THE LATE SHIFT

THE RELEASE OF A NEW And for its first three generations, it set the bar for grading every fancy, expensive, shiny (or dull) component in hopeful competition. Then, in XTR’s fourth generation, right around when SRAM introduced the first two-ring-specific drivetrain, Shimano found itself in what would be a decade-long game of catch-up. But we’re not here to dig that up. We’re here to find out whether this generation, M9100, has made that game any closer.