jimicoltrane

I'm 57 and hope to ride 1500 miles per year for the foreseeable future. Most of my rides are 40-90 miles. On this forum I'm likely a novice but in most group settings I'm an intermediate. I live in a part of the country where hills are plentiful (Somerset County, NJ). I'm not a great "ascender" but am hoping to work on it a great deal this year. I think I've convinced myself to buy a new bike. Without being morbid, I'd expect it'd be my last. I'm looking at endurance bikes. Will likely go carbon frame, disc brakes, and ultegra groupset. The Di2 option is on some of the bikes I'm looking at and not on others. The additional cost looks to be several hundred dollars. So I'm wondering if the view of the community here is that the benefit of pushbutton shifting is worth the $$. I can afford it but if I can save the money I would like to .

aubiecat

I'll put it to you this way. I'm 52 and if I could afford Di2 right now I would have them in a second. Building two bikes this year has tapped me out. As soon as I have the funds I'm switching to electronic shifting on my road bike.

69chevy

It depends on what "worth it" means to you.

To me... carbon frames, disc brakes, and electronic shifting aren't worth their premium.

The bike I ride has about $1K in it.

I finish my group rides right next to my buddies on 5K bikes.

If it makes you happy, it's worth it.

For making you a better cyclist... not worth it at all.

Seattle Forrest

I'll share my thoughts but please take them with a grain of salt.

Ultegra shifting is very good. It's quick and smooth and effortless and pretty much always just right. In the past mechanical groups have been less wonderful than they are today, and most people thought Di2 was the obvious choice, but a lot of people think mechanical groups have improved to the point where it isn't so clear anymore.

Di2 will add weight to your bike and that will not help you on the way up the hills. (It won't be a serious handicap here but I'm trying to give you an excuse to hold on to your money.)

dcsix

As a member of the "57" club as well, for me I would seek ways to simplify cycling a bit (or perhaps just have less to think about?) and I think this is a way to do it, as counter-intuitive as that may be to some. In the next year or two I hope to be able to buy an E-tap or Di2/Ui2 Roubaix, Synapse, or similar. Maybe even a SRAM 1x setup...E-tap.

thin_concrete

I have the mechanical Ultegra 6800 on my bike and it's amazing in how precise the shifts are and how responsive the system is. Well, I thought so until I took my friend's 6870 setup out for a few miles on some hilly terrain. Wow. Simply wow. I can't justify spending money on an upgrade now, but I will look at electronic shifting if and when it comes time to replacing parts.

sced

Shifting is shifting isn't it? One can split hairs and over analyze, but the reality is that a gazillion more people are perfectly happy with mechanical than those waxing the virtues of electronic.

rm -rf

(Heh, I bought my "last bike I'll ever need" 11 years ago. I've since bought two more. But I also know riders that only have a nice 15 or 20 year old bike that they still ride every day.)

You may find yourself doing more than 1500 miles per year. That's 70 miles per week for riding just May through September.

Di2
My Di2 bike is great on smaller rolling hills. I'm always shifting to match the change in grade or speed. It's easy, like clicking a mouse. Rear shifts are instant and work perfectly even under load. And front shifts are so easy that I shift the front even on very short hills. I used to shift a lot, and now I shift even more. The same comments apply to fast-for-me group rides: I'm working hard to stay with the group, so I try to be at the best cadence.

Some riders will slow their pedaling cadence way down and mash up the hills instead of shifting. Di2 wouldn't help them as much.

My other bike is for gravel roads or light touring/all-day rides. It's mechanical shifting, mainly because I wanted a triple crankset, for lots of cruising gears and also very low gears for long climbs, and Di2 is doubles only (An electronic triple would be amazing!) I'm going slower and typically not pushing the effort, so that's fine with mechanical shifting. I do miss the fast and easy front shifts the most.


Disk brakes
I'm still not sold on disk brakes, but in the last year or so, they've become more common on my group rides. I think lots of bikes come with them because they are a selling point in the stores--something new.

They used to be prone to squealing, but I don't notice that too much now. Regular rim brakes are very good on the road. If I was descending big, steep hills, I might think about disks more.

softreset

Manufacturer published weight:

Ultegra Di2 (6870) - 2359g
Ultegra Mech (6800) - 2368g

Seattle Forrest

Thanks for the correction.

