Prompted by mr blobby’s thread on Di2 problems… I’m not against new tech jeez I’ve threw some money at some ropey “next big thing” components over the years but I’m really struggling to see a single “serious tangible” benefit with Di2 ..

I’d love to hear of any 🙂 🙂

Auto trim.

+1 for auto trim!

It’s lighter than mechanical in its latest iterations, no cables to get crappy, minimal set up, multiple shifer positions possible, 10/11 speed interchangeability, and it just plain shifts better.

It won’t change your life, but it works very well, and quite frankly if the OP had a mechanical STI that had suddenly packed up it would still be in the LBS!

It sounds cool.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSZHGBlm8pA[/video]

The shift under power from small to big is great and the other way around, from experience shifting from one end of the block to another (or any combo you want) at the tough of a button….. Auto trim as mentioned Eh……. Id rather buy a super record mech grouppo if I had the cash though….as Ill never be able to buy dura ace or eps!

No cables but it does have electrical cables joining everything up.
Looks rough on a bike without intergrated cable routing IMHO.

I’ve threw some money at some ropey “next big thing” components over the years..

You bought a 29er?

I’d be tempted for a tt/tri bike to have multiple shifter positions. Didn’t know about the 10/11spd thing – I thought it was strange that 11spd seemed to be with cables first.

Ha ha not yet I’m a 26″ wheel man 😉

I mean a well set up mechanical groupset is going to shift/work sweet with minimal faff .. So I still can’t get my head round extra ££££ and more to go wrong with Di2 stuff ??

You could say that about Deore though, couldn’t you?

It lets you SPEC hydro discs on a road bike. Not to everyone’s taste but a big plus for me.

Still looks clunky too !!

Looks rough on a bike without intergrated cable routing IMHO.

Fewer of those now though.

So I still can’t get my head round extra ££££ and more to go wrong with Di2 stuff ??

How’s there more to go wrong? There’s far fewer moving parts, just means you’re less likely to fix it yourself if/when it does go wrong.

Still looks clunky too !!

Meh, not that bad:

Shifters on the base bar of a TT bike is fantastic, that is why I have it. I am in no rush for it on my road bikes.

Wot Jamie says.
I’m compelled to shift the front mech whenever I go past someone, just because it sounds like I’m robocop and makes me sexy.

I recall reading that it overshifts in both directions. Normal derailleurs can only do this going down from top to 1st as your cable pulls the chain slightly over the point of alignment with the gear, making it shift more efficiently. But going up to top gear is just releasing a spring against a stop – no overshift. Di2 is meant to do this in both directions.

more to go wrong with Di2 stuff

The percentage of failures on Di2 is actually lower than on the mechanical groupsets.

So I still can’t get my head round extra ££££ and more to go wrong with Di2 stuff ??

More to go wrong or just different issues?

No stretch or cables full of grime, but obviously you still need to route some leccy cabling.

Simpler shifters, just a couple of micro switches Vs the complexity of a mechanical Sti unit, arguably less to go wrong there.

Auto trim seems to be one of the the biggest plus points in many users minds.

Weight’s not really an issue is it?
I mean I’m sure you could still build a bike to the 6.8kg limit Di2 or not… So does it really matter?

Pah! Ultimately early adopters always get the most issues to contend with, but it’s their own fault for being rich and spendy…

I mean a well set up mechanical groupset is going to shift/work sweet with minimal faff

However well set up it is, you still have to wind in a certain amount of cable with your finger. With Di2 you just have to effectively press a button. And it auto trims – did you miss that part? That means it never needs adjusting, in theory at least.

It won’t change your life, but it works very well, and quite frankly if the OP had a mechanical STI that had suddenly packed up it would still be in the LBS!

It does work very well indeed.

If it was my mechanical STI that had packed up then it’d mostly be in pieces on my kitchen table (though obviously some of those pieces would have pinged out and hidden themselves under the fridge!)

I mean a well set up mechanical groupset is going to shift/work sweet with minimal faff

Over the course of a cyclocross race lap (let alone a full race) shifting tends to become significantly less sweet with a mechanical setup. So a lot of racers at the top end (and spendy end) have gone for Di2 or EPS as a result. It just works – regardless of how caked the bike is.

Interesting thread. I have a ten year old Record 10spd groupset on one of my bikes that still works beautifully – I wonder how many Di2’sw will be working at that age?

Who knows but there’s no particular reason to think not unless of course you’re just wanting to be a doom monger.

