datlas 

I poked the guy who is the USA Habanero contact about my desire for electronic shifting. He agreed no role to drill holes in the frame. He agrees that external Di2 is not ideal. He did offer me a decent price on SRAM Etap upgrade, but the problem is that this includes only the shifters/RD/FD/charger/battery. I would also need a 12 speed freewheel, a 12 speed crank, and the chain which would bring the price from medium to high. Add on the issue of updating the freehub on my rear wheel, and it's a costly $2K headache. I don't think it's worth it.

Bah Humbug

Yeah eTap is stupid pricey. It really all is - I’d like to try Campy but the power meter cranks are stupid. Shimano holds up R7020 and it’s hard to argue with.

Bah Humbug

I just embrace the thirst-trapping.

datlas 

Yeah. I could get new R7000 groupset for under $600 (which maybe I should!) versus spend $2K to get Etap and not even get new brakes. Seems prohibitively costly.

WhyFi

What's your primary motivation - electronic shifting or getting away from the cable-eaters?

genejockey 

I'm starting to think I must be on drugs. The last couple months, but especially the last week or so, I'm just racking up PRs on the same old routes.

For example, a big part of my morning's ride is a 3.8 mile, mostly uphill segment,which Strava says I've ridden 115 times, dating back to 2014. Today I beat my previous best time by 48 seconds! And while I DID intentionally push on it, it wasn't a "tongue-hanging-out, gasping for air" effort. There's a sub-segment of that segment which Strava calls a "Cat 4", and last month I intentionally went for a PR on that, and by pushing really hard so that by the time I got to the top I was panting like a dog on a hot day, I managed to do it in 11:24. Today, with what FELT LIKE less effort, I did it in 10:53.

It's not bike-specific, either. I'm consistently scoring PRs on all 4 bikes. I don't know what's going on, but I LIKE IT!!!

Also, my resting HR is now in the low 40s, down from about 48-50 back in March. Is it possible I'm actually getting fit? That doesn't SOUND like me....

LesterOfPuppets

Cats who climb saguaros are way cuter

datlas 

Both. I expect the newer generation shifters don't eat cables as much as 6700, but I could be wrong. If I knew that a RD cable would not wear out I would be ok with cables.

WhyFi

The Domane chewed up a cable between 7k and 8k miles, but that's the only one I've experienced post-5700.

genejockey 

Bobcats?

Trsnrtr

Yep, I broke one in a 6800 shifter once.

phrantic09

hah!

datlas 

I wonder if maybe I just shift too much. On a typical 60 mile ride I am likely shifting hundreds of times. The terrain here is quite varied.

Most likely I will sit tight with my 10s drivetrain for another year or two, and upgrade to the next generation Shimano, cable vs Di2.

genejockey 

Do you routinely replace your cables every year? I try to remember to do that. Then again, I'm also riding a lot fewer miles than some here. Plus I split it over 4 bikes, so....

WhyFi

Oh, I'm sure that I do that, too; I went to the tight cassette (12-25t) because I'm picky about my torque/cadence at/above threshold, so I shift a lot even if it's relatively flat here.

Velo Vol 

wut

genejockey 

Actually, that sounds about right.

WhyFi

...and you know, if you had Di2, you wouldn't have to wonder - it'd keep track and tell you exactly how much you shift.

Velo Vol 

Why so shifty?

I should count how many times I shift on the way home.

WhyFi

Performance - it's the name of the game.

Bah Humbug

I do but get annoyed with myself because half the time I just shift back again in a few seconds. Lotta rollers. Ought to just learn to power through some of it.

big john

I broke the front shifter cable about 25 miles into a ride, had to ride back in the small ring. I put on an old one I had at home as a temporary fix until the new cables came in. That has to be more than a year ago and the new cables are still sitting on my toolbox.

Twice the rear one frayed and strands started poking me in the hand. It felt like a bee was stinging me when I gripped the hood to stand.
With my Shimano bikes the rear shifting gets all wonky when the cable frays.
Once we were out in the mountains and a guy broke his rear cable so he was stuck in the small cog, not ideal for climbing out of there. I pulled the cable from the shifter end until it was in the second biggest cog and tied it in a knot around the cable stop. He was able to climb like that.

datlas 

That's gold, Jerry. GOLD!

datlas 

I will forgive you since you are still kinda new here. I gave up complaining about it, but I shred/break a RD cable inside my shifter roughly every 2500-3000 miles. I think it's a defect in the design of the 6700 shifters that puts too much stress on the cable inside the shifter. I usually can tell when the cable is starting to go, the shifting gets finicky going to the smaller cogs in back, and because it happens so often I have become adept at changing the cable. Since I am riding 7K miles/year the idea of changing the shift cable yearly does not really apply.

WhyFi

I think that there's definitely something to be said about torqueing your way through it, but it really depends. For me, the most frequent shifting is when I'm hanging on to an effort by my fingernails. It's a different ballgame if I'm holding a steady 85%, and I've got no qualms about keeping it in the same gear and upping the torque significantly for up to a minute or two.