[Closed] Shimano Di2 - any bad experiences?

Got it on my TT bike - never had any problems, two sets of shifters is handy

what happens if the battery runs out?

That is clearly not a nightmare story, premier. Begone with your positivity.

I really like mine. Only downside is that I find the shifters a bit vague with big winter gloves.

mrblobby - you mean it NEVER shifts properly in the winter, right? *Clutches at straws*

what happens if the battery runs out?

It stops changing gear, but you get about 500 miles warning that that's about to happen!

The word on the street is that it's a bit like Shimano rapid fire shifters - more complex than other solutions (eg thumbies/gripshift) so it shouldn't be reliable but in the real world it works fine.

And as above, batteries running out would require you to be negligent to be an issue. And FWIW, I've had a gear cable snap on me 50 miles from home 👿

(Non-DI2 user FWIW - I can't justify the cost but I'd use it if/when it gets cheaper).

It works fine in the cold, it's just that the shift buttons are a bit harder to find in winter gloves (got big lobster gloves with liners.) Easier with mechanical where there is a big movement of a lever so you know you've got it. I'm keeping mechanical on my winter bike and have the Di2 for the summer bike.

OK got it. On person saying that they don't work if the temperature is below 20ºC and another saying the battery only lasts 20 minutes.

Definitely not getting it.

Probably.

[i]I can pretend I don't own it for a good reason[/i]

How about the mechs being hideously ugly? Or you could play the weight card too.

Ugly is subjective. I rather like them.

Weight is interesting. If you are going for a lightweight build then it's something to consider. Do wonder how prevelant they would be in the pro peloton if there wasn't a minimum weight limit (and sponsorship/marketing concerns.)

Dura Ace 9070 weighs less than the mechanical equivalent.

Just trying to help 😈

Yeh but if weight was the issue you wouldn't run dura ace anyway.

How about the shifters being hideously ugly? Or you could play the weight card too.

Hardly, if you're going down the aesthetics route then what about the servos on the mechs?

The reviews of 9000 mechanical have said that it's so damn good that it's a tough justification to go for Di2. I'd still have it though, cost notwithstanding!

njee20 I typed 'shifters' instead of 'mechs' - I then edited it.

Yeh but if weight was the issue you wouldn't run dura ace anyway.

Which "Shimano Di2" would [i]you[/i] run then? 😉

I guess for £2.3k you could go pretty light on parts... rotor cranks / red mechs / some silly light/aero brakeset.

[i]Which "Shimano Di2" would you run then?[/i]

If weight was the only concern I wouldn't run any electronic groupset. Although I'm not sure waht weight super record is in comparison to sram red or the normal super record.

There was some bloke on runner's world saying he'd spent 8K on a Di2 equipped road bike and it had stopped working after 2 rides.
Bear in mind he was a triathlete though, so had probably tried to ride the bike whilst it was upside down.

Battery life is approx 1200 miles depending on how much you shift. There is an LED display that shows you battery charge. If you go riding when it's low and you run out who you gonna blame?
It's worked fine for me in the cold not had chance to try it in any warmth yet...

Some guys chain slipped yesterday on the final climb up the Cauberg yesterday which nearly made him fall off, he was definately maybe using Di2

The front mech will try and snap your finger clean off when trying to stick the little metal pad for the set screw on the seat tube if some moron decides to 'play' with the shifter 'for a laugh' 👿

Exciting times but Realistically how long do we think before we see Di2 available at 105 and Tiagra levels?

TBH that's more than likely the point I'm going to be considering it at, even heavier than the current DA and Ultegra implementations, but quite likely with most of the (apparently not too common yet) reliability gremlins ironed out.

Oh and what news of it's MTB cousin?

There must be a XTR version out in the next 12-18 months surely? that would allow Shimano to piss all over SRAM's XX1 chips for a bit I'd have thought... Demonstrating reliability when subjected to more mud, vibration and being dropped more often will be the greater test IMO...

TBH that's more than likely the point I'm going to be considering it at, even heavier than the current DA and Ultegra implementations, but quite likely with most of the (apparently not too common yet) reliability gremlins ironed out.

Oh and what news of it's MTB cousin?

9000 series Di2 is lighter than mechanical, partly due to lighter batteries than the earlier incarnations, so no reason to think that when it trickles down it'll bring a weight penalty.

It's been around for several years now, I think any teething problems will have been ironed out. Very unlike Shimano to release a product for consumers to do the beta testing anyway, they tend to wait until something's spot on before release.

A couple of friends have been running Di2 on MTBs for years with no ill effects. Scary replacement costs if you smash a mech, but that's about it! Wouldn't be surprised to see XTR Di2 fo sho.

I had Di2 and it exploded and killed a child's face off.

HTH.

Rode behind a club mates fresh out of the shop Di2 Dura Ace, and it clearly needed a fettle. Then test rode it myself, and if it wasn't for the additional £750, I'd have it.

The only nightmare I can think of is a crash requiring a new £300 rear derailleur.

Can't find it now, but sometime recently there was a guy (posting either here or over on bikeradar) who had managed to drop his chain off the little ring in front, which had then cut through the front mech Di2 cable.

