Does anyone have GRX yet?

I recall that mechanical was supposed to be out in June and Di2 in August. I'm eagerly awaiting the Di2 but would like to know how people are enjoying the mechanical. I'm also wondering how far behind they are with the release, if at all.

I'll take that as a no 🙂

I recall when the recent Ultegra Di2 came out the original timeline of "June" was ultimately December/January for parts. OEM, it was much faster.

The last update I got my shop (last week) is that Shimano is only going to ship them full groupsets and they tentatively scheduled to arrive in mid-to-late August for mechanical and early-to-mid October for Di2.

But I suspect, as is always the case with Shimano, that is subject to change and that their top volume shops will get it first (and more of it)

I have ordered a rear derailleur RX810 from Japan, available on ebay for $98 + shipping, and GRX 48-31 crankset ($175 plus shipping) + Front derailleur ($43 plus shipping) from our chinese friends at aliexpress. Strangely you cannot find it through search anymore but here is the direct link to the crankset: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33053265770.html
You can also find RX600 46-30 crankset on ebay at $129 and free worldwide shipping from Taiwan.
Ordered before last weekend, likely will come in couple weeks. Shimano North America sucks, and thanks to them I will likely have one of first bikes build in Canada on this new groupset lol. Based on the seller's information, GRX shifters are not yet available in Japan for dealers.

The bike manufacturers take precedent over consumers. This is how the bike industry works. 

I agree with OltreForza above. They need to get their (likely limited) stock as OEM on bikes for 2020 model year. I know a Shimano North America rep that built up a gravel bike a month or so ago that didn't have anything GRX on it. It was an Ultegra build (1x ring on Ultegra crank and RX rear derailleur. I fail to see the difference between that and GRX in a 1x application, but that's a different conversation. I consider that significant as they were riding an XTR di2 rear derailler before I knew it existed.

That's a bummer, I've been holding off on a bike purchase until GRX Di2 is available. I was hoping to have it for the fall but I guess it may be later.

Somewhat the same boat, a naked frame waiting for GRX parts. I don't think I'm going to buy anything until the shifters are available somewhere, but if gets ridiculous I might jump ship (assuming shimano 160 rotors play with SRAM).

Just got an in-stock alert on the RD-RX812 from Universal Cycles yesterday, happened to be off and an hour away from their Lancaster store.

Initial report is that on my bastardized 1x with an XD 10-42, it's friggin' awesome. I initially had it "working" with an R8000, but for the life of me couldn't keep it from skipping when I put power to it in smaller gears. It seemed to be a chain wrap/tension thing rather than ghost shifting... switching to an RX800 improved that some with the clutch off, and pretty much eliminated it with it engaged, but I almost had to keep the clutch engaged. 

It seems fine now with the clutch on or off, and holy crap, maybe I just got really used to vague shifting (I probably did) but this thing shifts like I remember Ultegra shifting on a tight-ratio cassette. The offset top pulley makes all the difference in not having to crank the B-screw in and leave you with crazy free chain in smaller gears. As you can see I left the Roadlink DM on, probably don't need it but I figured I'd try it, and it works fine, better or worse than the stock link I don't know.

But I do know it hasn't missed a shift up or down, where the RX800 often needed "help" on the way up, and sometimes would just sit there on a downshift and require another downshift and then an upshift. I'm running a PC-X1 chain, and it just clicks into the next gear, usually in half a turn or less.

SRX810 Scheduled for installation this or next weekend 🙂 The price for RX600 shifters is $390 ($366 + shipping), RX810 is over 500, still deciding if GRX branding label really justifies that price tag, or I should just look for 105 R7020. It is more than 1/5 of my entire bike setup, and it is just shifters, overpriced.

fb40dash5 wrote:Just got an in-stock alert on the RD-RX812 from Universal Cycles yesterday, happened to be off and an hour away from their Lancaster store.

That big cog might need another link or two added to the chain!

clarksonxc wrote:

That big cog might need another link or two added to the chain!