Benefits:
lighter than mechanical
less to go wrong – it’s just a couple of electric switches rather than all the mechanical gubbins and moving parts of a normal shifter
auto-trim (has anyone mentioned that yet? 😉 )
fully internal cable routing which can do all kinds of weird routing, no need for it to run from stop to stop
multiple shifter positions for sprinting, tops of bars etc.
programmable to do multiple shifts with one press of the button
lighter shifting action

Downsides:
HOW much?!

You can also adjust the speed of the shift if you so choose.

Downsides:
HOW much?!

True, but it’s already coming down. Ultegra DI2 is less than £400 more than mechanical.

Or for context, about the same as a complete 105 Groupset …..

C’mon guys where’s all the negativity ??? At this rate you’ll have me buying it 😉

I’m not a serial crasher but the costs of replacements if you stack are eye watering !!

We had a bloke in the shop last week. Apparently his Di2 battery wasn’t charging. So either the charger was knackered or the battery was. Definitely.
So we tried the battery on another Di2 bike
It worked fine
We checked the charger with another battery
It worked fine
So we asked him to bring it in and we’d put it all on the diagnostic PC link and suss it out
He was miffed at being wrong but brought the bike in
I wasn’t in when he came but the mechanic pulled back one of the hoods to plug the PC link into the shifter and discovered one of the shifter cables was already unplugged
The daft fool had been playing around with his bars and tugged the wire out…..

“less mechanical to go wrong” Well not for Ui2 according to a good friend who’s shop has sold a lot. Very few problems with Di2.

I’m just not bothered. Even racing for years I can think of very few/no occasions whenever I missed a fast shift or dropped off shifting down at the front.

I’m not a serial crasher but the costs of replacements if you stack are eye watering

But who doesn’t buy stuff on the assumption they will crash, and crash hard?

Not a serial crasher? You will be after saying that!

I desperately need/want Di2 in my life. Feel like I’m forever faffing with my roady front mech rubbing. Tempted by the Merlin “gear set” but it’s just too spendy. If I could get battery/shifters/mechs for £400-£500 I don’t think I’d be able to help myself.

Less to go wrong? Rubbish. Every electrical thing I ever have goes wrong, just a case of when. Harder to fix than mechanical? Certainly. Running 10yr old DA at present, really can’t see Di2 still working in 10yrs time.
I really don’t like the idea at all but may have to if it’s the only way to get hyrdo discs onto the road bike.

I’m sure I saw loads of issues with it in last years Tour, but they seemed to have ironed out a lot of them this year judging by the lack of mechanicals (or so it seemed). The few I have seen in the flesh have looked a bit industrial but I assume they will improve as time goes on. I haven’t really seen the point so far, but I do wonder if it will become standard in the future. As for the advantage of auto trim I could do something similar with my old Campag bar end changers decades ago!! Ah the joy of resistance gear changing!!

but I do wonder if it will become standard in the future

I’m willing to bet it will be the future but it isn’t quite the Now for me. Although it has much improved, I’m sure there are still a lot of improvements to be made in looks, price and weight before I buy into it (which I will)

Given the opportunity for making everything much tidier, I’m surprised at how messy and ugly it is. That little junction box thing that sits under the stem – why couldn’t that be integrated into one of the other pieces? And the base bar shifters for TT bikes are just so massive and clunky – why couldn’t they use tiny stealth switches like the flight deck ones? I’m sure TT bike designers have worked hard to remove stuff with less of an impact on aerodynamics.

The cynic might think that that’s what’s coming next – a much sleeker and neater Di2 that’ll make the current one look very old fashioned…

I have to agree although I have seen some clever frames that do a good job of hiding most of it away. I know it would come with it’s own reliability issues but an ant+/bluetooth style di2 would have freed up bike designers even more. I’m sure it will come eventually and at that point I can see me jumping.

The way they’ve done it just now is actually pretty consumer friendly. The wiring harness and control box are seperate to keep replacement/upgrade costs down.

At the minute you can mix and match the 11spd dura-ace with the 11spd ultegra as they use the same wiring setup, battery etc. By just changing the levers you can upgrade 10spd ultegra Di2 to 11spd as the mechs, wiring etc, are all compatible..

Overly integrating everything might make it a little neater but it wouldn’t be so upgrade friendly.. if you consider the prices they are charging for Di2 stuff friendly that is..!!! 🙂

Downsides;
Battery mounting isn’t compatible with my Stages Powercrank on my frame.
Cost to replace a RD in a crash – amd there are plenty in some of my races.
One of my fellow racers gets cold hands in the winter because he doesn’t move them as much when shifting.

Errr. That’s it. Not much really, and I’d like it in the future. Once it’s tricled down to 105, then it’s mainstream, and I foresee it in my future.