shovelhd

Not I. 9070 is doing it for me. I prefer wires.

rkwaki

I'll be honest, I'm loving electronic. My other bike is SRAM Red but not sure that I will ever ride it again.

tetonrider

i think anyone should be cautious of a 1st gen sram product (or any product in the electronic realm, really) -- i know some will jump on board quickly with the hope that the right testing has done.

i'm curious to see if/how they'll get around having a battery in every component of the system, requiring separate charging or replacement.

wires are a hassle for setup, but once that's complete it's really a non-issue. there is the weight of the wires (fairly negligible...the new di2 wires are about 5g per), which could be offset by the weight of additional batteries in a wireless system.

also, i wonder if losing pairing could ever be an issue. i'd sure be curious to see/test it, though.

Hermes

All my wireless electronics works flawlessly.

hack

I'll prob look to go wireless something this next year due to increased arthritic pain in the hands.

mattm

As a side-note, I wonder if we'll ever see a day where teams are trying to jam each other's wireless systems to gum up the works..

tetonrider

or a disgruntled fan.

this happened in florida:
FCC: Man used device to jam drivers' cell phone calls - CNET

tetonrider

wireless or electronic?

i converted the wife's bike to di2 this fall....she loves it. there were lots of situations where she avoided shifting her front chainring because the mechanical lever throw was too long and with her small hands she almost had to let go of the bar so shift to the big ring, so she'd just make do with whatever ring she started in. crazy, but a good use for electronic.

i also raced against some members of the US paralympic team once when i was in cat 3. one rider had one arm; di2 would have been perfect for him. (was cool to see his teammates help out at the FZ.)

grolby

I think wireless electronics are interesting, but I'm not in a big hurry to upgrade to any electronic system. Not because I don't like it or don't trust it, but because the price to performance doesn't make sense for my needs/paycheck. What I'm not crazy about is that front shifts are supposedly initiated by pressing the shift button on both levers simultaneously. That's a potential headache for a few reasons, not least of which being working on the damn thing in a stand.

People keep saying this, but it doesn't seem very likely to me.

tetonrider

i agree--i am pretty suspect of that. (then again, i happen not to prefer double-tap in their mechanical offering.)

*requiring* two hands for a shift seems like a step backward. from what i've read, they are trying to distinguish themselves in some way...and the skeptic in me wonders if part of it is just that they are late to the game.

on a tangent, the SRM PC7 requires a simultaneous press of two buttons to activate a feature (check ZO), and it's annoying. 99% of the time you nail it but every once in a while one winds up hitting the buttons out of sync. i haven't used sram electronic of course, but i'd wonder how tolerant the system is of minor issues with timing; missing a front shift is a bigger deal than checking ZO.

i'm hoping SRM fixed this with the 8.

furiousferret

If SRAM is going to all wireless it seems that they wouldn't have to marry their shifting mechanism to the brakes. You could easily put them in the glove where tapping of the certain part of a finger could initiate a shift.

Doge

Been wireless for 20+ years and just replaced it...

spectastic

backcountry is selling ui2 for $1000.

I prefer mechanical purely for the aftermarket support in case something goes wrong. Repair/replacing an electronic component will be a huge pita.

And I don't like sram's double tap. but that wireless thing looks neat.

misterwaterfall

How so? I've broken wires, derailleurs ect. and it's not any harder of a fix than mechanical. The only downside might be repairing out on the road but you don't have any cables to snap like mechanical so that's less likely to happen anyway.

Doge

Where electronic shine/d (wireless or wires) was when frames would auto shift due to flex. Tandems - always, but also light steel. We switched to electronic in the 90s for the tandem. I then started using it for my road bike. As frames got stiffer (and I stopped riding tandem) it didn't seem that much an advantage. When Puppy Doge came along I figured he didn't need to learn to use cables and adjust front derailleurs. Two Di2 generations and Mavic wireless later - turns out the kids think the cables are cool.

With the apparent pick-up in cyclo-cross popularity (or just mud riding), sealed bearing everything and the modern bike cleaning method on high pressure spraying your bike in a DIY carwash - there is something to be said for cables.

spectastic

if there's a crash, and the lever gets damaged, it'll be easier to replace that on a mechanical system.

also, what types of fixes are you referring to? my understanding is that the electronic components either work or they don't. the first time I tested di2, the fd trim was off such that it always rubbed on the chain, and when I tried to adjust it, it auto trimmed and continued to rub.

The second time I tested di2 was really nice. it shifted flawlessly, but nothing I can't replicate with a quality mechanical component with the correct setup, even when climbing.

overall, I don't think the benefits offset the costs associated with them. maybe in a few years, they will take over and become the norm. maybe then, the price will ease up a little, and make it more consumer friendly, as opposed to being a bling for rich people.

shovelhd

Bling for rich people. Hah.

spectastic

oh snap, now it's $1400. I swear it was like $967 when I was at work today actively pretending to be busy





oop never mind.
Shimano Ultegra 6870 Di2 Groupset without Power Kit | Backcountry.com

"without power kit"
you can totally use it without the powerkit... right?

tetonrider

IME, di2 failures are pretty damn rare, but i agree that if you, for example, manage to slice a cable it's not as easy to repair as a broken mechanical cable.

i was riding in a super rural part of the french pyrenees in the fall, and a friend experienced a weird di2 failure--something i'd never seen before. the closest bike shop actually diagnosed the problem and traced it to a faulty junction box, and they popped in a spare. (not the front junction that controls adjustments, for those who know di2 -- the internal junction that just bridges 4 wires.)

anyway, if shops in remote parts of france have di2 parts they're getting pretty darn common. if i were going somewhere that had no support options at all, i'd probably bring a spare wire or a few small parts, but i think it's overkill.

i've seen people fail to fully connect some wires (hard to do), and some cases where the installer failed to follow instructions and left no slack at the shifters (so when the bar shifted after a hard hit it broke a connection)...and one guy who ignored the many warning signs and managed to run down a charge.... but aside from installation issues and a mr. magoo issue, it's a pretty bomber setup.

i've ridden di2 through lots of conditions (mud, snow, downpours) that would cause mechanical shifting to deteriorate; they simply have no effect on di2.

shovelhd

Wait, you have the insight to call it "bling for rich people" and you don't have a clue about the details? WTF.

Doge

Puppy doge decided to X-Cross ish on his Di2 Road bike. I mean he doesn't pay for it - so what's the diff? Anyway he takes the hose high pressure setting to it and ends up with a clean bike and water trapped in the seat tube (right - there are no holes and it was sealed) right where the Di2 j-box ^^ is. So we take out the seat post (with battery) and shake the bike out and about 4oz of water comes out. Dry upside down over night - it all works fine.

Still - not going to say I could ride it home after falling off the harbor dock into the ocean as my cable bike did...
But its pretty good.

spdntrxi

di2 is liked sliced bread for me... love it..

shovelhd

I love my Di2 too, but the B junction lives in either the downtube or the seat tube at least 6" up from the bottom bracket. It would take a lot more than 4oz of water to reach it unless it wasn't installed right (internal B junction).

spectastic

i call it wateva i WAONT

spectastic

even so, I'd rather replace my cables once a year than spending an extra $600 for the luxury