I've had plenty of cables snap miles away from home. It's easy for me to say mechanical rules because I can't afford Di2

---

-----------------
Dale Stephanos (Formerly PappaD)

I'm more worried about "circuitry failure" on my car, the planes I go on, the pacemaker in the other driver's chest etc.

I can't afford EPS but I fondled it on a bike a few weeks ago and I'd ride with it in a heartbeat.

---

BC Don
Pain is temporary, not giving it your all lasts all Winter.

In over 100k miles of riding, not once have I had a cable break on me, even ones that had a nice coating of rust caused by my sweat. I've never seen it on group rides or races either. However, several folks I ride with have electric shifting, and at least 3 times in the last year the batteries died and they were stuck in gear. Also, doesn't the shimano system still have a cable to pull the derailleur? It's not a torque motor pivoting the derailleur. So a cable can still break.

I have been riding Di2 since April 2011. It has worked flawlessly. I can't imagine going back to mechanical. Ui2, while still pricey, is a pretty attractive option when compared to Di2 and only slightly more expensive than a SRAM Red groupset.

---

Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I'm workn on an S5 purchase... I gave a lot of consideration to this question... Don at ATC is even giving me a killer deal on DA Di2 (last years) vs the new 9000 (11 speed). I'm going with mechanical 9000 ...Keep it simple.... and hey if we get a big EMP frying electronics, I can still ride my bike haha.

"I've had plenty of cables snap miles away from home."

You are doing something wrong.

well, my ultegra 6700 STI seems to like to chew through cables. 2 have broken thus far, but you get warning signs, such as barrel adjuster needing to be tightened frequently or needing to push Fd lever over eventhough nothing has changed. now neither has completely broken on the road, but when i get home teh cables are frayed significantly in or near the sti bodies

On a $500 TT bike, I'm limited to mechanical, friction at that. Shifting doesn't seem like much of burden.

The best of all worlds. No issues with adjusting the cable with barrel adjusters, just trim on the fly and go. I actually prefer friction shifts on the TT bike.

On my road bike, with external cable routing, I don't mind changing out the cables at all, but my P2 is such a pain in the ass.


I dream of owning a bicycle that doesn't need me to spend a couple hours fishing derailleur and shifter cables through the frame ever again.

The idea of plumbing through a couple wires and some hydraulic lines once, then never needing to worry about adjustments ever again is very very appealing to me.

---

-------------------------------
Ignorance is bliss until they take your bliss away.

I am a futurist and nerd and love tech

and I prefer mech shifting.

---

---

Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

That's another concern i would have.

Just to be the other one, I love my di2. But I use mech on my roadie also.

---

-shoki

no...no cables to break (other than the power cables)

I have never even come close to running my battery down, not only do you get clear warnings at 50% and 25%, once your battery is almost out you'll still be able to make a few shifts on the rear before it locks up. If you manage to actually run your battery down to 0% you deserve to have to walk home. Am sure there are some cases of battery or connector failure, I have never had an issue, neither has anyone I know who runs Di2.
A lot of it is of course preference, and I much prefer electronic to manual shifting. Practically speaking, I think electronic shifting comes into it's own in road racing, where (in general) you'll find yourself shifting more often, and shifting under torque more often, Di2 (I run Ui2) provides completely flawless shifting in every situation I have put it in, I have also never dropped a chain (which is also pretty much inevitable if you race RRs or Crits) with Ui2.

I´ve been using de Di2 since september 2012, and from 3 rides 2 have problems with the electonic shift. I live in Colombia and I´m not sure if is that we don´t have the right people to install the electric shifting. Im giving them the last chance, and if not, Im going back to mechanical. I had my last IM in Cozumel last year in november, and lost power in the last 30 miles, It was a really bad time because of the wind.

I've only used the Di2 for 3 TT's but I have to say it's brilliant, not exactly a long term test but the main benefits for me are:

1) Effortless changing gear - saves tiny bit of effort but more importantly not a jot of lost concentration
2) Front mech change is instant and great under load - never worry about loss of power or momentum
3) Looks super cool - and sounds great!
4) Smooth gear change - very slightly smoother than my mechanical set up

Of course nothing is really worth that sort of money after all it's just a bike, but if you have the cash to splash and you done all the important things then it's well worth it.

---

If you are sure you will fail, or convinced you will succeed, you are probably right.....

I got electronic on one of my bikes and now have it on all of my bikes! I love it and would never go back to mechanical. It goes into gear perfectly and smoothly every single time, never drop a chain and if your battery dies, well, like someone else said - you deserve to walk home. Never goes out of adjustment and never have to worry about cable stretch. I have had zero issues with any of my bikes so I am certainly "pro" electronic shifting!

