I have Di2 on my TT bike and eTap on my road bike. I have never used Campy, so I cannot compare it. However, I think Di2 is perfect for a TT bike (better than eTap in that application), and eTap is best on a road bike. The reason I like Di2 is because I can do a totally hidden installation, and Synchro shift is a dream on a TT bike. eTap's Blip Box is too big to be hidden, and if hidden you cannot access it for micro adjustments. eTap's road bike shift interface is brilliant.

I bought a bare p5 frame and built eps 11 athena on it.
I do not shift from the bullhorns though, only from the extensions. SoI can run the magura hydrolic brakes.

It certainly was a hassle to build it, and I had to exchange the battery in the beginning (on guarantee).

Lets put it this way: running campagnolo on a TT makes you a non-conformist, or even a maverick.

My old TT bike is built up with Record EPS. Great shifting and works fine with Shimano/Sram 11 speed cassettes. I wanted to move it over to my new TT bike, except there was no way to get the battery mounted internal to the frame. I ended up building the new TT bike with eTap. I’ll say the EPS shifts a hair quicker, but I’ve had no issues with eTap so far. Sure it may not be easy to hide the blip box, and I may spend some time in the off-season to find a better location for it, but for now it currently sits right behind my ELEMNT.

I did V2 EPS on my road bike and it took me days to install. I did an eTap install in probably 30 minutes including adjustments. I run the same cassettes and wheels on both bikes without issue. I love the clicks for shifting from the aero bars and I would say the shifting is more solid on the eTap.

I have never been a SRAM fan and have used Campy for decades, but ditching the wires is so nice. I just don't see myself ever wanting anything but a wireless drivetrain.

Entirely with Mike on this.

Like you all my bikes up until last year have been Campag, road and TT. After a bit of reading and looking at costs I went for an etap setup and wouldn't ever look back. Easy to install and setup, 11 speed is cross compatible so I can use all of the Campag cassettes I've got. For the same reasons was able to buy a HED 9 rear which came with a Shimano freehub and cassette for the occasions I don't use my disc and all work well and are fully interchangeable.

I'm not in a position to compare to Di2 but unless something better appears I wouldn't think of building up another bike without etap especially as it doesn't make any of my existing Campagnolo equipment obsolete.

My few pennies on this topic. I wouldn't touch EPS. I have a friend with it and though he doesn't dislike it, it is more expensive and just not as good as etap or Di2. I have 3 bikes now with Di2 (2 road and 1 tri bike) as well as another TT bike with eTap. I think both systems are great, but the Di2 is slightly quicker to respond and has been ridiculously solid for me over a long time. I'm still running an original 10 speed Di2 6870 on a road bike and that thing has 25,000 miles on it. Still performs flawlessly. During that time all I've ever done is replace jockey wheels, cassette, etc. I've never done a damn thing with any of the Di2 stuff except clean it off occasionally.

were it me making the decision, i think there's a little more i'd need. do you feel you need shifting on the pursuits? do you want synchro? i wrote about synchro yesterday. one thing is for certain, i'm done with multiple buttons on the same shifter. it's either shimano 1-button or its SRAM blips or clicks.

you maybe oughta answer some more fundamental questions about your use pattern. how you see yourself using the system. how it affects your fit (i hate the extension the button-based shifters from shimano affect the ergonomics; but i really like the 1-button shifters). then the answers to those questions may decide the choice.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I have eTap on the TT now for the second year. My left blip was broken and needed to be replaced. I was generally OK with it but just got my new road bike with DuraAceDi2.
That was a wake up call!!
The eTap is so far away from that. I would never go back. The DuraAce is much more precise, much quicker response. Simply feels better.
eTap, I probably have been ending up riding single speed for like 6 times already in 18 months!! Battery keeps dying. First I thought that there is something broken. No, its just normal. I usually throw my bike in my SUV and that is where the problem starts. There must be some sort of a sensor that is eating up the batteries when the bike is in a not upright position. My old Ultegra DI2 needed to get charged after 2 years or so.
Ceramicspeed, I do have the OWS and it works ok. I realize it may interfere with the shifting comfort but works quite good. Whats NOT OK is the use of Qrings and front derailleur!!! My bike mechanic gives up. Once again, if I wouldnt have the exact same configuration now on my roadbike I would throw the Qrings away but with the DA it just works perfect!
Speaking about these blips, hence they sit under the tape the response of course depends a lot on how thick the tape is. I prefer lizard skins and its just OK.

