I used to like Shimano (Shimano vs Hammerhead)

Surprised there isn’t already a thread on this. Next week’s Karoo firmware update will remove Di2 integration from the Karoo, because Shimano is withdrawing the licence to their proprietary protocol to Hammerhead now that Hammerhead are owned by SRAM.

Or, as DC Rainmaker so eloquently puts it, Shimano is being dick.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2022/05/shimano-forces-hammerhead-to-remove-all-di2-related-functionality-from-karoo.html

I don’t own any Di2 stuff, but this really pisses me. I actually really like Shimano kit, but I really struggle to give money to companies that behave like this.

I could understand it for future products, but penalising existing owners is rather unfair.

Breaking existing products is really bad, but preventing interoperability is just bad for end users in general.

Shimano make the best gears, Hammerhead make the best computers, why can’t I use them together?

It isn’t shimano vs hammerhead, it’s shimano vs sram (who own hammerhead).

It isn’t shimano vs hammerhead, it’s shimano vs sram (who own hammerhead).

Shimano Vs existing users.

Does seem rather petty…

Since my Polar M600 integrates with absolutely nothing, I won’t be affected by this at all…..

It isn’t even that, it is just 1 big conglomerate scared to give access to a competing conglomerate for fear of losing customers (which makes sense for any business to stay in business), but does seem a ridiculously poor decision.

It’s even more ridiculous because (currently) shimano doesn’t even offer any head units that compete with the hammerhead either. It’s not like they’ll suddenly gain market share. If anything, die hard hammerhead users who get on with AXS style gears will *possibly* choose SRAM next time round.

Unless shimano are going to release a head unit, or buy someone who already makes one.

It would make me think twice about buying anything from Shimano where that could happen.

Stay mechanical comrades

It’s a bit shit, but it’s only a display within a profile on the headunit, just switch it off on your chosen profile.

I have Di2 integration with my Wahoo Bolt. It’s actually pretty handy to be able to change screens without taking my hands off the shifters and I’d be irritated to see it go for what looks like no good reason.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an easy way around it.

I was poking around in the Shimano ebike firmware/app with a vague hope of fixing the torque sensor error. There’s lots of mistakes. I get the feeling it’s all been rushed.

The encryption key is very easily visible the source code, which is iteslf easy to see in a decompiler, and in one of the app updates on the Play store, the developer had accidentally saved the html web page of their version control system instead of the firmware file. You could see the sha id and the developers name / email address etc. Seems no-one noticed!