I've got 4000 miles on my Di2. It's been a pleasure.
The really beneficial part of it is having it on a TT bike so that you can shift from the bullhorns as well. Perhaps some of you stay in aero 100% of the time, but I use my bike for daily training and there's all sizes and shapes of hills that get me up on the horns or have me needing to have my hands near the brakes.

my roadie has "just" regular DA on it. It shifts fine. But I tend to ride my Di2 equipped bike- just because electronic shifting makes is that much more enjoyable.

yeah- it's ridiculously expensive. I concede that it may not be 'worth it' to everyone, but it's hard to deny that it's a wonderful luxury.

Agreed - my road bike has mechanical shifting on it and while I have no issues with it and love the bike, I got a new TT bike two weeks ago and have Di2 and love it so far.

Jeff,
check your STI housing where it enters the shifter. The spiral wound wires under the plastic are probably exposed, they're sharp and pointy, and hard on the shifter cables.

---

Andy Tetmeyer (I work at HED)

3 rides in 8 months?

I ride 150-200mi/wk, and charge my battery every month or three. I don't really keep track. But- I've never seen the 50% red light come on.
the Di2 battery lasts a LONG time. At least a 1000 mi, if not 3000 I think (not sure).

I guess it's possible to have a 'bad' battery tho'.

40 miles on my Campy EPS SR .. I would say it is much more efficient than mechanical, I like that I have the ability to switch multiple gears at once .. not sure it is faster than mechanical

Frontera everything 3 rides 2 has problems. I rife at léase 3 fines a week to complete about 12 hrs per week

I used to think my Ultegra shifters were awesome... Until I bought a tri bike with Di2.

At first I still believed the biggest advantage was shifting from the horns and the roadies was more than fine with mechanical shifting due to the proximity of your hands to the shifter.... Wrong!

All it took was multiple rides in a row with Di2, then back to the Ultegras for a ride and that was it for me. Never will I buy another bike with mechanical shifting.

I would even go electronic on my next mountain bike.

I think most people who are against electronic shifting is because they can’t afford or never tried it. So other (like me) just don’t want to. As for the weight argument, Shimano worked pretty damn hard to make the electronic group lighter than mechanical…
As for myself, I don’t think the extra money worth it; and I prefer an even lighter group (SRAM). An electronic group won’t make you win races; and mechanical systems are very reliable.

I'd love electronic on my tri bike but would prefer mechanical on my road bike. I like mechanical. For me, it's a part of the experience I want on a road bike, that tactile feel of the shift that I make happen, (and not a servo). As long as it's a high-end reliable mechanical groupset.

I'm sure that if you could actually gather numbers and tally them up, you'd find electronic more reliable then mechanical. But mechanical is the devil I know. I can understand and deal with most of the problems it posts. Just the other day I was reading a race report of a someone whose brand new Di2 front shifting stopped working for him in the middle of a really a rainy race. It's great but there are also problems to solve.

It takes a long time for a battery to die! If you charge it every other month, maybe every third, then you should never have a problem. On a different note, don't leave the battery on the charger on race day. It only happened once, luckily it was a flat sprint and I was able to borrow a battery to set the bike in the gear I thought I'd most likely use.

I've been wrenching for years & thought Campy Mech was second to none. I built up an Argon E-118 with DA 10-speed Di2. I purchased the Di2 group it for less than a DA 7900 mech group. Having shifters on both bar ends is great! The problem of having a dead battery during a ride can be solved by spending $50 for an extra battery. But I never ran into that issue.
Lots of pluses: automatic trim, shift under load, oh and the bling factor.
Seriously considering switching my road bikes to electronic, but with shimano going 11 speed and compatibility of my wheels with shimano 11 will be an issue.

You bring up an interesting point. I'm wondering if people actually think along these lines.

While the thinking that people who are against electronic shifting just because they can't afford may exist, it seems rather short sighted and a bit petty.

Anyone care to admit that is why they prefer electronic shifting?

I can afford it and have tried it and don't want it.
However, if I had ONLY a TT bike, and said bike had a clean place to install the battery, I would want it, because the 'hood' shifter buttons would be a nice advantage.

---

---

Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

I've done maybe 6 road races this year, and at least one person has had a Di2 related problem at every one.

One guy had his battery mount fall off, one had his battery die mid race, and one dude was wandering around the staging area trying to borrow a battery because he left his on the charger at the house.

Saturday climbing up a hill at a road race there was a guy yelling warnings to people behind him because he was stuck in the 13t grinding up the hill.

I still want it. For every dummy who has a failure there are a dozen who have no issues at all.

