This RD-R8000 derailleur is so smooth and accurate I'm not sure why you'd spend $100 or more on Dura Ace?
I bought this derailleur for my 1X cross bike. It worked flawless with a narrow wide chainring, 11-30 cassette and a chain catcher for a full season of cyclocross. Comparing it to my XTR 9000 derailleur, its basicslly the same design without the clutch. The short cage is longer than the previous version so it has more Tooth capacity. The B knuckle on the Ultegra is the exact same size as the current XTXTR so you can use the WolfTooth Goat link perfectly and run up to an 11-40 cassette with no issues. The chain tension spring is stronger than the previous generation derailleur and there are two tension settings. It comes stock in the lighter setting. Because it uses the Shadow design, the derailleur doesnt stick out as much as the older design so its more protected in the event of a crash.
Bought this to climb the mountain in VA with grades of 12% to 22%, this shifts like butter.
The deraileur works great very little difference than my dura-ace. Easily handles the 34 tooth cog. Looking for a 36 I'm sure it would work.
The new derailleur will give me more options for climbing hills and mountain passes. As always ultegra offers smooth shifting and dependability.
