I’m getting a new bike from my LBS, decided on a Lapierre Aircode, was very impressed with it after a demo weekend. The bike I demoed had Di2 on it, the bike I’m upgrading from has 12 year old Dura ace with Sora shifters, so worlds apart.
However, my shop has put a spanner in the works after saying they would upgrade my bike to Di2 from the specced mechanical Ultegra for an extra 600 euro (or 450 sterling). I like the Di2 a lot, but how does the feel compare to mechanical Ultegra, how durable is it and is it worth the price for the upgrade? They are giving me a very good deal on the bike, just not sure if my budget can stretch that far. However, I’m bad at servicing things and the whole cable free thing is tempting me a bit.

Would be good to hear from riders who have switched from one to the other etc.

Cheers!

No experience running Di2 I’m afraid, but you can’t be that bad at servicing if you’re still rocking 12 year old dura ace*.

*I am also riding da of that era

You know the difference between the colour of the sky at 1pm and 1am? Similar difference here.

Went from 6700 ultegra to 9070 DA. Better in every way.

but you can’t be that bad at servicing if you’re still rocking 12 year old dura ace*.

I literally never look at it unless the gears and or brakes get shockingly bad lol.. which is usually once or twice a year!

I’m the same with di2, got it 11 months ago. Only fetling I’ve done is to charge the battery, twice. And the first time was a ‘how do we do this’ kind of thing…

I have Ultegra 6800 mechanical on one bike & 6800 Di2 on another.
If I was in your position I would save the money & fit mechanical 6800.

Mechanical 6800 is very light & slick in use, plus the parts are cheaper to change in a crash & you don’t have to think about battery life, & in year of use the mechanical groupset has needed very little attention.

The reason I have Di2 on the other bike is because that’s how it was spec’d. I’ve only had two rides on it & its just different not hugely better. I’d have been just as happy with the same bike & mechanical 6800 with more cash left in my pocket.

I have di2 on my road bike (because I’m really really fast and minted)

I like it – no cable adjustments, very rare charging needed and works great

I’ve also been able to set it to run the rear shifter as though it had a rapid-rise mech, ‘cos I used to like that 🙂

I won* a BMC Granfondo with Di2. Was very skeptical but am now a starry eyed convert. I have had it a year and it’s not needed anything. I charge the battery every now and again. It’s very tolerant of my gear mangling ways and has improved them no end. I even wrote a blog about them: http://beatesthreepeakschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014_04_01_archive.html

*five photos and 150 words… nothing to do with being fast.

Di2 is awfully ugly in my eyes. I love the mechanical simplicity of ultega and DA mechs. They are a lot cheaper to replace and i have to say my DA road bike shifts so faultlessly its amazing.

I was able to afford either, but Di2 just seems a solution to a problem that doesnt exist……

That seems a good price to upgrade to Di2 so I’d be tempted. I use it on my main road bike and it is nice to use but I also have mechanical on my winter bike and am happy with that too. BTW battery running out is not an issue unless you really can’t be bothered to charge it every now and then.

I’ve built and test ridden loads of bikes with Ultegra Di2 and 6800 and in many ways I’m more impressed with the mechanical version. Adding the long lever effects to the derailleurs has lightened the shifting loads and is super fast and reliable. Maybe I’m old fashioned but it just seems right, plus Di2 is butt ugly as also mentioned above. If you are a doctor or estate agent who wants a plastic bike with all the gimmicks, you’ll probably prefer Di2 😉

Agreed – never used Di2 … but it looks clumpy and ugly. And that’s just about all the reason I need to not convert.

Ultegra is far more clumpy than Dura Ace Di2 (particularly 9070), but I’d still sooner have it than the mechanical. It just feels great and works, and works, and works! Yes, on the stand when everything’s new mechanical is superb, but once everything starts getting a bit worn and sloppy you’ll get more degradation on mechanical.

plus Di2 is butt ugly as also mentioned above

Agreed – never used Di2 … but it looks clumpy and ugly.

Are you guys referring to the older version a year or two ago? The one I had on the demo bike looked pretty clean, cleaner than mechanical with it having no cables imo.

I have Ultegra 6800 mechanical on one bike & 6800 Di2 on another.
If I was in your position I would save the money & fit mechanical 6800.
I’ve only had two rides on it & its just different not hugely better. I’d have been just as happy with the same bike & mechanical 6800 with more cash left in my pocket.

