GrizzlyPeaks

Ald1 

I have no experience with Ultraglide but when I built my Domane 9 I choose Etap and love it. What is the weight penalty anyway? The electronic is fast and accurate. You can also double shift with one action (hold left/right down release one side a hair ahead so front shifts and the back up/or down. You can hold and run the grears up/down. I do have another bike with Shamino 105 and index shifting works well too. As a returning "old fart", after decades of a lay off who used friction downtube shifting, the advances in bike tech, to me, are remakable.

GrizzlyPeaks

Bob Ross

I would either switch to eTap for the advantages of electronic shifting, or stick with your Ultegra 6800, because imho Red 22 doesn't offer significant advantages over 6800 and yet does require a different shifting paradigm. No point in putting your brain and muscle-memory through that just to save a few ounces.

GlennR

Shimano / Sram is a personal preference.

I've been riding Sram for 9 years and have ridden Shimano find the shifting odd and clumsy (I have using the brake levers for shifting).

My 2015 Trek Emonda was built with Red 22 since eTap was not available. In 2016 I was able to purchase a "promo" eTap mini groupset. Between the cost of eTap and what I was able to sell my 1 year old Red 22 parts, the upgrade only cost me $600.

So... if you're doing it just for the weight saving, don't do it. If you're doing it because you're "Sram curious" do it. Etap is great and I feel its well worth the added cost. But Red 22 is also awesome.

BTW, Sram will soon be releasing eTap 12 speed.. so wait. That will make it well worth it.

balut bandit

Today's lesson:

"Significantly lighter" is significantly subjective.

Dean V

I found the transition from Shimano to double tap very easy, No problem or time at all to adapt to the different shifting system.

GrizzlyPeaks

joelcool

I recently went from a bike with Sram Rival to one with Ultegra 6800. If I were to do it again I would have gone with Red. I rode bikes with Di2 and Etap during my research. I do like the wireless of the Etap system. The electronic shifting is fine, but in my personal opinion not a game changer. I just don't like the idea of having to charge up my bike. I already have to charge my phone, lights and now bike computer, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal to add the bike to the routine, but I do like the idea of simplicity the cables provide. Again, nothing against electronic, it's just me.

I don't like the little half shift I have to do on the 6800, but the system is a work horse and will probably last me a long, long time. For me it's not worth a switch until I have a good reason to do so.

GlennR

I get over 700 miles on a single charge.

Tom L

I've had e tap on my road bike for a year, no issues

have to charge the batteries about once a month , and it only takes an hour total

great system IMO

Seattle Forrest

Whenever I switch between a SRAM and Shimano bike, I always do the first 300 or so shifts wrong. Takes time to break an old habit. It's not like either one is a better or more obvious way to do it, I just get used to what I'm riding.

I'd say stick with 6800 or go to eTap, but not in between.

Dean V

It must just depend on the individual.
I had ridden Shimano and Campag for many years and did think I might take a while to get used to double tap.
But as I said, I found it very easy.
Actually swapping to Di2 is what took me the longest to get used to.

cyclebycle13

I went from red to etap. Go for the etap. I love it. Now have 2 bikes with it. Once it's dialed in it's perfect. So much easier to adjust than fiddling with cables and if you ever switch it from one bike to the other it's just so much easier to move (again, only brake cables).

UmneyDurak

Went with Etap three years ago, and not going back. Have it on my race bike and rain bike. It just works. No need to adjust the cables, or replace them. After riding in the rain shifting is not affected. As for charging. It's not a big deal. Check every few days after a ride. If light is red, pop them out charge and pop back in. I am still on original batteries for shifters. I was a skeptic myself, but after switching to eTap I really like it.

maartendc

When I heard of electronic shifting even existing a couple of years ago from my uncle who is like 65, and he told me some of his riding buddies had electronic shifting I said: hahaha, that is ridiculous, who would need that?

I still stand by this stance today. It is just not needed, expensive, just one more thing you have to keep charged. And if it malfunctions, there is no way to "fix" it on the side of the road, as opposed to mechanical shifters.

