GlennR

You were complaining about the metrics they use to measure battery life. I was pointing out that if you charge the battery when you charge your Garmin, the number of shifts/miles/hours doesn't matter.

BoSoxYacht

Unless you ride at temps below zero Fahrenheit, or above 110F, you shouldn't have any temperature related battery issues.

JohnJ80

Should be. Has really nothing to do with which company made the battery but rather what chemistry. I believe they are the same chemistry (Li-ion) so they should both have the same capacity performance in cold and hot.

J.

rpenmanparker 

Nobody wants to hear that. I have already died once on that hill. The position favored by the majority of users seems to be that Shimano has published a spec, and by G-d they are going to be held to it. Folks seem to rather risking being stranded on the road due to an exhausted battery than letting Shimano get away with misrepresenting the battery charge life. What fun is it to charge your DI2 battery every week or so and be safe when, instead, you can ***** and moan about how you never get the charge life you were promised?

GlennR

Nice ting about the Sram batteries, are they disconnect in a second and you can bring them inside to charge. you don't have to brin the bike to a outlet.

Robius

I wish they could be charged only with a usb cord, instead they do have a special charger.

https://www.sram.com/sram/road/produ...attery-charger

jbchybridrider 

Charge generated by the hub would be nice.

hueyhoolihan

and only activated while simultaneously braking and coasting.

Dave Cutter

When I was a kid a flashlight really did have a "flash button" (the round button in front of the sliding switch). And because batteries and battery life was so crappy that is how a "flash" light was used. You'd push he button for just a "flash" while scanning the area for obstructions. Using a mere flash/fraction of a second of battery life/light maybe every 20 feet.

Whatever battery life is for the shifters... it will improve. And since the average speed even for a pro is still under 25mph (40KM).... 1000km (25 hours) ain't that bad.

The battery in my car key (that alarms and locks my car)... has been exposed to just about any and everything I'd ever put me or a bicycle through. I think weatherproof technology has been perfected for this kind of stuff.

I LIKE the idea of wireless electric shifters! I also like DT mounted friction shifters too. I say embrace the new... and preserve the old.

Dave Cutter

The new way to charge batteries is via an RF charger. An internal antenna receives radio waves and uses that energy to charge the battery. As these devices are perfected... it is possible that a fine wire embedded in the bicycles frame could gather all the charge the bicycle might ever need.

But.... a [wireless device] RF charger in the garage could charge your electric drill, leaf blower, and your bicycle and it's accessories... without you ever giving it a thought (or plugging anything in).

snotrockets

I don't want my car to change gears for me, why would I want my bike?

revchuck 

I work in an LBS and was curious about this too. QBP has the eTap stuff listed but with zero inventory and shows the end of April as the get-well date.

rpenmanparker 

Does it not bother you even a little that most folks made it out of the 20th century before you even made it into it?

joejack951

'Changing gears' in a car has become 'push a button' too. But one still has control over those shift points. A computer trying to select the right cadence for me is a terrible idea especially since it doesn't control the power output of my legs at the same time.

rpenmanparker 

Fine, but that isn't the point I was addressing.

As for your point, the computer wouldn't be selecting the cadence, you would. The computer would be obeying your choice at whatever power output you felt like exerting at any given time. If you didn't wish to utilize that function, you would deselect it, i.e. turn it off. What's not to like?

JohnJ80

Not unless you wanted to be cooked when you walked into your garage (need really high power levels). The RF charging is at pico/microwatt levels. You cannot deliver enough power to work an electric motor to run a leaf blower or a derailleur (for that matter) on those power levels. You're up against laws of physics in that you need a certain amount of energy to move a certain mass a certain distance. You'll never be able to deliver that with an RF charger unless you want to wait a very, very, very long time for the charge to complete.

J.

JohnJ80

So do Di2 batteries if you choose that form factor. I have the seat tube battery because I think it looks better. The SRAM drive train would look better if the batteries were hidden too.

