krobinson103

RC is fun but expensive. Build a bike and its built. Build a heli and you will crash it sooner or later. If you are lucky its just a few busted servos, but it can be much worse. I'm sure Di2 would be much harder to break than that but still... I like my tourer to be as unbreakable as possible.

Vicegrip

agree. I hid the junction with the battery and ran the cables in the old guides. Used split black semi rigid tubing to make the canbus wires loo like cable sheath. Owner desired to go with external battery and I made a cover for it. With a bottle in the holder it looks like the seat tube holder has a larger bottle. Had I had an internal battery to work with I would have hidden everything in the seat tube

Vicegrip

spent a month building a 350 size quad only to invert and full speed it into a bush on the maiden flight. Programming glitches cost me 3 props and a rebody. Di2 has been set and forget.

So far no crashes on the 1 to 1 racecars. They make bikes and RC look cheap.....

bt

At first my new Di2 was amazing to me.

Then, it was fine.

Now, I just bought a 9000 group when I could have had 9070.


I still dig mechanical.


I am not convinced it is the be–all and end–all.

Yeah it's cool but non electric is too.

amazinmets73

Guilty

StanSeven

Haha. I remember people saying the exact thing about down tube fraction shifting when SIS came out. Then there were similar comments about why an extra gear (8-9-10) is needed. Of course everyone knows bicycles should be steel and 32 spoke wheels are the minimum count.

Team Sarcasm

When the power goes out and the zombies appear....who you gunna call? Not someone with Di2

About 6 months back I did test ride an ultegra di2 and it was nice....worth the money? Not to me but it was nice none the less

rpenmanparker 

That's why you need more than one bike. If you mean permanent power outage, I imagine there will be many more things to worry about than whether your bike will shift.

Camera folks stumbled through this dilemma years ago and seem to have decided to go with electronics essentially 100%. It was probably the digital revolution that sealed the deal, i.e. when a desirable image recording technology was invented that could only be run electronically, the arguments subsided. I suspect that auto shifting software will have the same effect (bye and bye) in bicycles. Electronic is cute for now but not necessary. If you are going to want automatic bike shifting, however, it will have to be electronic.

RJM

The new shimano Ultegra and Dura Ace mechanical groups are pretty awesome....the shifting on my Ultegra is the best I have ever used in a mechanical group and it doesn't carry the extra weight of the electronic.

Although, my bike shop owner (friend) said once I go electronic I wouldn't go back.

bbattle

Is it true that PETA stands for People Eating Tasty Animals?

seypat

The battle rages on. As it always has and it always will.

wphamilton

It can be a labor of love, and personally I've enjoyed keeping all of the family bikes adjusted, changing out drive trains and so on, but it's more like a chore any more. Not having to do it would be a positive.

On the other hand, that might be illusory in the end. Electromechanical devices eventually malfunction, as will the electronics, and then we'll either need to fix it ourselves, replace a module, send it in or just replace it, any of which could be more trouble than maintaining the cable-based shifting.

That's really a big reason why DI2 is so expensive: high enough quality servos or actuators. Otherwise you could build one for a fraction of the cost. The software is easy - a good developer could do it in his sleep, but an actuator that can handle the necessary repetitions with a decent linear thrust is either boat anchor heavy or costly. Speaking seriously, concern over that (and the price of course) is the reason I'd wait for a generation or two before going all in on electronic shifting. I prefer mature technology.

Caliper

Lots more going on with photography to drive digital. Photo editing, developing, storage capacity, etc. It seems that market was driven from the bottom up though with the mass market going digital first while the pros stuck to film until digital had progressed to enough megapixels and so on. Bikes are going top-down obviously, but below a certain market segment I can really see the drawbacks outweighing the benefits. Occasional recreational riders seem more likely to be hit by a dead battery than have problems with a worn shift cable.

Auto shifting on a bike has been done mechanically, just easier with electronics but with the extra need of a cadence sensor and power meter you're really going to have to see prices go down before that becomes mainstream. Consider that automatics still haven't entirely displaced manual shifting in cars 70 years or so after the first automatics hit the market and at least some of that has been driven by manufacturers pushing it (plenty of people who would drive a manual but the car they like isn't offered with one)

Personally, cost and complexity is what keeps me from wanting electronic. Once a cable shift setup is adjusted, I really don't have problems with it going out of adjustment. I can shift both derailleurs simultaneously for chainring shifts because I have two hands and shift quality is more than good enough (besides, isn't a lot of shift quality influenced by the cassette design?) I will be interested to see how long it is before electronic shifting gets down to $2000-ish bikes that are the highest I can stomach considering or used prices on eBay get low enough to try retrofitting it on something.

krobinson103

Why would you want an autoshifting bike? I have a self propelled autoshifting bike. Its called a scooter. You can even get electric versions. A bike is human powered and simpler.... thats what makes it a bicycle.

StanSeven

It's less than 4% of new vehicles. It took a long time for automatics to be better but they are now. The only reason to have manuals is for those that like the sensation of being better connected to the vehicle.

bbattle

Is it okay to wear ankle length socks after Labor Day? Black or white socks?

And is it EVER okay for cyclists to wear compression socks?

Did you know Pres. Clinton had a cat named Socks?

StanSeven

It's okay to wear compressions socks in the privacy of your own home....with your bunny slippers

Doge

I've had 4 tandems. The last two I went only electronic. On a tandem, with two strong riders and long cables the frame flex in a sprint causes auto shifts - often. Think 400lbs 3,000+ Watts. So it has a real and great purpose. I used the Mavic Mectronic then.


When my kid started racing (at 8 years old) I thought why bother teaching him cables and put the Mavic on his bike. At 11 he went to Di2 10 speed. At 13 he went SRAM red cables. At 15 he went Di2 11 speed. First ride I didn't have the cable snapped into the battery properly and the shifting went dead 15 min before the race start - then it worked, then it went dead. In frustration I snapped the cable into the battery extra hard and it "clicked". No problems since. But the charging issue is real as you tend to ride 3-4 months without charging and have to let the bike let you know - she wants to be plugged in. Or you just plan on a monthly charge. The primary reason he likes Di2 is a clean frame and more aero - but just mentioned maybe cables would be easier for a weekly racer on the road. So really - very little opinion here. Some teams use cables and some use electronic. It is clearly here to stay, but so are cables - I think. Personally I wish electronics were disallowed in all racing. But that's just me.

bbbean 

I didn't eat Italian food yesterday. I prefer Mexican. That's roughly as informative as this thread.

RaleighSport

The line is whatever you like and can afford! LoL I just wanted perspective, as I won't consider myself the "common man" as a cyclist, I'm a C&V collector who finds no appeal in Di2. Thanks for the excellent answer despite the misunderstanding.

Doge

The sprinters buttons are great for out of the saddle shifts when on the drops. Its hard to duplicate that with cables. You can be in a 15T, wind it up out of the saddle, click to the 14T and keep going....

jdon

Yes. If you end up with vein valve failure and they keep you on the bike, it is ok.

Vicegrip

Yea we got the basic idea of your opinion with the other posts you made. Now that someone gave you some attention are you going to move along? The internet is quite large and I am sure there are other conversations you can interject into.

bbbean 

"Posts"? As in plural? Do you have me confused with someone else?

BB

kv501

Don't feed the trolls and they go away.