I am sure the shifting is nice and all, but to me, it is just a solution in search of a problem. Never thought mechanical shifting was bad or cumbersome.

I would go with the Red 22 mechanical if I was you. That is just me though.

popeye

Charging for an hour every 3-6 mo. is worth it for never missing a shift plus all the bells and whistles. This family will never go back. The prices at PBK make it a nobrainer.

scott967

An alternative to Red mechanical might be to go with Force but use a red crankset. You get most of the weight advantage that way.

scott s.
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GlennR

Also the batteries are interchangeable. So if you forget the check the status lights and the RD battery goes dead, you can use the FD battery and still continue your ride You just have to decided on which chainring you want to stay in.

BTW... I still have the original shifter batteries that come in it from 2016.

Bob Ross

This is encouraging, as I've been using eTap for one year and was just beginning to wonder what the symptoms of a shifter battery going dead are. Does anyone even know?

GlennR

https://sram.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/ar...ter-batteries-
BTW, when transporting your bike, remove the battery from the FD and RD since they will activate the battery since the car is moving.

UmneyDurak

My teammate does this. Personally haven't noticed a difference when driving my bike to races each weekend.

maartendc

That is such a weird piece of advice. I switch regularly between my commuter bike with Shimano downtube shifters, my Trek with Campagnolo shifters, and my BMC with Sram shifters. After riding one bike for 5-6 hours, and switching to another, my brain maybe goes to the wrong shifting position once or twice, before adjusting perfectly fine.

I am sure that you would get used to going from Shimano to SRAM in like 1 day and never notice it after that.

Bob Ross

Actually, my piece of advice is based on precisely the exact situation that you describe: "After riding one bike for 5-6 hours, and switching to another, my brain maybe goes to the wrong shifting position once or twice, before adjusting perfectly fine."
Up until very recently I owned four bikes with four completely different shifting paradigms:
- SRAM eTap (left paddle moves chain to larger cogs, right paddle moves chain to smaller cogs, both paddles simultaneously flips the status of the chainrings)
- Campy Record (large lever behind the brake lever moves chain to larger cogs/chainrings, thumb lever moves chain to smaller cogs/chainrings)
- Shimano Ultegra (the brake lever itself moves chain to larger cogs/chainrings, small(er) lever behind the brake lever moves chain to smaller cogs/chainrings)
- Suntour downtube shifters (pulling lever towards you moves chain to larger cogs/chainrings, pushing lever away from you moves chain to smaller cogs/chainrings)
So yep, every time I grabbed a different bike there was a moment of "mental recalibration" required, and even then there was usually a biffed shift or two during the ride. Great way to build new neural pathways, lousy way to miss the jump in a breakaway.

But why would you want to biff that shift once or twice when there's not necessarily any other advantage to adopting an alternate shifting paradigm?
The OP rides Ultegra (see shifting paradigm #3 , above). The advantages of eTap (shifting paradigm #1 , above) are well-documented and exist irrespective of how the shift is actuated. Moving from Ultegra to eTap would be considered an upgrade, and therefore worth some "mental recalibration" and/or biffed shifts.
Moving from Ultegra to SRAM Red mechanical (shifting paradigm not yet described; feel free to condense Double-Tap™ to some pithy description) offers no demonstrable advantage [sic], it only offers a modest weight savings. Why would you want to bother putting your brain through that for no payback? It's not worth the upgrade.

mw22224444

Something about using a coin battery in the shifters sounds like a blast from 1990. And having differentially wearing lithium batteries elsewhere concerns me a bit but can easily be overcome with more frequent charing. My main issue with ETAP is the delay in shifting compared to Di2 which is a far superior product. Let's see how 12-speed ETAP improves on these issues.

I would get ETAP over RED22 if I had complex internal cabling that I didn't want to deal with or wanted to just try something different. Properly tuned mechanical shifting is equally good, and I have used both thoroughly.