Any recent converts to electronic shifting? Thoughts.

[palincss]

Originally Posted by Tommasini53

Last summer, I snapped off a Chorus 11-speed derailleur. We were only a couple of years into the 11-speed era, and replacements were already very hard to come by.

Last summer is hardly only a couple of years into the 11-speed era. Campagnolo introduced 11 speed in 2008.

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by palincss

After 50 years of bar-end shifters in 2022 I bought an e-bike equipped with a 1x11 Shimano DI2 drivetrain.

I've got over 12,000 miles on the bike now. There has been exactly zero time spent on maintaining the shifting other than charging the battery. No adjustment of any kind has been required.



Don't go there because anyone else is going there. Go there for the ease and rapidity of shifting -- a mere touch on a shifting paddle -- and the complete lack of any need to fuss over it.

However your future electronic/disc brake bike is going to require maintenance. Disc brake pads need changing; in my case, more than twice as often as rim brake pads. What's more, hydraulic brakes require bleeding and fluid replacement. Other than pad changes, which are easy, the maintenance for hydraulic brakes, along with e-shifting maintenance (if any is required) are tasks in my opinion are best left to a shop and are certainly beyond my scope as a home "mechanic".

I'd be less attached to mech shifting if electronic groups were going to be available with cable brakes. At this point I only have one bike, my FS29er, with hydro disc brakes. They're XT Shimano, so completely bombproof, and that bike never travels. The four other bikes with disc brakes are either BB7 MTB or Growtacs on the all-road bikes. I don't want hydro road brakes and especially not DOT fluid ones. So that leaves me with e groups already not being made, 11 speed.

[benb]

I think realistically next time I need to buy a deraiileur I will be dragged into this.

Likely Ultegra electronic if it's my road bike, cause they have a rim brake version, and that bike has a mix of Ultegra 10/11 parts right now. I would *rather* do SRAM on that bike because I think if I have to go electronic wireless is more elegant and that bike has a lot of internal stuff so it would be cleaner with SRAM. But SRAM only offers rim brakes in Red right now, and I have 53/39 rings on that bike and have zero desire to go to smaller rings. So Shimano is the much less expensive option since I don't even think I have to change the cranks at all to go to electronic Ultegra.

On my MTB it will be AXS for sure because that bike already has a full SRAM group and it's 1x. It's literally just a shifter + derailler and done. Probably < 30 minutes to do the whole job. SRAM does make this semi-confusing cause they have 2 different Eagle cassette/hub interfaces so I have to get that right.

I think about it and realistically I have never actually had a road bike without at least 1 coin cell battery and for the last 8 years I think I have always had 2 coin cell batteries plus the rechargeable in the head unit. I have zero concerns about setting it up or maintaining it. I hope the stuff lasts a long time to help justify the cost. I'd have to look, almost certainly my road bike will gain weight with this change, my MTB might stay neutral I guess. Both the bikes work extremely well with mechanical so I don't feel like I'm going to gain much. MTB definitely has more room to gain something.

[Likes2ridefar]

Originally Posted by buddybikes

How often do people change the shifter coin battery in your AXS?

Mine have been about once a year.

[Broccoli Cog]

In my opinion the proliferation of electronic shifting in the bike industry is a sad reality of the modern times. I'm no luddite. To the contrary I embrace technology in most aspects of my life. When it comes to bicycles I prefer the aesthetic appeal and simplicity of cable actuated shifting.

I had and later sold a bike with SRAM AXS because I wanted to try the latest and greatest. Yes it worked great. You press a button and it shifts perfectly every time. But if something were to go wrong it was a black box to fix. In today's world there is literally an App for everything. I rather turn a screw driver than pull out my phone to adjust the shifting on my bike.

Some folks want their bikes to be like their cars and electronic appliances. You press a button and it does its thing. A bike doesn't fit into that category for me.

