I ended up going mechanical... SRAM Red with R2c shifters.
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Re: Di2 vs mechanical. [Fishbum]
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Re: Di2 vs mechanical. [Fishbum]
[ In reply to ]
Fishbum wrote:
What would I be giving up by going with mechanical instead of di2. I had intended on building a di2 P3 however the situation may have changed on me and I may need to build the bike in mechanical1. Shift quality may be compromised with mechanical on some frames and installs. This could be due to difficult angles required for many modern internal frame routes especially on TT bikes.. Also as more gears are crammed on the cluster the shift mechanism has to be more precise. Sometimes in my experience it can become problematic grabbing the smallest sprocket if there is even a small amount of friction on the cable due to grit, dirty bike, wet rides, spilt electrolyte etc.
2. You can shift more comfortably and safely from the base bars with Di2 especially when in a bunch. The nay sayers will get their panties in a twist, but 2 hands on the bars is safer than one.
3. You will miss out on having to charge the system with mechanical. I hate charging and that is why primarily all my road bikes run mechanical.
4. Mechanical ca be a smidgin lighter than Di2.
Re: Di2 vs mechanical. [HuffNPuff]
[ In reply to ]
As opposed to a busted cable?
Meanwhile, I found his post referring to a problem one of his AG women had at IM South Africa 2015:
Our second age group athlete, Alicja, was also ready for a great race only to have it taken away by a series of technical difficulties on the bike.
In our sport we see the prevalent use of electronic gear shifters. I don’t like them. I’ve seen too many failures using such equipment for me to feel otherwise. Negligible (if any) improvement in speed, and in return you risk being rendered completely useless out on the race course if anything goes wrong. Such was the case for Alicja.
To those who will inevitably want to debate the use of digital shifters I would point out that one of the greatest road and time trial cyclists of all time, Fabian Cancellara, has long preferred not to use them (or power meters for that matter). Alberto Contador, who we know is not averse to any performance enhancement has also traditionally preferred mechanical. (References below).
Unfortunately Alicja then had to deal with another problem, a faulty seat clamp, or maybe a faulty husband setting up her bike after travelling!
Over the years I don’t know how many times I’ve seen this with the pros. They travel to a race at great expense only to have to pull out with a self inflicted mechanical. A bolt not tightened here or there, gears not meshing, or a dead battery.
“But I had them checked before the trip.”
Take my tip: On race day the booths are full of bike mechanics. Yes, they may be doing another job, but I’ve long found paying for 5 minutes of their time to give your bike a once over, checking the gears, tyres and seat is a great investment. The last thing you want is for it all to come crashing down because you have failed to tighten a bolt to the correct tension.
Alicja, to her credit, battled away in one gear and no seat until she reached a mechanical bay. She kept going and proved her courage by ripping out the best run split in her age group. That takes guts and we salute her fine effort.
HuffNPuff wrote:
I would guess that Mr Sutton is talking about the 1% probability of a Di2 failure vs a 0.05% probability of mechanical. And really, the problem isn't driving with your bike, but rather, breaking it down and flying with it. If your bike is regularly dismantled for packing, jostled about in luggage, tossed around and such, rebuilt each time, then yeah, there is a lot more that can go wrong. Meanwhile, I found his post referring to a problem one of his AG women had at IM South Africa 2015:
Our second age group athlete, Alicja, was also ready for a great race only to have it taken away by a series of technical difficulties on the bike.
In our sport we see the prevalent use of electronic gear shifters. I don’t like them. I’ve seen too many failures using such equipment for me to feel otherwise. Negligible (if any) improvement in speed, and in return you risk being rendered completely useless out on the race course if anything goes wrong. Such was the case for Alicja.
To those who will inevitably want to debate the use of digital shifters I would point out that one of the greatest road and time trial cyclists of all time, Fabian Cancellara, has long preferred not to use them (or power meters for that matter). Alberto Contador, who we know is not averse to any performance enhancement has also traditionally preferred mechanical. (References below).
Unfortunately Alicja then had to deal with another problem, a faulty seat clamp, or maybe a faulty husband setting up her bike after travelling!
Over the years I don’t know how many times I’ve seen this with the pros. They travel to a race at great expense only to have to pull out with a self inflicted mechanical. A bolt not tightened here or there, gears not meshing, or a dead battery.
“But I had them checked before the trip.”
Take my tip: On race day the booths are full of bike mechanics. Yes, they may be doing another job, but I’ve long found paying for 5 minutes of their time to give your bike a once over, checking the gears, tyres and seat is a great investment. The last thing you want is for it all to come crashing down because you have failed to tighten a bolt to the correct tension.
Alicja, to her credit, battled away in one gear and no seat until she reached a mechanical bay. She kept going and proved her courage by ripping out the best run split in her age group. That takes guts and we salute her fine effort.
Re: Di2 vs mechanical. [Rocketman]
[ In reply to ]
Ultimately the decision came down to price. I was able to get an amazing deal on a sram red groupset with r2c shifters Here on slowtwitch. Being mechanical it will allow me to do a lot of my own work to the bike my own maintenance and to be honest I wanted to try out SRAM products. I live very close to a pro cyclist he uses this exact setup on his time trial bike and he has the option to ride di2 and does not. All these facts combined with the price made the decision pretty easy
Re: Di2 vs mechanical. [Rocketman]
[ In reply to ]
new had my mechanical quit shifting when I moved the lever when nothing was wrong with the system. however, that just happened on my di2....seems I hadn't been paying attention and since fd not used on the indoor trainer, never got a warning that battery was depleted. had to stop and plug in for remainder of ride. :) for folks doing 1x di2, make sure you keep track on battery level. (I even have the d-fly and still completely zoned out on checking of late)
mike s wrote:
Mechanical on the Road Bike, Di2 on the TTI second this idea. The convenience of shifting on both ends of the Tri bike is really worth it.
Keep an eye on deals as you can get all Di2 components for a decent price. When I got mine there was a deal going on at competitivecyclist and I spent around $900 for all components including wires and junction boxes.