Until now I’ve stayed away from electronic shifting on the road bike, but the Etap system looks really good. Just what I consider to be a proper upgrade. No cables etc. prices are a bit high but not stupid high.

I really like the left hand to shift down and the right to shift up – both levers together to shift on the front.
Nice and simple.

I think I’ll go for it one it hits the shops.

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/sram-red-etap-ushers-in-wireless-shifting-era-45095/

Yes, 2 grand retail for the entire group isn’t too bad. Be interesting to see how much they actually get sold for. And you can just buy the bits you need. I’ll be tempted to get some for the TT bike as it doesn’t have Di2 routing, though not sure where I’d mount the blippers.

Just seen that a blib box and 4 blippers, for a TT setup, would cost 500 dollars! Hoping for some typically heavy discounting 😕

I’ve never been a SRAM fan but I’m very tempted by that, seems some clever design in there not just rushing something to market.

I thought, based on the prototype pictures, that I was going to hate this but it actually looks like the nicest thing Sram have released. The 300g weight gain isn’t too hot, given that Di2 is lighter than mechanical. I think the worst bit of the design for me is that it still runs on a spring. For now it’s all good but as soon as Shimano do a wireless alternative without a spring driving the parallelograms it’ll be better.

FSA’s alternative may be interesting if it looks more polished- half wireless, half wired, no need for 2 big batteries.

EB15: Up Close with the Prototype Electronic Drivetrain from Metron or FSA

2k is some serious cash but the shifters, front a rear mech. Even shifters and rear mech for a 1×11 work out to be under 1k without any discount.

It’s not cheap but a reasonable cost for what it offers IMHO.
It also looks sooooo clean without any wires or external battery’s

RRP is best ignored until it hits the shops, surely it wouldn’t take them long to port this to XX1

I like to be different from the crowd….always been a SRAM man…..XO on the old MTB and RED on the roadie…2large…is big bucks..tho…is that for the whole groupset or just the elec bits??
I’m liking the idea of the remote blip box…very cool!!

So anyone care to guess what date “Spring 2016” will actually become?

Dura Ace Di2 rrp is £2999 ….. so its a bargain !

I really like the left hand to shift down and the right to shift up – both levers together to shift on the front.
Nice and simple.

That seems a bit unnecessary, surely it would be better if it did this for you? Right hand to shift up, left to shift down, and the unit’s logic to figure out when to shift on the front. Doesn’t one of Shimano’s off-road di groupsets do this? Also, no auto-trim seems like a missed opportunity. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a really exciting product, but I think I’d be happier parting with my cash for v.2…

I’m guessing this has four batteries (Front, Rear, Shifters) you are going to have to remove to charge and how long do they last as I’m also guessing they will be smaller. Plus if there are firmware updates do you have to plug each one in turn to check for update/update. One more: if the bike manufacturer has made the frame just for this so there are no holes in the frame and you want to go back to mechanical or Sram recall what happens then.
Also how accurate do you need to be with the “both at once” to change the front. I know with my Di2 I sometimes press both when changing down the front to try and lessen the jump in cadence.

Shuhockey- the many big batteries thing was what I thought this would end up as, but the shifters run on two C2032 cell batteries. Changing them once a year can’t be much of a hardship and they’re not massive.

The others are quite small, though, so I suppose it will need charging more regularly than Shimano.

Also how accurate do you need to be with the “both at once” to change the front. I know with my Di2 I sometimes press both when changing down the front to try and lessen the jump in cadence.

Not seen many mention of that in the ride reports so far, and given that pretty much every front shift tends need some rear shifts you expect some mention of it if it was a problem.

The coin cell batteries in the shifters apparently last up to a couple of years. I’ve heard 60 hours quoted for the rechargeable ones on the mechs. Not hugely long.

Loving the look of this and reckon I’d prefer this to Di2 too, I’ve wanted a right for up – left for down shifter on the MTB forever! Would def be better with a Syncroshift styleee but it’d not be clean a enough change with road ratios.

See here for a good explanation why,

https://fairwheelbikes.com/c/shimano-di2-synchro-shift-for-road-bikes/

Just read about etap, definitely the sort of thing for my midlife crisis bike…..anyone know timescales on shimano s response?

prices up on wiggle

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/sram-etap/

Corrrr tasty price. I’ll be buying in the sale or whenever they start discounting – whenever that comes.

So a grand for mechs and shifters. Hmmm.

and a charger 😆

id expect a bigger discount elsewhere

i paid RRP for my 9070 Di2 Shifters/Rear Mech and Front Mech 😳 – still needed Battery/Charger/2x Junction Boxes/5x SD50 Wires

I’m going to wait until the Chinese launch a version at a much lesser price so that I can buy it and help fund their takeover of the Spratley Islands and their devastation of the surrounding coral reefs.

Ohh, this looks good:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/sram-red-etap-aero-groupset/

Means I could keep my Shimano hydraulic brakes, and remove all of the gear cabling. (No internal cable routing for DI2 on my frame.)

Wonder if it’ll work with a Shimano cassette & compact crank.

Wonder if it’ll work with a Shimano cassette & compact crank.

It IS sram, you’ll be lucky if it works with itself 😕