I've been riding Synchro for years and could never go back. I love it.

• If you connect a Garmin, it will beep before shifting the FD. I highly recommend that.
• I race on 12-25, 11-25, and 11-28 cassettes depending on conditions. They make no difference to Synchro.
• Default is to do 2 compensating shifts for a FD shift. I changed it to 3 shifts because of my tighter cassette spacing. You just set that based on fee. If you find yourself frequently doing a manual compensating shift after a FD, then simply change that in the program.
• The shifting is so smooth that even on the rare occasions when a FD shift happens in a bad place, it is a nothing burger to my ride.

It's a little annoying but nothing game changing. I'd really love it if Shimano would implement a "press both buttons at the same time to shift FD" system like Sram does. Probably patented tho.

Thank you - that is both really helpful and very reassuring!

I was in the same boat when I built the bike... At the time, I did not like the two-button bar-end shifters, so I decided to build with single-button and give it a try. I will never have a TT bike without Synchro again. (I am full manual on my road bike, and could never imagine that being automatic.)

It took a few rides to get used to, but it’s pretty intuitive. One button is up, one button is down, and since you’re just working your way sequentially through combinations, it feels pretty natural. As with all gearing combinations there is sometimes a point where it’s hard to find the optimal combination of cadence and ease, but that’s not a function of synchro mode. Mine shifts at the same breakpoint where I would generally normally shift. Give it a try and see what you think. Swapping between modes isn’t hard.

I have used full synchro since 2021. I really like it. When you get it tuned to how you want to shift it, I feel like it makes the ride more efficient. I do have the shifters on the base bar as it helps with shifting up hills and then when I'm cresting a hill ready to get back into aero in a good gear. Have fun!

I will chime in and echo what the others are saying. First, get the Garmin that will beep before it shifts the FD. That can be nice when you are on a slight grade and realize it will shift the next time and decide to stay in the big ring and power over the crest etc…. Next, after a couple rides it really does seem to work and feel more normal. The first couple rides for me I missed having the ability to shift the FD, but now I am pretty sure it would annoy the living crap out of me to go back to having to shift the FD manually. I have not adjusted my RD shift number because it works for me but that is a nice fine tuning touch if as others have said you find yourself immediately shifting the RD one more or less gear after the FD shifts.

Bottom line, for Tri it really makes sense and just works once you adjust to it.

I don't have the connection module that communicates to a Garmin, so I wasn't aware that a garmin could be set up to beep if it's about to shift the FD. There have been plenty of times where I was downshifting (or opposite) where it shifted the FD and then I was either in too high or too low of a gear (or wasn't prepared for the half-second delay in shifting).

My two cents:
- I think I would like that feature with the garmin beeping. I will say that if things are quiet, you can hear the FD "chatter" just a smidge in the 2nd to last shift before it would shift up/down in the front. That's the best word I can use. But - there are plenty of times I wasn't expecting the shift because I had lost track of which gear I was in.


- I have Di2 on my gravel bike (2x), so it has the standard two button format. I'll admit I turned OFF synchro shift on that as I like the ability to do a manual shift of the FD for sudden steep hills. I would probably turn off synchro on my TT if I had the option.

- I might avoid turning off synchro on the TT if I could adjust the programming because, like another reply mentioned, I find myself always correcting after the FD shift. If I am shifting UP, I'll often let it shift the FD and then downshift one or two cogs as I gain speed. Similarly if the FD shifts down, I'll need to shift up a few gears to avoid spinning out.

You can fine tune the number of gears on the RD that the system shifts when it does a FD shift. If not mistaken, you can make them different for an up shift as compared to a downshift too. No reason not to fix that for yourself right now.

Interesting to hear the love for synchro. When I bought a 12-speed, I completely hated it. I have come to...tolerate it. Indeed, going back to manual shifts in many situations might annoy me too, but:
- switching to a 3 gear jump results in.occasional dropped chains, so I leave it at 2 and always shift manually.after
- needing to shift the fd in the middle of a steep climb is super awful, it sucks all your momentum right out of the pedals.

How do people handle these problems? Does my fd need adjusting since others.can get away with jumping 3 gears?

I have mine set for a 3 cog jump. I have never dropped a chain. Yours needs adjustment.

Maybe the Garmin warning beep would help solve for #2., I rarely see a major hill in my TT training or races. Even when I ride occasional races with a climb, they come in smoothly enough that there are no surprises. So, #2 for me just does not happen that often. (Though when a big hill arrives, you would have had to have shifted the FD at some point.)

My new bike is 12-speed one button (so forced to Synchro) and only have a few rides on it and so far I do not like it.
I went through the process of buying all that was needed to add satellite shifters to go back to a 2-button configuration, but in the end I did not install to keep my aerocoach cockpit clean and streamlined.

I have to try the Garmin link to get a warning before FD shift, to know to ease on the pedals a bit to make it smoother. This will take care of one annoyance - thanks for the tip.

However my biggest gripe is with the timing of the compensation of the rear derailleur. When I was doing it manually, I would start the comp on the back earlier or at the same time I initiated the FD shift, so I could get under power faster and lose less momentum.
In Synchro mode (9200 series) it shifts the FD first and there's almost a lag before it starts shifting the rear to compensate. The whole process takes a lot longer and feels clunky. I wish there was a timing adjustment.
If you have a hint or trick for that, thanks for posting..

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T. Guertin / Spocket

Same here. For me it is MUCH to slow. Especially switching to the little ring and doing two shifts down for compensation. When I last checked, there's even a setting for how fast it is and i have that set to fastest: Still too slow.
As you say: When doing it manually, I was doing the first of the two compensation shifts at the same time or even slightly before the FD shift. So much quicker and hence way less time lost not pushing hard.

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