rosefarts

SRAM makes a derailleur that mounts directly to the axle. It only fits on bikes with UDH compatibility but it’s not mounted to a hanger at all. To my knowledge, nobody else makes a derailleur like that.

Its called the T-type and it’s supposed to be really strong.

icemilkcoffee 

3. Not having to worry about trim

Polaris OBark

My T-type AXS setup doesn't shift as well as my nearly 10 year old Di2 setup.

blacknbluebikes 

I have Ultegra Di2 on the black bike. I have Campy Record on the other black bike. With the exception of replacement cables every couple years, NEITHER has required any maintenance beyond cleaning and battery recharge. Zero, zilch, nada. The newer one is a 2015. I believe that the better the groupset, the less adjustment and maintenance required. The Campy probably deserves new cogs, but I'm into tough love.

Troul 

imo, solve the main issue thats causing the hanger to bend & you're wanting to consider changing group parts will no longer be entertained.

rm -rf

Lots of bent hangers: It seems mysterious to me, since you didn't crash or drop the bike on the derailleur side. I have questions:

I assume the shifting was getting noisy and/or difficult. Did replacing the hanger immediately fix the shifting, or did it also need derailleur cable adjustments?

Did you do the replacement yourself, or was it a shop?

Did anyone try fixing the bent hanger with a hanger adjustment tool? Those tools are very effective for minor hanger bends.

rm -rf

Di2 maintenance:
At 9 years old, my Ultegra Di2 had extremely low maintenance.

I replaced the seatpost battery at about 5 years, since the time between recharges was getting down to a weekly range, instead of the usual 4 to 6 weeks range. The new battery is still good, 4 years later.

I probably replaced the derailleur pulleys, but don't remember doing it.

The shifters buttons are still "like new", the shifter hoods are fine. The front and rear derailleurs were good, no flex from worn pulleys.

I do a software "shifting micro adjust" maybe once a year or so, to fine tune the shifting if the chain is slightly off center of the cogs, making it a bit noisy. That's a simple method of pressing the "setup" button and clicking the up or down button on the shifter to move the shift position slightly inward or outward. I've even done this while riding!

