Surely (and I’m sure someone will be along shortly to correct me) the whole idea of 1×11 is to simplify shifting and maybe even lose some weight from the bike?
If this is the case, why do Shimano think we all need to bolt batteries and servos to our bikes and spend a small/large fortune in the process?
£430 for a rear mech anyone?!!

I have thought that ever since reading about Di2, ever since reading that the roadies like it, ever since hearing the first rumours about it coming to mountain bikes. Never! I thought to myself. What a waste of money! I thought to myself. What do they think I am, some kind of halfwit that falls for a bit of shiny metal and “ooh electrical!”? I thought to myself.

Until I read the article on today’s STW. About 2 sentences in, I thought to myself, “shiny” and “oooh electrical”…

Worth it? I think so.

But then the main thing I thought of after looking at it was that the front mech auto-trim would be hella useful. And that’s priced more reasonably.

Rear mech I’m not sure about; I’d even go so far as to consider keeping a mechanical XT one for now, simply because they break more frequently.

Tech ain’t cheap…

People who get it free and stick nice piccys on instagram or facebook will tell you its worth it.