Do I want DI2 on a commute bike?

I know, this is a stupid question really. People are starving in Africa. And this country. I feel bad for even asking.

I want to get a road bike. I’ll use it at weekends but its main mileage will (by some margin I suspect) be in commuting ~45km/day on. I’m probably going to get a Giant Defy. Big tyres, space for guards in winter but fast enough to be fun.

I’m leaning towards getting a plain Jane Tiagra or 105 version, but should I stretch the budget and look at DI2, or is that stupid? It’s +£500 for the DI2 version, but on the cyclescheme that’ll work out to +£300 in ‘real money’. I’ve never used electric gears. I mean, I’ve had a ride around a car park and played about with them, but never owned and never used in anger. People (at least in the roadie world) rave about them. Am I missing out by getting an olde-worlde 105 mechanical setup?

Mechanical is fine.

Di2 is sublime.

I love crisp, relatable shifts. I love semi synchro that compensates for a front change, especially under braking into a junction. I love the light weight effortless change feel without excessive wrist movement. I love auto trimming.

I also love riding my 9 speed mechanical too though.

its main mileage will (by some margin I suspect) be in commuting ~45km/day on.

This answers your question.

No, you don’t want to be **** around with having to charge batteries on your commuter bike, which, if like mine, will get attention if, and only if, it’s falling to bits.

A lot less to go wrong – no cables that get gummed up with road grime and need tweaking, replacing etc.

Plus features like synchro shift mean one less step of having to think about gear changes when you’re trying to deal with traffic and junctions and potholes.

There’s nothing wrong with mechanical at all – I’ve got 105 mechanical and it’s been faultless. But if you can get Di2 for relatively little extra outlay, it’s well worth it.

No, you don’t want to be **** around with having to charge batteries on your commuter bike

I don’t get this argument. You’ll be charging lights, GPS etc at least weekly. Di2 battery is good for 1000km on one charge so 50km per day means once a month the bike needs plugging in for about 45 minutes.
Oh the hardship…

My only road bike is Di2, it’s aces.

Commuting, touring, Audax all improved with electronic shifting.

For £300 I’d do it. Not owned, but I’d get them if I could justify new kit.

Yes, absolutely yes. Had Di2 on my commuting bike for 7 years or so. Faultless reliability, sublime gear changing that doesn’t go out of adjustment and 45 mins of charging every 3-4 months. Yes…

If you can afford it, then do it.

Life’s too short to be riding crap bikes. If you’re commuting 45km a day most days then why not ride something nice with Di2?

Been running Di2 on my commuter bikes for just over 10 years now

All have been faultless, never had a flat battery in all that time, if you let the battery get too low the front mech will stop working first and the rear mech will still have around 150 or so shifts until the battery is completely flat if i remember correctly, so plenty of shifting to get you home and recharge

I’d say yes. Mine has got Ultegra di2. I liked sram double tap – but hated Shimano mechanical when a newer bike came with it.

Didn’t like how the brake lever pivoted and if you slightly caught the wrong lever as you shifted, the whole thing just pivoted in flaccidly and did nothing.

My turbo training bike came with some crap Microshift 9 speed road gears that looked and felt very clunky – I’ve swapped it for 11 speed sram Rival tap and much prefer it. Although ideally I’d have di2 on that too – it just feels so nice to use.

DI2 batteries last a lot longer than Sram etap / AXS batteries do – because you have one large battery inside the frame, rather than a few tiny ones. I only charge mine a few times a year.

Life’s too short to be riding crap bikes.

And mechanical 105 falls into that category?

I had DI2 Alfine on my old commuter. It was the only way to get a hub gear, drop bar STIs and hydraulic disc brakes.

The DI2 bit, the shifting, was fine but the hub itself was rubbish, draggy and heavy. ive gone back to singlespeed now and it’s just much nicer to ride

Yup

I won’t go back to cables on any bike now.

I’m more minded towards AXS now, as I’ve loads of spare batteries I can use in a pinch, but charging them really isn’t an issue. I almost prefer to have to do it more regularly, so it’s become routine.

Life’s too short to be riding crap bikes.

And mechanical 105 falls into that category?

Are we putting all cable geared bikes into the crap bikes pile? If so… can I pick my bikes of that pile? Not just my commuter bike…

I’ve been riding a Di2 commuter for 9 years.  In that time I’ve had one (nearly) flat battery.  I do around 55-90km a day (winter-summer) usually 3 days a week (travelling other days) and have put 60-70k km on those two bikes.

Utterly flawless.  The only tiny exception was a squashed cable which led to the drained battery.  This was caused by bad routing on my part.

No mechs, no shifters, no cables, nothing to replace at all in 9 years and flawless, easy shifting in whatever gloves and conditions I was riding in.

My battery needs charged every 4months.  I have a little MT800 display usit which tells me the gear and battery level.

Another advantage on 2x, is the auto shifting when using the front mech.  It will auto shift 1 or two gears on the cassette when you shift the front ring to initially match ratio, you can then swap manually.  You can turn it off if you want.

Do it.

An interesting thread

I have no interest in ultimate performance. But not have to worry about cable drag mucking up down shifts is attractive

45km a day is going to eat drivetrain components… I’d get the tiagra version. 105 and grx 11 speed mix on my gravel bike survives being a winter road bike covered in crap fine, the shifting is light and crisp.

If you go DI2 can you replace the drivetrain parts cheaply?