I'm interested to see how FSA is going to do it. Apparently their FD and RD are wired together and have a single battery. The shifters are wireless so it's kind of a hybrid wireless/wired system. The only wire runs through the seat tube through the chain stay form FD to RD as I understand it. That might be the optimum mix of wired/wireless and have advantages.

I agree. It's silly. You can easily check the charge on your battery with the shift levers and the junction box under the stem. Even if I had to charge my battery once a week, it wouldn't be a problem for the value gained by the shifting.

J.

Butchchr

With all of the wireless signals being sent at once in the peloton I could see some signal interference. I can't wait to hear about the first accusations of someone hacking the wireless system to force someone else to have a mechanical...

But in all seriousness I am intrigued by the eTap system from a ergonomic standpoint. Last year I suffered a hand injury and since then Shimano shifters (mechanical included) have fallen out of favor with me as I don't have the same motion and can no longer feel the difference between the levers and have grabbed the wrong one a few times. I find myself riding my Sram an Campy equipped bikes a lot more frequently. I am excited about the one lever solution. I do like the wireless but it seems like it has a lot of things that need to get developed outside of the batteries.

joejack951

Can you elaborate on your real point? I clearly missed it.

My point is that my cadence varies as a function of many things that a computer doesn't know. Accelerating, braking, climbing, sprinting, etc. My point about power was that a computer can't ease up on the power for me so that the shift goes smoothly. I know when I shift so I can be prepared for it. A computer shifting for me could come as a bad surprise if the shift was unexpected. The gain in performance would be nothing (it would be a mere convenience for casual cycling, IMHO) so I see no attraction to automatic shifting.

Automatic shifting in a car allows me to be lazy compared to manual shifting which is convenient in traffic. I can't stand it otherwise. My wife and I share our cars so I no longer daily drive a manual shift car, though.

Jakedatc

I don't think the SRAM batteries look any bigger than the DI2 servos. and certainly having no wires and junction box makes the cockpit a lot cleaner with Etap.

BoSoxYacht

$1660 for the shifters, derailleurs, and charger.

rpenmanparker 

My point was that standard transmissions in autos are nearly extinct in the USA. Only 3.9% of cars sold here had manual transmissions in 2013 including performance cars which were likely the bulk of the sales. Naturally you are entitled to have what you want (as long as it is still offered), but I was just emphasizing how unusual that is these days. Forgive my humor if it fell flat.

As for automatic bike shifting, should it ever be offered, I'm quite certain it would be optional and could be toggled on/off, perhaps from the shift buttons. So the development would not have to inconvenience you while gratifying others. Everyone wins.

rpenmanparker 

That's list? If so, the UK price could be quite affordable. That's the only parts I need. Well not quite, also the cassette and chain. Still...

adrien

I've ridden Shimano and Campy electronic systems extensively. While I like the theory, I've found them a little fussy, and the look of the Campy battery reminded me of the Ghostbusters backpacks. I loved the smooth, fuss-free shifting. I liked the terminator noise of the servos. And i hated the idea that a bike would be another thing in my life that required a USB port to be plugged in. I tend to forget this stuff.

I have SRAM grossest on my road bikes. I really like the shifting interface.

What I like about this is that SRAM has found a way around all the patents (not easy with the big boys trying to lock up the market) and has come up with genuine innovation. Wireless is compelling, and I love the idea of super clean frames. I also love the idea that this would be very easy to retrofit on a mechanical frame without zip ties and jury-rigged mounts. Tidy, simple.

I'm really unsure about the new shift paradigm. With every system now, left hand is FD and right hand is RD. This changes that, and I suspect would be hard to get my head around. But I'm looking forward to trying it.

JohnJ80

I really like the electronic shifting. Haven't had a missed shift since I got it. It's a winner.

I agree with you that the eTap system is going to be great for retrofitting mechanical only bikes. In fact, that's one of the applications I have for it. I think it would be a great retrofit on my mechanical bike. The Di2 conversion to a mechanical bike is just awful.

I wasn't comparing to Shimano, I was saying that had they removed the battery from the eTap derailleurs, it would have looked a lot better. They had a chance to do that and didn't.

J.