Goriot

I couldn't find a thread on this topic. Just went to my lbs for pedals and shoes and it seems electronic shifting is the new way to go.
Anyone have real world experience with this? Battery life, shifting quality in suboptimal conditions, maintenance?
My new road would be all carbon with ultegra electronic shifting. Seems like a big step up from my caad 9 tiagara!
Is this the future of road cycling??
Goriot

puckett129

You did not look hard enough.

cxwrench

Seriously?!?

FactVord

Must be punished!

Homebrew01

Welcome to 2009.

Bah Humbug

Dude.

mkadam68

Ultegra Di2 - best investment on my bike. Brake levers are more solid (due to no shifting mech). Shifts "just work". I can play with the adjustment if I wish, but I can do it quickly, easily, on the bike riding or when it's on a workstand.

No problems with battery life: I re-charge once a month, ride about 800-1,000 miles/month.

big chainring 

Downtube friction shifters work just fine. My whole bike collection cost less than electronic shifting Di2 what-sits. AND you really feel the shifting. Very direct feel with the short cable. And oh so easy to maintain.

Carbon Unit

Use advanced search, type in DI2 as the keyword, select title only and then chose your time frame. You will get many pages of results.

rangerdavid

bike shop dudes were telling me last week that the new 11 speed dura ace shifts faster than the dura ace Di2. Di2 is very consistant, but not as fast to shift. I can see the veracity in this analysis.

Equinox

I think electronic shifting is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. My bike shifts beautifully every time. I can't imagine electronic shifting being worth the negligible difference. Some one else said it, but one of the joys of cycling is not having to plug something in. And of course, there is the hypocrisy. Many of my cycling friends profess a deep concern for the environment. They tend to be anti-hydrofracking and believe in anthroprogenic climate change. Yet they overlook the fact that the source of the power to charge their batteries certainly pollutes the environment, and the batteries themselves are loaded with hazardous chemicals and require a great deal of energy to produce. Mechanical shifting is fine.

bt

I've tried it for a year and prefer mechanical.

travelerman

The fact of anthropogenic climate change is so widely accepted by the scientific community, your characterization of its acceptance as "belief" is inaccurate.

save10

i think what he meant to say was that he did see any threads on the front page. or at least the part of the front page that he could see without scrolling down.

gc3

Electronic? Mechanical?

Any shifting is for losers. Real cyclists, at least real men, ride single speed and like it.

patentcad

A retro 41 Facepalm.

patentcad

Nothing is as effortless Di2. I like the Sram Red on my Addict, but the Di2 on the Foil is nice.

patentcad

The pros love electronic shifting. And on a TT bike, it totally rules.

rebel1916

Electric shifting? The guy at the LBS is pulling your leg, man.

TexMac

In June 13' I went from shimano 2300 to Ultegra Di2 shifters. Very smooth shifting, extremely fast shifting even under stress. Durable and so easy shifting.

Equinox

Yes. I prefer not to further contribute to that by just sticking with my perfectly functioning mechanical shifting. You know, I think the appeal of electronic shifting is due to the fact that many cyclists (even experienced ones) don't know how to shift properly.

datlas 

Agree.

For example, the system has an "auto trim" feature that nudges the FD over a smidge with each RD shift to prevent FD chain rub.

This solves the FD rub problem that many cyclists have, since I am guessing 98% of cyclists don't know how to use the trim on their mechanical FD shifter, or don't even know it exists!

Nachoman

+1, including even experienced cyclists. But auto trim still rules.

Carbon Unit

It is extremely easy to trim the front dr with Campy. However, I seldom need to do it.

gc3

For the love of god, I seriously doubt if anyone has anything new to say in this electronic versus mechanical pis*ing contest? Why are we bothering....?