Wait until Shimano comes out with wireless 12 speed road groups.

My only two wireless failures were user error or ignorance:

1. I killed the battery on my road bike shifter when I put the car in the trunk and rested the wheel on the shift button.
2. I forgot to charge and one of my derailleur batteries died. No worries, I just swapped them.

I freakin' love it and would every time in a snap.

One big modern hitch... I would probably not get AXS. I do not like the 12 speed with an 10-tooth cog. I rarely use my 11, so I would never use a 10. Seems dumb to me. That, and I would need a hub adapter.

Yeah, one big one:

I can't afford it.

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I have them in my three bikes and absolutely love it. They are two original etaps from when they were launched some years ago, one for the roadie an another one for the TT. Plus an axs for the MTB. Zero issues. Set it and forget it.

edit: just read the title of the thread and it says wireless, not electronic. The first half of this isn't relevant.


DI2 on road bike: Works perfect. In 3 years I've had one snag, which was a RD that stopped working mid ride at a training camp. I didn't crash or anything...it just stopped working and i had to buy another. It's been perfect since. But riding without a functioning RD at team camp in hilly Austin TX sucked.

eTap (11spd 2x) on gravel bike: The rear shifting is amazing. It felt slower than di2, but i got used to it. I'm extremely happy with the rear shifting. Front shifting is a different story. I often consider running a bar end shifter in my drop bars (with cable) routed to a mechanical front derailleur. It would like like absolute crap on an otherwise very clean 3T Exploro, but it's probably worth it. The etap FD has been nothing but trouble for me. It impacts tire clearance. It's moved on me even when torqued to spec. The shifting is crap, even when perfectly aligned using the tick marks on the derailleur. I can't think of any other Sram product i've ever disliked other than this etap FD. I've worked on it. I've had multiple mechanics at different shops work on it. No luck, and i don't want to fork over money for a new etap RD with a clutch to go 1x.

I got electronic shifting on my new Roubaix in July of last year. My first impression was that I shifted a lot more frequently since it was so easy to do so. My second impression was that I frequently shifted the wrong direction. Not sure why but I continue, infrequently, to do this to this day. My most recent impression of electronic shifting, which is positive, is that I love just having to push a button to shift when my fingers are frozen :)

It’s really not wireless people dislike, it’s the “slow” shifting and battery issues that can happen with etap and AXS. They just lump those issues as “wireless” even though they aren’t related.

Like it or not, high end components are moving to wireless. Shimano is going wireless which should be released pretty soon. I for one, will be happy to get rid of as many wires as possible.

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For all you electronic AND wireless folks, do you find yourself adjusting your RD a lot less to get 'perfect' shifting compared to mechanical?

Was wondering - for me, almost every time that my shifting is 'slightly off', it's not because of a simple barrel adjuster issue, it's because my RD hangar got slightly misaligned, probably because I laid the bike down or something like that (haven't crashed in years.) I'd speculate that electronic shifting wouldn't solve that at all, but should be technically easier to fix given the lack of cable management?

1st-gen eTap was a *little* slow. But barely noticeable. AXS is snappy. Front and rear. Super short lever throw with nice, satisfying "click" feel, and the shift is finished by the time that very short throw is released. (assuming you're pedalling fast enough for the still-mechanical chain wrapping to take place quickly).

I haven't had an issue with any battery in like ~5 years. I've heard anecdotally some people breaking the tabs that hold the battery on, but they seem pretty robust to me. I've been *hard* on my bikes.

I have Di2 on 3 bikes. From the original DA Di2 up to current Ultegra. For me, it’s been set it and forget it. When I’ve gotten a new wheelset, I may have to fin tune the rear. Takes a few seconds.

The rings are smaller, so the relative use would be the same, in theory.

From an efficiency standpoint, you have a case.

I was resistant but took a smoking deal on an AXS Red bike. I sized up my rings to the biggest (50/36), and find I'm usually still in efficient cogs for most road riding. That and using wax lube, I still think I check the "efficient drivetrain" box. I'm overall pretty impressed with AXS.

And yes, you have a case with the new hub (XDR) and BB "standards" (DUB). They are fine, but it's annoying losing backwards compatibility with current garage inventory.

I actually make in ride shifting adjustments. I notice that when I switch from a wheelset with 10-33 cassette to a wheelset with a 10-36 cassette that the shifting isn't perfect. So in the first 10 minutes of riding on the new wheelset, I'll use microshift the rear derailleur a few times to make the shifting work better. I imagine if a rock hit my derailleur and slightly bent my RD hangar, I could adjust the RD while pedaling to get most of the cogs to work fine.

If I don't switch wheelsets, I don't touch the system. It just works. The front derailleur on the AXS system is a bit finnicky. Works great on my gravel bike where the wedge makes good contact with the frame, but I'll sometimes have issues with my tri bike since the wedge doesn't fit between the frame and FD as well.

I love the DUB. I bought a quarq with DUB knowing that I can put it on any road bike I have or might get.

DUB isn’t a new BB standard. It’s just a crankset design that’s made to work with any and all existing BB standards.

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Didn't work with any of my BBs. I had to get new DUB BBs. It might work with any shell design, but you need new hardware.

DUB doesn’t work with bb90.

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The BB standard refers to the shell. (BSA, BB30, etc). Dub bb’s are available in all of those standards.

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The "30" in BB30 is the spindle diameter - nothing to do with the shell. In fact you can have a "BB30" BB on a bike with a 68mm shell width. Or wider.

I see "BB spec" as a system including shell, crank, and bearing structure. DUB is yet another new spec for 2/3 of that system

Sorry, I meant PF30. Or bbright, etc etc. I forget all of them. I view the BB and the crank as one complete system. Hell, even in the square taper days you had to match the spindle length and taper standard (Japanese and Italian tapers were different) to the crankset, that’s nothing new.

My main point is that DUB will work with any frame, which BB30 will not. All the benefits of bb30 without the drawbacks.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Both of my bikes are pretty much "set it and forget it" except for charging batteries. You don't have to worry about dirty cables, worn ferrels, etc messing up your shifts. All of that time I'm saving on derailleur adjustments and cable changes is now spent trying to prevent disc rub on my one bike with disc brakes. Zing!

This is not accurate. Dub will not work on a Trek Speed Concept or any trek with bb90.

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