Does that help?

edit: ah, found it: http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40013&t=12915119

[img] [/img]

My new frame has internal Di2 routing so it wouldn't be an issue 🙂

Ooooh a game of guess the shimano road map my predictions:

-I'll expect 10spd Tiagra Di2 2016-ish then,
-DA Di2 11 speed released about the same time.
-XTR Di2 11 speed for about 2017...
-All MTB groups down to Deore will be available in 10 spd Di2 by June 2019

Shimano will use firmware to dictate Shifter/mech compatibility based on a "+/- one group" principle, i.e. they might allow XT and XTR to drive one another, They won't let Deore work with XT or SLX operate XTR, Road stuff will not work with MTB at all...

Various hacks will emerge in due course, and they might quietly drop the limited compatibility policy once OEM customers complain enough at not being able to mix Di2 groups as much as they could with the mechanically actuated stuff...

I think it'll be sooner than that but interesting discussion on the compatibility thing..

Updated synopsis of the thread:

CONS
- Di2 is ugly
- It definitely won't wirk in temperatures under 25ºC
- Di2 makes your bike too heavy to ride
- If you break a mech it costs 4 years salary to replace
- It only works if you ride your bike upside down and/or are a triathlete
- The cables will definitely break, electrocuting you to death
- The battery lasts for 20 mins max

PROS
- If you're lucky it might explode and kill a child's face off

The only nightmare I can think of is a crash requiring a new £300 rear derailleur.

And the rest, a 9070 mech is £550!

-DA Di2 11 speed released about the same time.

Err, it's already out!

Shimano will use firmware to dictate Shifter/mech compatibility based on a "+/- one group" principle, i.e. they might allow XT and XTR to drive one another, They won't let Deore work with XT or SLX operate XTR, Road stuff will not work with MTB at all...

That'll be interesting, I reckon they'll be cross compatible, folk have done all sorts of hacks at the moment. Among the 'issues' at present are that on Ultegra to keep cost down there a lot of gubbins in the front mech, so you can't do without it. Ie no 1x10 electronic unless you get the crazy expensive stuff! I imagine they'll change that on the MTB groups, but maybe not.

Anecdotal... If you lurk the various fora, there a now a number of 'Help! My Di2 won't shift/shifts randomly/only shifts when there's an r in th month' etc... Usually down to cable connections/bits n bobs but the victim usually has to go back to a bike shop to get it fixed, usually by swapping a bit for a new (expensive) bit.

Bit like cars, no more home mechanicing/black box engineering. At least with mechanical, you can sort it out yourself.

If there's a nuclear strike anywhere nearby then the electromagnetic pulse will burn out the electronics, and you will be stuck in whichever gear you've chosen for your next post-apocalypse nuclear-winter sportive.

I have been thinking about whether to spec Ultegra Di2 on my next road bike but I in reality I rarely have problems with road shifting anyway so what is the benefit beyond an auto-trimming front mech?

It's mostly because it turns your bike into a robot.

Come to think of it, not sure I trust a robot bike not to do something evil come the singularity.

I have been thinking about whether to spec Ultegra Di2 on my next road bike but I in reality I rarely have problems with road shifting anyway so what is the benefit beyond an auto-trimming front mech?

Nice to hear from you!

I had a play with a Di2 bike in the LBS the other week. Rear shifting didn't seem much different from a well setup mechanical system, but the front seemed much smoother. It's not the game-changer that going from down tube shifters to STI was, but incrementally it is better. Plus prices are now coming down - Ribble are going an Ultegra electronic groupset for around £400 more than mechanical, and a complete bike for about £2k.

The other advantage is electronic shifters free up space for hydraulic brakes.

Well my good friend that I ride with - owns a couple of bike shops - says that he's seen a few problems with Ui2 losing it's indexing synch but not with Di2. Not that he was trying to get me to buy Di2 or anything!

<waves to Ransos>
Yep £300-£400 was the difference I was seeing on the Canyon I was looking at but it's not a insignificant amount of money. I guess for Ultegra it gives a price point in the big gulf between mechanical Ultegra and DA.

I'll be pay rise and bonus less again this year so it will be sometime yet until I can do it so by them the price may be down even further.

I'll be pay rise and bonus less again this year so it will be sometime yet until I can do it so by them the price may be down even further.

£400 isn't insignificant, but you can spend that on a fancy wheel upgrade so it depends on your priorities I guess. If I was looking at new bikes now I'd be very tempted to try and find the extra.

I'm going to wait for a few years, as there's nothing wrong with my current bike: by then we should have hydro/ electronic groups at reasonable-ish prices.

Looks like new SRAM Red is hydraulics, no electronics though. If they've not done it yet it makes me wonder if they'll bother.

mountain trax had a scott scale set up with this last year, think it was the owners, seemed ok but didnt properly test it, why can it just be bought as a groupo and fitted to an mtb? any reasons?

I think Dura Ace DI2 is fantastic, a bit tricky when you have your winter gloves on but you get used to it

Well my good friend that I ride with - owns a couple of bike shops - says that he's seen a few problems with Ui2 losing it's indexing synch but not with Di2. Not that he was trying to get me to buy Di2 or anything!

Di2 stands for Digital Integrated Intelligence, so it's Ultegra Di2, or UDi2, but not Ui2. Annoys me that one.

mountain trax had a scott scale set up with this last year, think it was the owners, seemed ok but didnt properly test it, why can it just be bought as a groupo and fitted to an mtb? any reasons?

Chris has had it on his Yeti for several years now, Ben Thomas rode several elite XC races on it, and it's been flawless!

Oh dear, looks like someone at team Sky may have forgotten to put Bradley's Di2 battery on charge!