All seems in favor of Di2 apart from this. I’m not wanting to hear anything in particular, but I am slightly surprised by this. How much more effort is it to shift with the mechanical? I like how you only have to tap the Di2.

Agreed – never used Di2 … but it looks clumpy and ugly. And that’s just about all the reason I need to not convert.

🙂

I really does work well though, and as njee20 says, just carries on working well. For that I can excuse the looks somewhat.

Only niggle for me for Di2 is shifting with big winter lobster gloves. Bit fiddly compared to mechanical.

Bump! Still waiting on a few replies. What things are likely to go wrong with Di2 over the years? Apart from parts breaking in a crash etc.

What do you mean still waiting on a few replies? You’ve asked 3 questions. 😕

how durable is it and is it worth the price for the upgrade?

You’ve had many answers to that. It’s very durable, only you can put a price on its worth.

How much more effort is it to shift with the mechanical?

Is very subjective, and will depend on a lot of factors. But I’ll say 1.4

What things are likely to go wrong with Di2 over the years?

It will wear out. It’ll need firmware updates. It’ll need charging. It could break. The first and last are not unique to Di2, or any bike component.

600 euros sounds a lot for the difference between mechanical and d12 ultegra to me, I would much prefer the d12, but wouldn’t pay more than half that.

The reason I have Di2 on the other bike is because that’s how it was spec’d. I’ve only had two rides on it & its just different not hugely better. I’d have been just as happy with the same bike & mechanical 6800 with more cash left in my pocket.

Aside from a couple of vanity purchases I’ve known, most of the Di2 users have said the same as above. They like it, but given a few rides, would probably have been as happy with mechanical and another £500 in their pocket.

Personally, I’m not a fan of Di2. And it’s not for reasons you might expect… I just can’t get on with the shifters, the 2 buttons are very difficult to differentiate between when you’re wearing full fingered gloves (I’m a Mountain Biker that rides road bikes), and every time I ride it, I get lots of miss-shifts! That and anyone who tells you that Di2 is the quickest at shifting from one end of a cassette to the other, clearly hasn’t ridden SRAM Red at all!

MASSIVE fan of the ultra mechanical feel of SRAM Red here (and I never thought I’d say that a couple of years ago!), I’d even take campag over Shimano myself these days. Got Tiagra on my winter bike, and it’s ok, Ultegra is better, but they all feel vague in my opinion, and Di2 even more so!

What do you mean still waiting on a few replies? You’ve asked 3 questions.

I meant replies to my last reply, lol.

You can get a whole groupset for £900, but there are obviously then quite a few bits to sell. It’s not bad, but it’s not an unmissable price IMO.

So you’ve tried Di2. Can you not get the lbs to sort you out a demo bike with mechanical ultegra on it? Only you really can decide if it’s worth it for you.

Can you not get the lbs to sort you out a demo bike with mechanical ultegra on it? Only you really can decide if it’s worth it for you.

I can take out a bike with new 105 on it for a short spin tomorrow, which I’m told is basically the same as Ultegra.

I’ve built dozens of durace di2, durace mechanical, ultegra di2 and Ultegra mechanical over the last couple of years working in a lbs
Had no problems with any of the di2 groups apart from crash damage, and they hold up very well to crashing due to the rear mech decoupling.
I’d rather have Ultegra Di2 over Durace mech every time.
Ultegra 6800 front mech trimming is very irritating after using Di2
I’ve had durace 7800, 7900 and 9000 mechanical group sets and I’d rather have Ultegra Di2
I’ve currently got 2 Ultegra 6800 di2 bikes and a 6800 mechanical group on my winter bike, much prefer the di2
Of course I’d rather have Durace 9080 di2 but can’t afford it!

MASSIVE fan of the ultra mechanical feel of SRAM Red here (and I never thought I’d say that a couple of years ago!), I’d even take campag over Shimano myself these days. Got Tiagra on my winter bike, and it’s ok, Ultegra is better, but they all feel vague in my opinion, and Di2 even more so!

I can see why some might think Di2 vague. It can be so slick that with a close ratio cassette you can sometimes be left wondering if it’s actually shifted.

I presume a big advantage of Di2 Is that there are no cables that stretch or wear out, no build up of dirt in the cable housing etc. Can anyone speak for this?

Just to give an update on this, I decided to go with Di2 after testing the mechanical version. I much prefer the feel and efficiency of Di2 and I think its totally worth the extra 600 euros. Been out on it twice now, and it keeps on getting better. 😀