.

“ All Done!”

Terry politely replies that there are only about one hundred more turns of the handle to go and is met with the only reply he deserves:

“ No! You! ”

Ever helpful, holding the black Americano that I made at home, I suggest to Terry that there are now these amazing (əˈmāziNG) portable electric grinders available that would make short work of the prep. Or sealed containers that allow the handy transportation of pre-ground beans. Or, wiggling my mug in the air, vacuum-sealed vessels that will keep liquids warm for hours and make for easier transportation.

Terry looks down his nose at me in silent judgment, like I am a traitor to our people, and proceeds to grind more powder for his go-juice without breaking eye contact. A local pinniped, known affectionately as ‘the Seal of Approval,’ swims by and cuts the tension when my daughter points to him and heads to the side of the sea wall for a better look. Even so, I am acutely aware that my dislike of electronic conveniences does not extend far beyond humankind’s most beautiful invention, the bicycle.

CONFLICT!

Cy Whitling and I share a passionate love for the human-powered bicycle, but beyond that, we are not exactly Frick & Frack. If our CONFLICT! Series (low-level bicycle drama) has a theme to date; it is that Andrew likes what is old and Cy likes what is new.

This theme certainly extends to batteries and servomotors. I am currently picturing a 2026 re-imaging of Cy’s REEB that will feature on-bike extra-battery storage for both derailleurs *, the dropper post, the shock, the fork, plus extra energy for the wireless remotes to control shifting, saddle position (drop & tilt?), and on-the-fly override buttons for the auto-selecting suspension settings.

On the other hand, whether Cy’s multi-speed drivetrain is running 13x speeds or 26x, it will still have more ratios than both my mountain bikes put together. More gear ratios, but three fewer 1.2mm steel cables and some fifteen fewer feet of SP41 housing.

*I am kidding, there will probably just be a bolt-on aftermarket idler pulley.

What I am getting at here is that when it comes to human-powered mountain bicycling, you will not find two riders further divided in interest when it comes to the number of juiced components on their bikes. But like John Conor and Model 101, we get along super fine. Sometimes we even surprise each other. Would you believe that I am the one who is not at all bothered by luxury-level carbon frames moving to wireless-only shifting and it is Cy who is concerned about having cable routing for the few remaining ratcheters that want to combine their esoteric shifting preferences with the most modern fantastic-plastic bicycles?

I am not trying to take Cy’s, or your, $1000 derailleur away any more than I am trying to convince Terry that a quick hit with the electric burr grinder would give him a lot more time to chat. And with that diffuse development out of the way, I would like you to tell me about Shimano CUES.

exCUES Me, Please

Shimano CUES U6000, available in 10-speed or 11-speed, is their newest entry-level performance drivetrain for mountain biking, commuting, whatever. I have ridden it compared to their lower-level U4000 drivetrain and their higher-end XT M8130 drivetrain, and I will talk more about both those LinkGlide options in the future. For now, I would like to continue to focus on U6000 for the simple reason that there is nothing on the market like it.

I will provide a brief description of the system, but for a more in-depth look check out: CUES & the Great Shimano LinkGlide Reset

Shimano’s LinkGlide drivetrains, including U6000, no I will not use the word ‘ecosystem,’ are all based on 11-speed chain dimensions, but are not compatible with 11-speed drivetrains of yore. The drivetrains are compatible with any brand’s 11-speed chains and narrow-wide chainrings with the likely exception of the new SRAM flat-top T-Type system's deeper troughs.

This lack of backward compatibility, but nearly complete LinkGlide inter-compatibility - regardless of the number of gear ratios, stems from the much thicker cogs that Shimano is using to create a massive increase in durability. Spacing-wise, an 11-speed LinkGlide cassette, like CUES U6000 11-speed, takes up about as much real estate as a 12-speed HG+ unit.

Never mind the choir, at this point, I am out in the hallway preaching to the janitorial service six hours after the service. But I cannot stop myself because more than I believe that every rider with an opinion about mountain bikes should spend some time on a hardtail, try a rigid mountain bike with modern geometry and plus-tires, and give friction shifting a go, I postulate that to have a valuable opinion on the best drivetrains on the market, it is more necessary to compare them to U6000 than to each other.

No difference in cost, would I choose Shimano U6000 over Shimano XT M8130? Absolutely no f*cking way. U6000 over SRAM X01 or XX1 cable shifting? Heck no. Over XTR M9100? Get lost.

I am not claiming that U6000 rivals any of those options in terms of fit or finish, and it would be, frankly, ridiculous if it did. Never mind the fact that the U6000 group is significantly heavier, and that the shifter is cheap feeling, we are talking about a complete drivetrain that costs less than the cassettes for any of those drivetrains.

Okay, okay, that is not true. The LG700 cassette I am running with the M8130 drivetrain is ‘only’ US$130 and the whole U6000 drivetrain (shifter, cassette, derailleur, chain) is US$205. But what is a gentle little bit of hyperbole amongst friends?

The thing about this two-hundred-dollar drivetrain is that for around the price of SRAM’s 4-battery-charger with a single backup AXS battery, a rider can be cabled-up and pedaling. The LinkGlide shifting is the closest cabled thing going to SRAM T-Type precision, even in U6000 form.

And that is not to suggest that anyone is going to trade down from T-Type to a complete drivetrain that only costs a few bucks more than an XX derailleur cage replacement. Not for a second do I think that anyone who is used to the glorious mechanical action of any generation XTR shifter is going to be stoked on the plastic-feeling CUES options.

But whether they be a professional bicycle racer, magazine editor, competing brand’s drivetrain designer, well-heeled mountain bike enthusiast, only-the-best bike shop owner, or persnickety six-speed-thumb-shifting wannabee Luddite, my claim is this:

There is not a rider out there, no matter how privileged to ride the best bits, who will not come back from the U6000 experience and admit that it is good enough.

Add all the caveats. You know, if I were min-maxing my bike on a tighter budget I would run U6000 and upgrade the brakes, tires, and suspension. If I had to choose, I would notice the improvement in nice wheels more than upgrading from the U6000 drivetrain. I wish when I was getting into mountain biking there was a drivetrain as good as U6000. U6000 is perfect for my kid, they can upgrade when they are buying their parts with their money.

Certainly, you can fall in love with mountain biking with much more basic spec and lower price points than where U6000 hits. But whether upgrading a used rig or buying a new CUES bike, if you can stretch to the budget-friendliest LinkGlide setup with a clutch derailleur, you are riding a drivetrain that is good enough for anyone.

And I believe everyone who gets out on the trails on U6000 will preach that.