[Dave]

This summer I'll have 4 years on AXS. Started with rim brake version, then switched to disc brake frames. I kept the cable brake levers with Juin-tech cable operated hydraulic calipers for a year, but eventually switched to full hydraulic. I've got AXS on three bikes now. It couldn't be easier to install and maintain. I always carry, but have never used a spare battery. With a Garmin 530 and a tail light that both need charged every other ride, minimum, it's not difficult to remember to recharge. My RD gets shifted up to 10 times per mile, so 500 shifts per ride is not unusual. I switch bikes every week, so I make sure the next bike is fully charged before using.

I want maximum range so 16-17 tooth difference at the crank is a must. Campy Chorus 48/32 works and Shimano GRX cranks work. Last year, my 46/30 cranks and 10-36 cassette felt marginal on long rides with 12-13% grades and 5000 feet of climbing. I now have 10-44 cassettes with 46/30 cranks to get a 675% range. The 30/44 probably won't see much use, but the 30/38 will.

[benb]

Originally Posted by Broccoli Cog

In my opinion the proliferation of electronic shifting in the bike industry is a sad reality of the modern times. I'm no luddite. To the contrary I embrace technology in most aspects of my life. When it comes to bicycles I prefer the aesthetic appeal and simplicity of cable actuated shifting.

I had and later sold a bike with SRAM AXS because I wanted to try the latest and greatest. Yes it worked great. You press a button and it shifts perfectly every time. But if something were to go wrong it was a black box to fix. In today's world there is literally an App for everything. I rather turn a screw driver than pull out my phone to adjust the shifting on my bike.

Some folks want their bikes to be like their cars and electronic appliances. You press a button and it does its thing. A bike doesn't fit into that category for me.

Yes my thought (and it's probably worse since I work in computer software) is that the electronic groups do not feel elegant and polished yet. The hardware seems pretty good but without even playing with the apps I am doubtful.

My bar for polish on something like this is very high when you're introducing computers and software/apps into an area which does not actually require them. I live in a world of expensive enterprise software and my view of polish and the level of support/service is biased by that.

It's the same thing as the digital assistant smart speakers. We have them, but I think they absolutely suck. Almost all the smart home stuff reminds me of this. None of it is/was required at all, and yet here we are, and most of it is kludgey with bad software, bad security, and bugs that never get fixed. E.x. we have light bulbs that have DST & Time Zone bugs. The bug seems to be in the cloud software (could software for light bulbs!), not the bulbs, and I can almost guarantee it's like a 2 line fix that would take someone < 1 hour to do and yet it never gets fixed.

[tv_vt]

Originally Posted by 54ny77

huge fan of sram red etap. have it on 1 bike, would otherwise convert 'em all to that, but...that would be expensive and not practical, and thanks to sram they made it obsolete.

if i was ordering custom, i'd get it built to accommodate either mechanical or electronic. never know what way the winds will blow eventually....

So what would that look like? You'd have some kind of cable stops on the headtube or downtube for mechanical shifter cables, and then reinforced holes for electronic wires? Not being snarky, serious question. Maybe have builder braze on the small hole reinforcement doodads for wires going into the frame, but not actually drill the holes if first build will be mechanical? Or use some kind of rubber plugs for the holes at first?

Would be curious what builders would say about this. Almost all electronic custom builds I've seen omit any type of shifter cable stops on the frame. Suppose you could go back 50 years and use band-style cable stops. Now there's progress for you.

[jh_on_the_cape]

I haven't read this thread but I am a recent convert. I bought a new Giant Defy Advance with the 105 electronic and I was blown away by how good it is. I am coming from Dura Ace 9 speed.
The front derailleur trims according to where you are in the rear. It doesn't just move the mech like cable does. It's 'smart' and trims and does the thinking for you, so to speak.
It works so well. It's a new bike so that makes sense, but it works better than my Dura Ace ever did.
I shift more often, especially up front, because I am not afraid of wonky missed shifts. I just find it a better ride. I can think more about my body and surroundings and less about the bike.
Hope that helps.

