Originally Posted by
spectastic
question for the fancy di2 etap people. do you worry about having to eventually replace perishable parts? for example, during crashes, the levers are often the first to hit the ground. same with the rear derailleur. also, overtime, the rear derailleur bushing will start to wear out, and the derailleur starts to wiggle at the hanger junction, leading to potential mis-shifts or sluggish shifting. are these things people have seen to be a problem? I've had this problem with my cable setup, and that's why I'm not considering upgrading to electronic anytime soon.
judging by regular participants around here, i've probably used electronic groups the most/longest. i've crashed out of races hard enough to break my femur. been hit by a car hard enough to crack my frame (shimano c24 wheels survived without going out of round/true ... and i knocked the bumper off the car!
).
i wouldn't worry about wearing out the RD. the stuff that wears (pulleys) is pretty easily replaced, and if you care for your stuff (keep the drivetrain clean) parts last a long, long time.
never heard of anyone worrying about the RD bushing wearing out and leading to play at the hanger interface.
guess you need to consider what you can afford (or not) to replace. in racing, you do risk ruining parts. i've had levers get cosmetically scraped up, but they were always usable. you can replace hoods. it's rare to lose a complete group in a crash, so often you would be replacing a single part (RD or lever).
i think this should be pretty low on the list to NOT go electronic unless the delta on the single mechanical part vs the lowest level of electronic part is going to break you. e.g., even if you had an otherwise DA Di2 setup, if you absolutely had to you could replace it with a used Ultegra RD if you crushed the DA RD in a crash. probably would not be a big price difference between that and a mechanical replacement.
hard to say without knowing what you value and your financial situation.