I'm looking at fitting Ultegra Di2 with hydraulic discs to my gravel bike but currently undecided between the older 6800 series and the new 8000 series kit.
I can get older 6800 series shifters and calipers for about £225 but the cheapest I can find the 8000 series is £425. Obviously £200 is a fair chunk of change to save but I'd rather spend the extra if they're noticably better.
Has anyone used both? Is the newer stuff worth the extra £££'s?
I haven't used both, but do own 6800 di2 non disc. Just be aware that the ring spacing is different, so older 6800 stuff isn't officially compatible with current groups (only applies to front mech I think). I only mention this as it affects future compatibility. Not really what you were asking, but hopefully of value?
I used these on my xt/Ultegra mix gravel setup, ok if you have post mount?
I used these on my xt/Ultegra mix gravel setup, ok if you have post mount?
That's what I was looking at but with the flatmount calipers.
I used the mechanical version of these on a previous bike and they seemed pretty good but I've read some things about leaking calipers etc and would prefer to get the newer ones if they're more reliable.
At that price it's hard to look past them, especially as I've already got the XT rear mech and all the other bits I need to get it build up.
If it's about the money, don't get Di2 IMO, especially for a gravel bike!
Either accept that electric gears are better but cost more (and look forward to trashing a mech!) and get the 8000 which I'm sure is excellent, or save the cash and go for mechanical 8000 which is *really* good!
As I'm sure you can guess, and as you'd expect from stw, this is what I chose. YMMV.
In an attempt to fill in the other half of your question, I haven't used 6800 Di2 but I have R8000 Di2 with flat mount discs and it has been utterly flawless for the last 7 months. Discs are reliable, noise free with excellent modulation. Gears have been completely without fault.
Had to do a firmware update on the mechs and shifters when I first got the bike. Played around with the semi-synchro shift so that it auto shifts up 2 gears at the rear when moving up to the big ring and down 1 gear when i drop to the little ring, absolutely brilliant feature.
As an aside, I believe the 6800 and R8000 Di2 are interchangeable but don't quote me on that.
I'm not too bothered about the money as such, just can't see the point in spending ad extra £200 if I don't need to.
I've been running Di2 on the MTB and eTap on te road bike for a while now with no issues or replacement mech's needed so fingers crossed it'll be the same for the Bokeh!
Thinking about it, I bent a Force CX1 mech on the Bokeh a while back and the price was very simialr to the Di2 XT mech's so not too bad.
I have 6800 series di2 on my road bike (non-hydraulic)
shifting is fantastic
braking is absolutely fine too IMO (BB7r)
I use both, and the shape is better on the new ones, and they’re lighter. Having said that, I’ve just bought some R785 with flat mount callipers for my cross bike. They were £250 from Evans which was the cheapest I could see so less that that and you e done well. The 8070 shifters seem to be out of stock just about everywhere at mo and are minimum £450 if you find them with calipers.
They both run great with 6800 series or 8000 series mechs and chainsets. I use the RX805 mech on the cross bike.
Did a bit of reading up, had a look at a mates bike and finally decided on the 8000 series Di2.
It's more comfortable than I remember my old 6870 hoods being and looks a bit better as well. Now I just need to sort out a couple of extra Di2 wires then I'll be good to go.