Always fancied scratching the itch

I know it won’t make me go faster, it’s slightly heavier…bit I’m a tart and I love the idea of syncro shift.

Currently running mechanical 6800 and I can honestly say I’ve never thought ‘i wish my shifting was better…but anyone who tries it seems to love it.

Currently got my lbs pricing it up for me, any reason not to?

It’s not great when wearing thick gloves and it’s a bit more of a pita when bits go wrong. Otherwise it’s nice.

Not really relevant to road riding but i had it on my mtb for a while and hated it.
Difficult out to explain but I felt kind of detached from what was going on.

the new Di2 Road groupsets are actually a hair lighter than the mechanical eqiv. so there’s one reason not to, gone.

and btw, I’m the polar opposite of squealer, I have it on all my bikes now, inc. MTB but I always hated Sram shifting.

I’ve got the latest Ultegra Di2 on my road bike and to be honest I bloody love it, no cables to worry about getting all shitted up in winter and the syncro shift is mega.

Setting it up is a piece of cake too, stick it in adjust mode and press the shifter until it shifts right, job done. The front mech also auto trims, so you don’t need to think about that either.

No effort shifting, can set how fast and how many gears in one go, the auto trim on the front is awesome. Drivetrain always quiet. Never adjusted my Uktegra since fitting 2.5 years ago. Battery lasts ages too.
Love it on the mtb, for most of the above reasons (mtb single ring only so no front mech) and the way it just keeps working no matter how much sticky chalky muddy slop the drivetrain gets covered in.
I am definitely a convert.

Its strange, I’ve got mechanical dura ace and mechanical 6800 on two of my bikes. Like the OP I also thought I was really happy with Ultegra 6800 and couldn’t see the benefit of Di2.
Bought a Canyon Aeroad in the summer with Di2, honestly its just awesome. I know its no real bother to change gear with mechanical, but for some reason its just really nice to tap the level and the gear changes. I also like the noise it makes as well.
I wouldn’t go back to mechanical on my road bikes. Don’t know if I would spend out on an upgrade per se, but on a new bike it seems to make sense.

If I’m honest I don’t need it any more than I do my 16lb carbon race bike with aerowheels and power meter . my allez is 95 % As good in every respect. But need and want are 2 very different things when it comes to bike buying..my barely used yeti that sits in the corner gathering dust is proof of that!

Sounds like it’s a luxury purchase but one I will not regret!

Had it one two bikes and honestly didn’t like it except when climbing.
I didn’t like the hood shape on ultegra hydraulic Di2 and the shifter buttons were too small and too vague. I’d like a nice click or a bit more pressure to shift.

On my TT bike and now trike it’s a game changer. Not having to think about changing it becomes subconscious. On my road bikes I love DA9000. Electric shifting is nice but I do like the nice click of a cable shift when it is clean and well set up. I agree about the 6800 on my race bike. It really is the same S the DA.

You’ll probably change gear more. You may miss a ride or race when it fails. But it’s a nice piece of kit.

My wife has it on her road bike. I had a go an noticed a few things:

First, as its a 2x set up, you never need to think / look at what front ring your are in. You just go up or down the block with one shifter. (assuming you set it up to synchro shift)
Second, it auto trims.
Third, it does sound cool.
Fourth, you can shift very fast, faster than with a mechanical.

If I had a nice road bike, I would pay for it or upgrade to it for sure.
On my 1x MTB I would not bother, as the greatest benefit I found was never having to think about the front ring.

I’ve got XT di2 on my mtb running 2×11. I love it. Really nice to simply click up and down and the group set does everything else. Also nice in race situations when confronted with a surprise climb/descent you can simply hold your finger on the trigger and it changes multiple gears. I have had a couple of problems with the battery. The first battery failed mid ride but I was able to finish the ride as singlespeed and the second time the battery had been placed the wrong way round in the seat tube and the bouncing around had cut the battery cable to it. The first Shimano covered under warranty and the second the LBS didn’t charge for the repairs.

For me I bloody love it! It’s been faultless – every shift, every time, never goes out of alignment. Would never go back to cables (on the road bike), never had the chance to have it on a mtb. Battery lasts for months, even though I’m doing 100miles a week on that bike.

Crash it, press reset and it realigns. What’s not to like!

I had ultegra di2 6870 on my main road bike. And in the winter I found it a pain with thick winter gloves. And had some battery issues.
Ive changed it to 9100 mechanical and find it much better.

As for shift speed imo my older record 10 speed group shifts quicker than anything else I’ve had inc Di2 but never done any proper testing.

If you think synchro shift is for you then go for it.

On my mtb the xt di2 has been faultless, it’s 1×11 with a shift button by each grip. Right side for down left for up

OP – if you’re running discs then I have a very lightly used Fill Ultegra groupset for sale less rear cassette. Comes with climber shift module and module that allows it to speak with your Garmin etc. £650. Interested?

As above, It’s just really really nice to use. (caveat, while I can’t fault the road stuff, I’m not a fan of the mtb shifters, don’t like the feel, but the system still works beautifully)

What i need is Sram to make an etap mtb grip shift group

What i need is Sram to make an etap mtb grip shift group

Can’t be far off now, was sure it’d be this year, but guess they are waiting to crash XTR 12speed Di2’s party

For gravel you can run an XT groupset with drops.
Which is a hell of an expense to go to because Shimano are too stupid to make their road and mtb 11 speed stuff interchangeable.
Sorry did I think that out loud?

Di2 for two years, perfect. Always changes smoothly and quickly. All I do is put new chains/rings/cassette. No faffing. Also it’s effortless and paired with disk breaks just superb on the road. I will not be buying any future bike without it. Once you’ve used it there’s no going back 😊

It’s quiet

The three real “wins” for me, after 3 years with di2 on my Dune are, in no particular order:

1) The ability to remove the rear derailleur for packing the bike into a bag, then simple bolt it back on, plug it in and bingo, it just works. No messing around with bowden cables etc! This is especially useful on my Dune, being a LOOOOOONG bike, it really doesn’t fit in most bike bags, so taking off the sticky out pieces makes it easy to pack, and less likely to get damaged by baggage handlers who DGAS! (obs, if you only ride direct from your front door, then this is not really a useful advantage!)

2) The “safety release when hit” function. This is definitely a significant advantage. This feature has saved me twice now out on real trails, once where my riding buddy hit the same stump, and actually snapped their derailleur right off the bike because it was effectively locked in place by the cable.

3)Because you are not physically shifting the gears yourself, “missing” a shift is a thing of the past. Now, that doesn’t happen often, but it you’re right in the middle of some techy climb and using your body mass, then it’s just easier to give the shifter lever a hit and, bingo, you’re in the next cog. On a manual shifter, you do have to have a little more precision on how you time and load the shifter to get a clean shift.

a 4th one, that is an advantage, but not for me (1by only), is that you can set up a 2by trans with just one shift lever. If you are doing XC or endurance event, where having a 2by setup is useful for us less, er, leg enabled, participants, it free’s up bar space and de-cluters the bike.

Now, none of those, or even all those are really enough to justify di2 above a nice manual version, imo, but you know how it is with blingy bits………. 😉