SnowCYYCling

I want to say no because I'm traditional but i own a disc brake road bike. When there are cheap options in the future i might just switch. Doesn't seem necessary for an endurance bike, especially if you're not racing. If you've never owned sram, i suggest you try it. Shift quality comparing 105 to rival is so much better with sram.

redfooj

id get sram red because of fewer cables

garysol1 

Di2 is all that. I had Ultegra 6770 for 3 years and it never missed a beat. No cables to replace. No cables to adjust....... really nothing EVER needed adjustment. I charged my battery a few times a season and that was it. Yes electronic shifting is all that its cracked up to be. With that said I went back to mechanical on my new bike with Dura Ace 9000 and I really do not miss the electronic. So I guess what I am saying is a quality drivetrain is a quality drivetrain. Neither electronic or mechanical makes or breaks the ride. Buy the best you can afford and buy once.

Doge

Venge has DA Di2, Tarmac has DA cables. Raleigh has 10spd gen 1 Di2.
Tarmac is the flying bike, training bike and general purpose racer and Venge is the special occasion no one is going faster.

Di2 is better.

But...it is more likely to change. So if you want classic, no hassle go cables.

Because of what you said about yourself - last bike...I'd think cables.
If you want to get a new setup every couple years and stay state of the art - Di2

Edit Add:
Di2 does not auto shift as cables on a flexi frame may. That is generally a thing of the past on modern frames, but thought I'd mention it.

Nachoman

Interesting. I wonder how many people go back to mechanical from electric. I assume not many.

garysol1 

I swore I would never go back to mechanical but I guess in the end the $1,000 extra was more than I thought it was worth. Granted the next model up also had a few other goodies included for the 1k but nothing that I really cared about.

Doge

I just posted - my son did for other than performance reasons.

Up North

You will only live once, if you can afford it then go Di2 you will love it. I have both Ultegra Di2 and DA Di2 and love them. Never going back to mechanical, never.

ltxi

In my unworthy opinion....Di2, hands down.

StanSeven

I'm going on four years now with Di2. Never had a missed shift, perfectly shifted both front and rear under load climbing at very low cadence, haven't ever adjusted anything, and charged the battery probably a dozen times. With cable I know many of my shifts wouldn't have worked, I likely would be on my third set of cables, and I would have done numerous barrel adjustments during that time.

ypsetihw

nope, don't do it.

here's why - everyone that puts a battery and even more RF radiation around their bodies, at will, while paying for it, is going to encourage companies to introduce incredible complexity and cost to something that does not EVER need it. am I the only one who keeps it in the back of my mind that if SHTF I can still ride my bike?! NOT IF YOU HAVE DI2!!! water, salt, battery degradation, broken charging cables, impact shock, glitchy software, lack of access to electricity, interference from various radio waves - I can think of literally 1000 scenarios where di2 will get messed up when a cable derailleur simply will not. period.

this is a push to make you spend money and incorporate ever increasing planned obsolescence. don't BUY into it - literally.

ypsetihw

totally this. I just have to wonder, if electronic is so frickin hot and good, then why not electronic wireless brakes? because when failure is not an option, wireless batteries are not an option.

sold on di2 but NOT DISC BRAKES?! the horror! the blasphemy! frankly I don't want either on my road bike. if all this nonsense keeps up, maybe I'll move over to a brakeless fixie with an internal 5 speed hub and just give the middle finger to everyone LOL

Up North

So what wattage will you put out when the zombies are chasing you. isn't it hard to ride wrapped in tinfoil?

ltxi

Ahhh.....just keep keep the mechanical bike as back-up for use after the EMP hits. 'Lessen you have a pacemaker....if that then it won't matter.

ypsetihw

that's a cheap shot. this isn't about zombies. let me rephrase. I like bikes. I LOVE my bike. while I am mechanically inclined and intelligent, something appeals to me about the simplicity and reliability of bicycles. they can run for basically FOREVER with the correct maintenance. when you introduce unnecessary electronic complexity, you introduce problems. I believe, among other things, that this is a planned aspect of the development of this technology, in order to leverage you into buying MORE down the line. and given that you bought the first or second generation of a very expensive thing, it's a great way for marketers and manufacturers to identify those people with money to burn. batteries die quicker than cables fail. that is a fact.

and yes, if the zombies come, I have bikes AND guns, and the knowledge and equipment to live off the grid. so you're welcome to bike your ass over here to Buffalo from SW Ontario and join me. but if your di2 fails, and you can't keep up with whatever gear it fails in, I will leave you.