So long as you keep it clean, it really doesn’t cost me much.  I get 15-20k km out of a 2x GRX drivetrain using 2 chains, degreasing, drying and relubing every 2 weeks – I commute for 49 out of 51 weeks of the year.  New Rings, cassette jockeys, chains and a set of front pads only cost me £175.  The mechs, shifters and cranks were fine and still are.

That’s £90 a year + £30 for tyres (60 a set, but last 2 years(ish)) to do around 7000-8000km.  An XTR gear cable set used to cost me £35 a year…And I had to, y’know, actually do it…

Wow. This did not go how I thought it would. There’s a lot of love for electric gears, then.

Any strong opinions re di2 vs AXS? Don’t like the di2 colour way vs the SRAM option.

Any strong opinions re di2 vs AXS? Don’t like the di2 colour way vs the SRAM option.

Di2 battery last much much longer.

OK, SRAM batteries are tiny, charge up super quick etc but it’s still going to be a weekly charge situation. Not the end of the world by any means but worth noting.

Personally I prefer the feel of Di2, was never really keen on the simultaneous left/right shifter press to use the front mech on SRAM.

What @daffy said. Once you’ve paid for the mechs and shifters the consumables cost the same as any other drivetrain.

I love the synchro shifting and I love the fact the lever blades don’t move and changing gear is just pressing a button.

I also like being able to cycle through my Garmin screens with the di2 buttons.

In fact I’ve just upgraded to grx shifters so there’ll be some lightly used rs785 di2 shifters for sale soon

Fit Middleburn cable oilers to ask your cables. Job jobbed.

https://www.mountainbikecomponents.co.uk/product-category/cable-oilers/

Shimano Di2 all the way, also excellent dealer support from Madison/Freewheel.

Have about 4 Di2 bikes in the household.  Statistically batteries seem to last about 5 years. Di2 is GREAT until it isn’t.  Then you generally need other di2 bits to work out what has gone wrong.  (One issue that cropped up a Saturday afternoon before a bigish race needed the shop level di2 programmer to recover the item).

I have 1 AXS (1×12) bike, equally good shifting.  Hoods are pretty chunky though.

Any strong opinions re di2 vs AXS? Don’t like the di2 colour way vs the SRAM option.

I’ve got both (Force/Red and GRX 817) on two very similar 1x gravel bikes.  They both work very well, but on a sh1tty weather commute week, I can drain an AXS battery by the Friday, which means I have to charge/change batteries on the Thursday AND I have to remember to do it as there’s no real visual indicator as you change gear as there is with Di2 using the MT800 display.  1x Di2 Lasts 6 months.  2x Di2 last around 4 months.  Articulting the front mech must take a lot more power OR, I spend more time hopping gears on 2x as i have more ratios to play with.

To charge Di2 – I just plug the charger into the display.  AXS, I have to remove the battery – It’s easy, but I still have to do it, so there’s a chance I damage the clip or the battery or the lever.  There’s none of that with Di2.

I’ve been saying it for ages.  Di2 + Hydro Brakes + Tubeless wide tyres (32) and guards makes for the best, easiest commuting.   Absolutely no degradation in performance as long as you occasionally clean the drivetrain.

No, you don’t want to be **** around with having to charge batteries on your commuter bike, which, if like mine, will get attention if, and only if, it’s falling to bits.

You have an easy, short, fair weather only commute?

My commute bike probably had the highest uptime of any of my bikes. Built to be reliable, serviced and cleaned regularly.
Clicks, creaks and squeaks dealt with before the bike let me down in the middle of a cold, wet, dark January morning, exactly half way between work and home.

It was looked after even better once i moved to Sweden. Because a cold morning can be *really* cold.

Without a doubt get Di2, it’s ace, absolutely no faff or anything. The battery lasts at least 1000km so that’s 4-5 weeks of commuting daily and it takes about 2-3 hours to charge.

I’ve done 11000 odd km on mine and it’s the most reliable thing I’ve ever had on a bike.

Di2 for an extra 300 quid is a definite YES

GF’s Tiagra gravel bike needs less faffing than mine with 105. I guess being 10 speed helps a lot.

Have Di2 on my ebullit and it’s been faultless.

I’d absolutely do it.

Security?  Is this another thing you need to remove every time you park the bike?

Is this another thing you need to remove every time you park the bike?

Derailleurs & shifters?

It’s definitely a consideration.

Personally I don’t like to leave a bike outside the shops if it would cost more than a few hundred pounds to replace the whole thing.

I ran a fake exploro frame with 1x di2 – drop shifters and an xt rear and the mtb display.

Was great for commuting (100ish miles weekly commute) in all weathers reliability was fine.

For a £300 premium why not, you can always pop it over to the best bike later 🙂

Mine gets left outside shops/bars/restaurants in Bristol.  It’s insured.  I doubt Di2 makes it any more attractive.  It’s largely indistinguishable from standard GRX 800.

its main mileage will (by some margin I suspect) be in commuting ~45km/day on.

It it better to put it on your “nice bike” and not use it often, or on your commuter and enjoy it every day?

Is this another thing you need to remove every time you park the bike?

Derailleurs & shifters?

Battery?

Not an issue for Di2, if you have it hidden in the seat tube, but perhaps an issue for AXS.

It it better to put it on your “nice bike” and not use it often, or on your commuter and enjoy it every day?

Both 🙂

Battery?

Not an issue for Di2, if you have it hidden in the seat tube, but perhaps an issue for AXS.

I guess, but that’s some fairly geeky bike knowledge to start looking for them to nick, Shirley?