Nahhhhhh, it's fine... it's almost impossible to dump the chain to the inside! (Which I learned when I was trying to get it back on after doing just that while getting it adjusted...)

The greater angle of the dangle means I can leave the B-screw that much further out...

fb40dash5 wrote:

Nahhhhhh, it's fine... it's almost impossible to dump the chain to the inside! (Which I learned when I was trying to get it back on after doing just that while getting it adjusted...)

The greater angle of the dangle means I can leave the B-screw that much further out...

lol, that stretched out RD makes me feel claustrophobic!
And to add to this thread, I can't wait to get my hands on some GRX stuff.  I was looking at an RX812 RD on ebay and almost pulled the trigger; but the description said it was 1x only and I figured I'd better do some more research first.  I thought all of the GRX stuff was 2x compatible?

clarksonxc wrote:
I was looking at an RX812 RD on ebay and almost pulled the trigger; but the description said it was 1x only and I figured I'd better do some more research first.  I thought all of the GRX stuff was 2x compatible?

If it can take up your total capacity I don't see why not, with one caveat... the offset upper pulley is going to be closer to a given cog in the small ring than the big. If you're running a larger rear cog (which would probably get into capacity issues too) you're going to have the B-screw cranked in more than you'd want to so it'll clear in the small-small combo. The RX810 has the upper coaxial with the cage pivot, so it doesn't change the upper pulley's position depending on how far forward the cage is swung. 

If you're running something sane like 11-34 with a 30/46, you should have plenty of takeup capacity, and not need to crank the B-screw much at all to clear a relatively small cog....

Received the 48/31 crankset and the 800 front derailleur!  Haven't installed yet.

fb40dash5 wrote:Just got an in-stock alert on the RD-RX812 from Universal Cycles yesterday... 

Initial report is that on my bastardized 1x with an XD 10-42, it's friggin' awesome.

The RD-RX812 is the long cage model designed for up to 42 sprocket right?  Do you still need the wolf tooth road link?

superman-lopez wrote:
The RD-RX812 is the long cage model designed for up to 42 sprocket right?  Do you still need the wolf tooth road link?

The 812 is not just long(er) cage (I think the 810 cage is the same length, and IIRC both are just GS 'mid' cage and not SGS really long cage) but also has the upper pulley offset above/behind the cage pivot like mountain parts, hence the claim it's 1x specific. With the cage back as it would be in a smaller gear, the upper pulley is closer than it would be if aligned with the cage pivot (a la road and older mountain derailleurs), and when it's pivoted forward, it gets lower than it would otherwise be... it's a design that's a LOT more conducive to a huge cog. The longer cage is nothing but chain take-up otherwise. I tried to make my own version of this last winter with an XT cage and my RX800, it all bolted together, but the road knuckle (where the cage pivots) isn't as long as the mountain version and the upper pulley hit the inner link of the parallelogram with the cage forward and the knuckle shifted outward.

I just had the Roadlink already on the bike, it's been there through my R8000 and RX800 derailleurs, and I figured I'd leave it on and see if it worked. I can't say it's better since I haven't tried this one without it, but I can say it works excellent with it on there. I'm sure it'll work with the normal link, I just didn't feel like taking it off and trying to sell it for the small amount I'd get.

After a couple rides I gotta say... last year I was thinking, even though I'm kinda old-school, maybe Di2 wasn't as silly as I thought if it got me a functional 1x Shimano drop-bar drivetrain. I'm happy to have spent this $110 and still have my old shifter cable, and I'm back to thinking battery-powered shifting is kinda silly 99% of the time. Kudos to Shimano for recognizing the demand that existed several years ago, and melding the back half of a road derailleur with the front half of an XT!

Thanks for the detailed response!  I wasn't aware of the actual differences between the mechs.  Personally I will be using a 11-34 cassette, so I was asking only out of interest.  

Glad to hear the improvement the new derailleur made for you.  I too feel Di2 is a bit silly for what I ride and for how often I ride.  I will be using my GRX crankset and mechanical front derailleur, with Ultegra Brifters and the RX800 rear derailleur.  Postponing Di2 indefinitely 🙂