Since I plan to keep the bike for a long time, I proactively replaced the rear derailleur with the newer 11 speed version. I didn't want a future sudden failure and possible difficulties getting replacements. The new one was compatible with my existing components, nice!

~~~~
Di2 advantages
The easy "click like a mouse" shifting lets me shift easily from any hand position. Sometimes I'm using my ring finger to shift. Front derailleurs usually needed a long throw, with decent finger leverage -- the Di2 is just a click.

I have the rear set for "Shift 3 cogs with a long click". That's holding the button for 1/2 second or longer. At the bottom of a hill: hold both front and rear bottom buttons -- it shifts to the small chainring and three harder gears in the back. Over the top of the hill, hold both top buttons -- to the big ring and three easier gears. No thinking required!

I'll shift the rear for just a couple of pedal strokes, then shift again as needed -- it's fast and reliable. I'll shift the front for even a small 30 foot hill, where I would just mash a high gearing on my older bike.

AMoney

When your friends with Di2 took their bikes to the shop, what shifting issues were they having?

AMoney

My road bike has a 105 R7000 groupset. What usually happens is the chain works well in 9 or 10 of the gears, but it sucks in one of the other gears (rarely the same one). This leads me to think that the barrel adjuster is off. I troubleshoot the barrel adjuster by tightening it, 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn at a time, but generally not more than 1 turn. If that doesn't work, I loosen it from where it was previously, and also not by more than 1 turn. If that also doesn't solve the problem, I take the bike to the shop. The problem is very often that the derailleur hanger is very slightly bent. Most of the time, this fixes the shifting, though sometimes they also tweak the cable tension. I have never tried using the hanger adjustment tool, but the LBS does.

I will say that 3 of the derailleur hangers I had were the stock ones (my bike is a Giant TCR Pro). Right now, I'm on my second Wheels Manufacturing derailleur hanger. I agree that they're better than the stock derailleur hangers, but I'm not sure this is solving my problem altogether.

FBinNY 

When I see repetitive "bending" of the hanger without a known cause, especially slight bending, I suspect that it's not actually bending.

Instead, I suspect that the hanger is not secure and rigid where it's attached. All too often, the mating surfaces either aren't flat, or something is preventing the hanger from pocketing correctly. That allows for it to move slightly throwing the RD off.

I'd remove and check the hanger and see if it mates rigidly to the frame. I'd also invest in a hanger alignment tool for future use.

The real clue here is that only one of your bikes has this issue, supporting my assumption that it's specific to the frame.

79pmooney

Is the hanger alignment being checked by the shop after the replacement goes on? I'm wondering if the mount for the hanger is off. If this were mine, I'd run that alignment tool after mounting, then tweak as necessary to get the hanger perfect. Make it a point to treat that derailleur and hanger like delicate objects. If it still goes out of alignment, I'd be looking for perhaps a dropout that has structural issues.

Kai Winters

Yes
The app is awesome
It connects via bluetooth which is standard with the 12 speed Di2...if you have an older version you need the bluetooth dongle.

Kai Winters

I've always made it a habit to check a new rear mech hanger when installing it. I've seen them a bit out of alignment right out of the bag so I don't trust them to be perfect.
If the mount for the hanger is off...this could be the case if the frame is not carbon...unless of course the frame is out of alignment which would require alignment jigs and measurement tools to check...usually you can see if the dropout itself is out of alignment and even if so the hanger is aligned to the rim of the wheel which will compensate for a misaligned/bent/etc drop out. But it would take a lot of force to bend or misalign the drop out itself.

I agree with you on treating the hanger and mech like delicate objects. The number of gears means a very precise and small movement of the mech compared to my old 5 speed freewheel with friction shifters...man you could move them a lot before a shift occurred lol. Not like today's precision devices, especially electronic.

Kontact 

I worked at a Focus dealer where one model would bend its own hanger depending on the quick release tension. I have run into plenty of others so badly designed that virtually any sort of manipulation caused the hanger to flex, bend or shift.


Di2 derailleurs and shifters wear out, just like mech.
Di2 batteries wear out - very fast if you charge them wrong.
Di2 cables are not highly resistant to damage, and sometimes unplug easily.
Di2 requires firmware updates. I have run into many non-functioning Di2 bikes that were because of this. It is another kind of maintenance.

Shimano road bikes destroy cables. Campy and SRAM can be operated for a very long time without cable replacement, even though that isn't a great idea.

phughes

I have a slightly bigger cassettes on two bikes, and one bike is 40 years old. No bent hangar. In fact I have never bent one. No shifting issues either, and no excessive maintenance required. You have something else going on.

Kai Winters

A friend has one of the first editions of Di2 10 speed. He bought it used and it stills works perfectly...this is almost a surprise because my friend is awful when it comes to maintenance and care of his bike...he doesn't take care of it at all and it still runs great.