I do get the 'purist' part of mechanical shifting. Like driving a stickshift. I used to care about that stuff but much less so these days. I just want to get out and ride.

[benb]

Originally Posted by tv_vt

So what would that look like? You'd have some kind of cable stops on the headtube or downtube for mechanical shifter cables, and then reinforced holes for electronic wires? Not being snarky, serious question. Maybe have builder braze on the small hole reinforcement doodads for wires going into the frame, but not actually drill the holes if first build will be mechanical? Or use some kind of rubber plugs for the holes at first?

Would be curious what builders would say about this. Almost all electronic custom builds I've seen omit any type of shifter cable stops on the frame. Suppose you could go back 50 years and use band-style cable stops. Now there's progress for you.

The last 2 nice road bikes (carbon) I've had were both already setup for both... this is going back to 2011.

The current one I do think there is a plug I would need to go get if using SRAM wireless. And there might be another one for Shimano if their wires are smaller gauge than shift housing.

But neither of these bikes has had any traditional stops on the downtube that allow you to reach down and adjust derailleurs while riding.

[Wunder]

Originally Posted by tv_vt

So what would that look like? You'd have some kind of cable stops on the headtube or downtube for mechanical shifter cables, and then reinforced holes for electronic wires? Not being snarky, serious question. Maybe have builder braze on the small hole reinforcement doodads for wires going into the frame, but not actually drill the holes if first build will be mechanical? Or use some kind of rubber plugs for the holes at first?

Would be curious what builders would say about this. Almost all electronic custom builds I've seen omit any type of shifter cable stops on the frame. Suppose you could go back 50 years and use band-style cable stops. Now there's progress for you.

My Cervelo R3 (2018) is built this way. Interchangeable plastic cable stops, wire guides, or plugs at the downtube, bottom bracket, and chainstay. Mine is set R8000 mechanical but can replace the guides if going DI2 or put in blanks if going ETAP. The large holes for these also makes internal routing less awful.

To the direct question all my bikes are mechanical and I'm happy with that. However, if I had my R3 to order again I would consider the DI2 option (was a $500 upgrade and only change was shifters/derailleurs). Also if buying a bike where the cables are truly hidden or run through the headset I think electronic is mandatory.

[BdaGhisallo]

I don't know if I would qualify as a recent convert - I have been using DI2 exclusively since June 2009 - but I have never even considered going back to mechanical.

Electric shifting is simply that much better in every respect important to me.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by palincss

Last summer is hardly only a couple of years into the 11-speed era. Campagnolo introduced 11 speed in 2008.

Not only was last summer 15 years after 11speed was introduced, it was 4 years after 12spd was introduced. Also, the difficulty in finding 11spd components for the last few years wasn't simply because 12spd was already out, but was because there were widespread shortages of all 11spd components (Campagnolo, Shimano, SRAM) due to pandemic supply chain issues.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by Alistair

Two years in and mine are still showing good battery (via the Sram app). I should probably change them before Croatan just to be safe.

Getting many years out of coin cells in wireless shifters should come as no surprise. Wireless speed and cadence sensors use more power than shifters (transmit more often), and speed/cadence sensor coin cell batteries can last for years.

[sailorboy]

Last new bike ever (knock wood) will be a firefly all-road later this year set up with Force AXS wide to cover all bases. I was initially a Di2 guy until sram worked out their early etap slip-ups (crappy front derailleur, anything else?) but now that it's more refined I prefer the lack of cable systems and though the battery life on Di2 is phenomenal with the seat post unit (it's almost too long in that you forget to charge every so often) but with sram you can take the tiny spare batteries with you for longer trips or just peace of mind. As others said, the app is good for monitoring battery lives and the available sram gear ranges are nice too without having to go with a 'mullet' or mixed road/gravel group.

Having said all that, I'm keeping a couple bikes with campy 12 mechanical groups as well as a nearly new SR11 group on the shelf with spare chains and cassettes to survive the apocalypse or massive solar flares that will knock out anything electronic.