After changing my roas bike to Campy EPS, i would say with confidence that I'll newer go back to mechanical. I would also reverse the argument about reliability in favor of electronic shifting. As long as I remember to charge the battery 4 times per year, there's no maintenance or adjustments needed.

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"Suddenly the thought struck me. My floor is someone elses ceiling"-Nils Ferlin

This. ^^^

Love my EPS.

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''The enemy isn't conservatism. The enemy isn't liberalism. The enemy is bulls**t.''

—Lars-Erik Nelson

Make no mistake about it. If you go electronic on your road bike you'll be upgrading your TT bike sooner rather than later.

eTap fascinates me. Everything I've read is very positive. I have had Ultegra 10sp di2 on a bike for 4 years and it's great. Auto-trim is wonderful. I've had to adjust the rear derailleur twice.

The only problem with eTap that I can envision is having a shifter battery die and that's easily fixable by carrying extras.

very much this! i got a tarmac with di2 6800....and now im saving up my pennies for my speed concept. Electronic is the shizzle. And while it may not make you faster in terms of power or aero, i do find myself shifting a lot more. Couldnt tell you why. I just love the novelty of it!

i have etap on my tarmac and shiv. it's awesome.
di2 on another road bike, sram red mech on my crit bike and old DA mech on my trainer bike.
i won't have any mech on any new bike i buy

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Fruit snacks are for winners

I just put eTap on my Quintana Roo PR6 about 2 weeks ago. I absolutely love it. Love being able to shift from the extensions or the base bar. Works better than the mechanical Ultegra I had on my tri bike and Dura-ace on my road bike. Shifting is smoother and effortless. I don't anticipate putting eTap on the road bike because of the cost, but I doubt I'd buy another road bike with mechanical shifting again. Definitely won't go back to mech on the tri-bike.

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Don't drown. Don't crash. Don't walk.

+1 I've Di2 on a Cervelo S5. It's an absolute dream

depending on how much you use your Tri bike.. I'd upgrade that first. In the long run you will be doing both anyhow. I built a road bike for my wife and since she has small hands and is new to cycling...I went Di2. I took the bike for a 50mile hilly climb fest and I was hooked. My daughter has a 24" Scott road bike and I'd love to put electronic on that as well.

I'm with you. But at ~$1,500 per bike it's a bit dear. And more cuz I've got some 10spd relics that need other bits. Etap seems like the killer app though especially for a tri bike with the often subpar performance of long, enclosed cable runs. And just the pita of routing the things. Bolt two derailleurs on and go.

Yeah, I'd seriously consider going electronic on the tri bike first, and transferring the Ultegra mechanical group to the road bike. Being able to shift from both hand positions on the tri bike is a bigger convenience than anything e-shifting does for you on a road bike.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

I came here expecting a nice contentious debate on eBikes. I am sorely disappointed. Carry on.

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I ran etap on my cervelo s3 last year and it was incredible. So smooth and fast. The battery lasted a really long time. No issues shifting going uphill.

When did you get the crit bike?

I'll probably be in the market for a new road-bike within the next year. I've been riding mechanical DA forever. I've ridden with Di2 a number of times on loaners, and really liked it. For a while I could not really see the rational behind the up-charge for eShifting. But I am starting to come around.

eTap is a possible game-changer. Get's rid of the wires and the junction box(s). I like a really clean looking bike. A guy a ride with regularly just got a new bike with eTap. He says it's amazing. What I like about it is how clean it makes the bike look - no wires!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

it's that new allez. you literally picked up that frame for me from geoff.

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Fruit snacks are for winners

I have Di-2 in my road bike. I am not wowed, nor would I get it again. It adds unnecessary complications to an otherwise pretty reliable system.

I also have Di2 on my road bike. PITA to get set up, but now it just works. Just build up an old frame as a commuter w/ Rival 1x and I don't think electronic does anything for me.

If I was setting up a new bike, I would consider etap, but more for aesthetics than functionality.

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/kj

http://kjmcawesome.tumblr.com/

So I'll be the lone naysayer. I have Ultrega DI2 on my roadbike. While I like it plenty, it certainly hasn't been the game changer for me that others here seem to experience. I shift roughly the same amount as I used to. Some of the shifts are maybe a touch smoother than mechanical would be, but for the most part I genuinely don't notice much of a difference. Extremely minor issue, but I generally keep my bike in my car all season, so needing to pull it out every now and then to charge is a minor inconvenience. If I had it to do again I probably would just save the $. As another poster commented, it's probably a bit more of a game changer on tri setups.

The time I've had DI2.. I would have changed my shift cabling probably 3 times already.. not to mention time spent adjusting with cable stretch. Di2 has been 99% set and forget.... just charge battery.

I would say this is the biggest advantage of Di2 for me. Especially for bike that doesn't get used all the time. Battery charged? Pump tires. Good to go.

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/kj

http://kjmcawesome.tumblr.com/

Charge from an inverter if your car doesn't have a 110 outlet already. I haven't tried running the Shimano charger from the USB port.

The eTap charger works fine from my USB in my car.

It's not totally wireless for the tri-bike. You still have to find a place to install the blip-box and the blips are wired, so 4 short wires to deal with. It may be a pain to install cleanly depending on the bike. But it's easy to hide the wires and makes for a super clean looking install if done right. Not having to run wires to the battery and derailleurs makes it even better.

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Don't drown. Don't crash. Don't walk.

I put electronic on my tri bike so that I could shift while sitting up going into turns and while braking. It's a huge benefit for both speed and safety. I hope to never go back. Another place to put it is on mountain bikes, so that you can always shift into the right gear immediately. That's huge for the big changes from high speed to low when dropping into creeks and suddenly needing to climb up and out. I'm not as convinced there's a need for road bikes unless you're crit racing. But I certainly would put electronic on my road bike if I had the extra bucks to do it. It's awesome stuff.

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