I was on Campy Super Record Carbon 9 speed for over 21 years...1999 Merlin ti build...It performed flawlessly for its life and I loved it. Unfortunately after well over 100,000 miles of use the springs on the rear mech went and it started to shift terribly...very sloppy, not aligned, etc...I tried to find replacement parts but none were available and it was the last of that specific shifting angle version. The newer 9 speed changed and was not compatible. But for all those years it was perfect and I still love it and miss it but I'd not go back after using Di2. It's not as pretty but dayum it shifts so fast and so perfectly no matter what I throw at it. Last year I was in a 50 mile road race and it started raining right after the start...I don't mean showers I mean "Noah, it's time" torrential downpours. I was worried about how the Di2 would work but throughout the race it worked perfectly and has ever since.

But on the other side of the coin I work on bikes with drive trains that are decades old...I mean from the '60's and up...and most are not well maintained or cared for and they still work...maybe not perfectly but they work. Mechanical drive trains aren't going anywhere for decades to come. They are just to easy to manufacture, don't cost a lot to make and keep less expensive bike prices within reason to the masses of "people who ride a bike" not "riders" in general.

jgwilliams

I'm sure someone with more knowledge will confirm or deny this, but I don't believe Di2 allows for individual gear adjustment. It's just one adjustment for all 12 gears.

Having said that, I recently switched to Di2 and I've got to say I wouldn't readily switch back. In fact, I'm very pleased to have waved goodbye to Bowden cables, which seemed to be the main source of all the maintenance requirements on my bike. I found I needed to tweak the barrel adjuster as the weather got hotter or colder, and the rim brakes needed constant adjustment, too, as well as spreading black gunge everywhere. The hydraulic disc brakes work far better with no constant fiddling, and the Di2 just works perfectly. Literally the only maintenance I've had to do since getting my bike is to clean and lubricate the chain every couple of weeks. I've now done nearly 2,000 miles completely adjustment free.

oldwinger14

I have the dongle and when I started up eTube yesterday on my phone, I dug thru the menus and submenus and found where the shift speed can be changed.

My Di2 shift speed is currently set to Normal. When The outdoor riding season starts again, I will bump it up a notch to ‘faster’ to see how much of a difference it makes. Based on what I have read in this thread, bumping the shifting speed to the ‘fastest’ setting may be problematic, especially on shifts when both the chainring and cassette are changing. Have you experienced any issues like that or have you not set the shift speed to the ‘fastest’ setting?

Kai Winters

I have not had any problems...but...I have mine set to fully manual shifting...I tried a variety of semi and fully auto settings and did not like it at all...I prefer the ability to shift into the gear I want when I want good or bad.
On the SL8 and Aethos builds I recently completed for customers I left the setting in 'normal' mode and used the default semi setting. I'd rather let the customers get used to the system before getting creative with its settings. As you found out it is relatively easy and almost completely straight forward to change and tweak the varied shifting modes.
Good luck and enjoy !

oldwinger14

Over the few years I have had the Di2 system, I have gone from Manual to Semi to fully Auto modes. Setting the shift speed to 'fastest' and reverting to Manual sounds like a good combo... Thanks!

Koyote

What is the 'wrong' way to charge them?

bblair

I really don't remember, but I think front der related.

One guy, as I recall, couldn't shift at all and thinking it was a battery, went home. Turned out to be a faulty software upgrade. Or so he told me. Maybe he was afraid of getting dropped! Probably not.

veganbikes

I believe it was gear to gear you could adjust I am pretty sure, granted I had only had a chance to do it once and a lot has happened since then but I am pretty sure it was each gear could be micro adjusted.

Mtracer

I'm am 99.999% certain that you cannot adjust each gear individually. I have Di2 Ultegra 12-sp and Di2 GRX and the single adjustment effects all gears just the same as a barrel adjuster on a mechanical system. The only reason I don't say 100% certain is there's always a chance I have overlooked something somewhere. But I asked about this exact issue when I first got Di2 last July, and while someone said it could be done, they never explained how to do it and many others chimed in, as I'm doing now, to say it cannot be done.

I believe people get confused that it can be done because you can select different gears while doing it. But I think this is only to shift it to different gears so you can check the how the common adjustment works in each gear. I know I worked with it enough to see that the adjustment affected all gears. But, the documentation for the app is pretty bad and there could be some option I have managed to overlook that enables this feature.

If someone finds this is possible, I'd sure like to know about it. But my experience is it is not needed. My shifting works perfectly. Though obviously, if you could adjust each gear, it might allow you to work around a bent derailleur hanger. I believe, since it is not needed for a properly functioning bike, they didn't bother putting it in the software where it would likely cause more problems then it corrected.

Kontact 

Plugged into a computer, for instance. Shimano will attempt to deny the warranty if you do that.