I really like the Ultegra Di2 on my tri bike, if you can, go for the base-bar mounted satellite shifters incorporated into the brake levers - makes the bike so much more versatile. Probably doesn’t save you much time in a race, but the convenience of not needing to reach forward to change gears when you aren’t aero is fantastic.
Have fun with choosing all your parts, planning is half of the fun!
Cheers, Rich
In motor sport racing, it’s obvious to everyone that being the optimal gear at all times makes a big difference in performance. It always amazes me that bikers do not see the same “obviousness” of this for bike racing.
Shifters took ona huge mechanical disadvantage to move from the down tube to the brake levers but the advantages of faster, more convenient shifting made it worthwhile.
Try to get a serious bike racer back to down tube shifters and see how that goes.
Dual position, faster, easier shifting means you will be in an optimum gear more often which means you will race faster. It’s obvious!
Of course, I always take heat for this position but all you need to do to test a theory is exagerate the conditions and see if it holds true at the extremes.
For example, if you feel that being in the wrong gear coing out of a corner is insignificant, what if the race course hade a 100 corners? Or optimizing your gear position while climbing from the horns, what if half the race was climbing with long , gradual hills? Or, if being 1 gear off climbing a hill meant you just pedaled harder, what happens if you’re 3 gears off?
In all these cases, it’s obvious that being on an optimized gear helps… 100% of the time. It should also be obvious that the more often you’re in the correct gear for any condition, and any length, the faster you will arrive at the finish line.