I don't have a glue about EPS. But I definitely can recommend the DI2 over the eTap. Of course I liked the setting up of the eTap and honestly, lazy as I am thats why I choose it. I would not do it again.

There is a reason why SRAM recommends removing the batteries from the derailleurs when transporting the bike, and that's because the derailleurs will stay active due to the vibrations detected while traveling in/on the vehicle.


Qrings work perfectly fine with both my eTap and EPS front derailleurs.

Hell no, which is why I went eTap when I couldn't move my EPS groupset over to my new bike.

I've had both di2 and etap on tri bikes...

I built a new bike recently, and to me it was a no brainer to go with di2.

- no draining of battery due to movement, no need to remove battery, no risk of breaking battery tabs or losing batteries.
- battery charge lasts.....forever....
- easier to hide the small di2 junction box compared to the etap box.
- proven reliable over the past 10+ years. Still read about broken blips and rd's failing with etap
- big selection of di2 parts / price points.
- easier availability of parts for di2
- di2 shifts feel faster (not saying it really matters, but its noticeable)

The only thing I liked more about etap, was, yes, its faster to install. But does that really matter? You are installing once, does it matter if it takes a couple hours?

Subjective. I know a few people that had to race single speed when their Di2 battery died mid race. I know someone who's Di2 battery died and required replacement just out of warranty.

All hardware can have faults, but I can say EPS and eTap have performed flawlessly for me to this point, giving me no reason to even consider Di2 as an option. With Shimano removing shift buttons and adding Synchro shift, I really have no reason to consider Shimano for any TT bike in the future.

Thanks all for the great input so far.

To answer questions of one poster on intended uses: I am a long course athlete. I live in hilly San Francisco Bay area and tend to ride and race hillier courses. I absolutely want ability to shift on the pursuits, that's the primary reason I want electronic shifting actually. I currently run Force/Red mixed mechanical on my TT bike and am happy with the shift performance. Syncho shift seems cool, but I haven't used it so hard to say if it's really a "must have". I like "1 button, 1 action" shifting which drew me to eTAP, but I do seem to read many more reports of malfunction vs Di2, especially considering eTAP market share relative to Di2.

Based on feedback, I think I can rule out eTAP. Between the slower shifts, inability to hide junction box (I like a clean look) and more frequently reported failures, I think it's between Di2 and EPS.

Several of you have mentioned you've successfully used Shimano hubs/cassettes with EPS. I'll admit this blows my mind. I tried using my Campy bikes on a Shimano cassette Wahoo and couldn't get the thing to shift worth a damn without making derailleur adjustments. So good to know cross-compatibility is an option.

I guess the remaining question is, other than Syncho Shift and cost are there any other major pros/cons of EPS vs Di2?

The frameset I'm thinking of using for the build is a Canyon CF 8.0, which comes with Shimano 105 and Mavic Costmic wheels, which I figure I'd sell, leaving me with a $1500ish frameset (not bad). I do wonder if it's Record worthy, but EPS v3 seems better than EPS v2 which is all that's available for Chorus.

If you decide to go with EPS, definitely go Record EPS with the v3 battery and interface. The battery is better designed for installing internal to a frame, and the v3 interface allows charging from the interface itself, where as with v2, you need access to the battery to charge it.

Don’t get me wrong, etap is still fine! I doubt that EPS is working better than etap. I had several super record bikes back in the mechanical days. I never considered eps hence the price tag was outrageous and the technology simply outdated.

To me campa is a little bit like Ferrari or Ducati. Lots of emotions but requires compromises and some fan boy glasses.

Based on my experience, my advice to you is this: do not buy any SRAM product, ever.

My right Force shifter broke after two years. The left one developed some play in the shifting paddle. More recently (see my recent post), my rear eTap stopped functioning properly after 3 month of use and one ride in the rain. Most everyone I know that use SRAM groupsets have had something break on them within 2 years.

Other than that, SRAM eTap is pretty meh. I have the road group and the front shifting is imperfect. Rear shifting is pretty slow, which is not really a problem but annoying. I haven't had any issue however with the battery discharging too fast; I normally charge them once every month.