I think this really hits the nail on the head. Generally the 'issues' with Electronic shifting seem to be user error, not electronic shifting failures. Both Mech and Electric have occasional hardware problems, but how many people have you seen drop chains on mech, or bend a derailleur with a terrible shift under load? It happens.

I can't afford Electronic shifting, I'd like to give it a try.

---

-----------------------------------------------------------
Proud member of the GUCrew
Twitter: @tripigeon Blog: Ironpigeon.com
Thoughts on AG sponsorships / community involvement: http://bit.ly/1dQlVDy

I wonder if these sort of problems are the growing pains of anything new, sort of like how everyone has an early riding experience of falling over sideways because they haven't fully learned to clip out. I'm building a new road bike with electronic (debating between DA and Ultegra) and I figure at some point I'll have a stupid moment, but I've had mechanical failures too so I don't see electronic as much more problematic at this time. I'm getting the battery in the seat post because I could see forgetting the battery.

Never tried electrical, probably never will. Besides the cost, I've no real desire for it. I'd panic about the battery and whether it was sufficiently charged. Yeah, I shift the wrong way once in a while (I'd probably do the same with electrical). Yeah, the shift isn't perfect once in a while. None of it amounts to enough of a difference to matter to me.

I tried Ui2 for about an hour and had it go wonky on me in the middle of the ride.

heh

But, i've also had a shifter cable snap on me once. So, we are even.

---

---

Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

I have never had electric shifting, I don't want it, don't think I will ever buy it. But that shit works like cats whiskers. Shifts are quick , sharp and pretty reliable, high end, low end in the middle. it just plain works period. No worries , no fuss... just get a new battery once in a while or charge the one you have. In the I phone, I pad, electronic everything world it makes good sense.

When I saw the blow out Campy Record 10 speed stuff on firesale , I bought enough for my lifetime. I just do not think it necessary to go electronic for my needs. Caveat emptor, I ride more single speed rigs than geared.

I don't know what type of exposure you have to the reliability testing that goes into electronics for the automotive or aerospace market, but it's pretty darn solid. Automotive electronics have to last 15+ year life span in the field working from minus 40C to plus 85C ambiant air temps (park your black car on a hot day in Dubai or Vegas and that is the "cold start" temp of the electronics, and on the other end minus 40C cold start is not that uncommon in northern Canada).

This stuff is pretty solid, much more solid than Di2 electronics. Not putting down Di2, but the comparison with Automotive and Aerospace markets is not quite right. I can't speak for the pacemaker in the other guy's chest, but given that all of these systems have mission and safety critical (lives depend on their reliability), you probably need to be less worried about that than Di2 shifting.

Did you ever notice that bicycling electronics are limited to shifting where they are not even that mission critical (you can still complete the ride in the gear you are stuck in) vs. braking where they are safety critical?

To me it seems that electronic braking would be much more "aero" than hydraulic braking, but I'm not sure that the component companies feel all that comfortable about going there "yet" given that the "user error" on keeping the charge up (etc) might mean life or death.

Dev

Good points about the tolerances of heat/cold for electronics, but this would be a hard place to improve upon the current cable pull design. Braking is very much a matter of feel and you need the tactile response at the lever to brake effectively. My gut says that it will remain cable pull and hydraulic compression for a long time with brakes.

you are only even if the shifter cable snapped on you in the first hour ;)

I'm more of a traditionalist also. I tried riding the Ui2, but didn't feel as much cycling zen when i was riding it. Also i'm tired of charging batteries for everything, and i kind of like tuning bikes.

Just for the record, I'm a former engineer and love gadgets. I'm sure my next new bike will include electronic shifting.

At the same time my practical side questions how beneficial it would really be for me here in FL where 99% of my riding is on the flat and I don't need to shift much other than for the wind.

In the back of my mind I have fear of violating the KISS principle and making something more complicated than it needs to be.

That plus I enjoy wrenching and take pleasure in getting my mechanical shifters working smoothly.

Mark

If you have deep pockets, then electronic shifting is worth it. I'm perfectly happy with my mechanical system,
but if I had $5200 to burn, I would buy this stuff:

So Mechanical vs Electrical is the new Tubular vs Clincher debate (Where Clinchers have won)

And since I got Di2 2 years ago on my roadbike I can say for sure I am working hard to get electrical shifting on my tt bike as well.
I am never going back to mechanical shift.

DI2/EPS is the best gear shifting ever. Takes 5 mins to get used to the "lack" of mechanical response in the shifter. After that it's all win.

I am convinced anyone saying they don't like Di2 have either never tried it or just haven't had a proper ride with it, with time to get used to the shifting sensation.

I love my Campy SR11 EPS :)