Another win for older tech?
Maybe I’m missing something, but I have never understood the appeal of electronic shifting.
I’ve been running Di2 since 2014 on my gravel grinder. It was a mullet setup with Ultegra DI2 / Wolftooth extender, XT cassette, SRAM 1x chainring and crank. I moved up to a clutched XT Di2 rear as soon as it was available. No dropped chains.
The shifting, now 10 years later, is AS GOOD as the day I got it. The battery, also 10 years old, still only needs charging 1-3 times a year depending on how much I’m riding that bike.
I went SRAM Eagle AXS for my bike packing bike.
It’s not as good as 11-speed XT Di2, even though my Eagle is XX. But the small drop in shifting performance (still sky high) is made up for by the ease-of-use. When I bought the bike, it was lightly used and setup as a single speed. Wireless electronic shifting made the switch easy. The most complicated thing was changing the freehub body to XD. After that it was put on the shifter, the derailleur and I was off to the races. I’ve taken it on days-long bike packing trips and I can do it all on a single battery, but I keep a spare on me because it’s so tiny.
My mountain bike has SRAM Transmission on it and it’s as perfect as shifting could ever be (also bought used because the bikepocalypse is real and I might as well take advantage).
With electronic shifting, I love that I can customize it to a level not possible with cabled shifting. I like that I can choose the speed of the shifts, which button does what, and I have my Shimano and SRAM bikes setup to match each other: same buttons for higher/lower gears and the same hold-for-3 multi-shift behaviour.
Now, bear in mind that when I get on my cabled-bikes, I don’t really think “boy this sucks” - but I maintain them all well.
Electronic shifting is incredible. I would never go back for my main bikes unless it gets all cloud-subscribers-enshittified (which is highly probable LOL).
But, being honest, it is truly a luxury and in no way needed. Any bike being ridden is a great bike.
AMA else. I’m here for it.
Aside: hilariously this is the Shimano semi-wireless Di2 in this article which is part of the sad decay of Shimano in general (I’m looking at you unreliable-shimano-power-meter and crank arms coming unbonded). The most popular wireless electronic kits are SRAM and, if I understand it correctly, they’re not affected by this particular issue. Doesn’t mean hackers won’t find one of course!
It sounds awesome to me if it’s perfected and batteries can get smaller with longer charge.
No. More. Cables. Less stuff and the moving parts of the shifters, etc. Great idea to me, even if it’s still got issues. If I was rich I’d definitely try a build out with these.
Less stuff and the moving parts of the shifters, etc.
Would be more stuff and moving parts. Now you’ve got little electric motors/servos involved, batteries, etc. I’d be pretty surprised if it saves any weight.
It’s a weight weinnie thing, you can save a couple grams. Electronics will never be as reliable as a cable though, too much vibration, temperature changes and moisture will eventually wreck stuff.
Having ridden DI2 for over 10 years, in the Canadian winter, with salted roads, I have to believe you’ve never used/maintained/serviced an electronic drivetrain.
The mechanical parts will fail as equally quickly - in the same places - if not maintained.
I’ve not yet had an electronics failure on my three electronic drivetrains. Mechanical bits will wear out as per usual.
Until the recent influx of low-cost electronic group sets, the ones on sale from SRAM and Shimano were high-end enough that they were/are incredibly reliable with the exception of the first generation external Di2 Dura Ace battery which had a poorly designed mount that would indeed cause issues over time. The internal battery remedied that issue.
Are you asking about electronic, or wireless shifting? Because electronic wired shifting is also a thing, and adds some advantages, while wireless adds more advantages on top of that.
I’ve never used either, but from people who have, I’ve heard that the shifting is a lot smoother on electronic shifting than mechanical. Whether smoother shifting is actually worth the price seems to be the debate most people have.
As for wireless, the advantages there become a little clearer and easier to explain. You can put the shifters wherever you want for maximum convenience. In the drops if you spend a lot of time sprinting. At the ends of your aero bars if you’re a triathlete or time trialist. You can even have multiple shifters at multiple positions. Plus, yeah, the stuff @Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world says about removing cables.
As I said though, this is all by reputation. I’ve only ever used mechanical.
I meant both wired and wireless. I hear that the shifting is faster and smoother than cables, but my cable shifting feels perfectly acceptable as it is. I can’t imagine a slight improvement there is worth the hassle of dealing with batteries dying, servos wearing out or getting shorted by liquid ingress, or the security issues of wireless that the article mentions.
But then, maybe I’m just a Luddite.
It’s exactly as (un)secure as I expected. It’s a wireless device made by bike part manufactures… can’t expect better, realistically.
Still, I wouldn’t recommend someone against buying one because of this. The threat model for cyclists is getting maimed by vehicles or psychopaths laying booby traps out there. Hackers messing with my gear shifting is the least of my worries.
