Modern drivetrains - observations from today's ride

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by phishrabbi

This isn't a problem, and those who claim to dislike batteries on their bicycles all seem to have head units, tail lights, HRM's, speed sensors, power meters, which run on battery power as well.

I think the difference is none of those will stop (or greatly reduce) a ride.. I don't think keeping a battery charged is that big of a deal either, but forgetting to charge my RD is not the same as forgetting to charge my HRM or taillight.. I'm sure I'll an e-drivetrain at some point, but mech works well for my needs currently..

[fa63]

I would love to see someone replace a shifter cable on the side of the road on a frame with internal cable routing Especially if it is a latest-gen Shimano shifter and the old cable broke inside the shifter (which often requires some disassembly to get the old cable remnants out)...

Originally Posted by Mark McM

I know some who ride with a spare cable "just in case", and others who ride with a spare battery "just in case". Both are small and easy to carry, so there's little reason to pick one over the other due to not being able to have a spare available.

[reuben]

Originally Posted by MikeD

The number of batteries on my bikes is getting rediculous. Headlight, tail light, HR chest strap, cadence sensor, wheel sensor, Garmin head unit, multiple bikes, now add the batteries (4 each) for wireless shifting... At least with wired e shifting, there's only one battery to worry about.

But with internal routing of mechanical cables, including through the stem and headset, has made cable/housing replacement a real chore. My bike with mechanical bar end shifters and external cable routing is great how simple it is to maintain. The Jagwire end to end sealed cables pretty much eliminated dodgy shifting caused by dirt getting into the cable housings.

[veggieburger]

Originally Posted by dgauthier

To each their own, but for me simpler is better, and there's nothing more elegantly simple than a mechanical bicycle.

Still rocking silver Campy 10v on all my bikes. Can't ask for much more.

[krooj]

I feel this thread - had my Di2 battery conk out while riding in San Geronimo valley and it's a real buzzkill; you feel great, wanna do more, but the stupid electronics are dead. This was 9200 disc, so partly wireless - I don't make a habit of regularly checking levels on my 9100 battery, since that stuff goes and goes.

The whole thing is making me take pause on my decision to go Di2 for the Sachs.

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by MikeD

The number of batteries on my bikes is getting rediculous. Headlight, tail light, HR chest strap, cadence sensor, wheel sensor, Garmin head unit, multiple bikes, now add the batteries (4 each) for wireless shifting... At least with wired e shifting, there's only one battery to worry about.

But with internal routing of mechanical cables, including through the stem and headset, has made cable/housing replacement a real chore. My bike with mechanical bar end shifters and external cable routing is great how simple it is to maintain. The Jagwire end to end sealed cables pretty much eliminated dodgy shifting caused by dirt getting into the cable housings.

To some extent, it's easier to keep an item charged that needs it to be charged every ride or three than one that takes months to discharge. My bikes all use my Wahoo Elemnt and Garmin Varia, and in my basement I have a shelf above where I get a bike ready for a ride, and it has the charging dock for these two items, and they get plugged in after each ride. I have a blinky on my helmet and I try to plug that in every week or so.

I have had my Polar H10 HRM run out of battery on a ride. That's pretty far from mission critical

Have never had an e shifting system and won't likely go there, I'm just fine with the mech systems on the bikes, and at this point my spending on bikes has gone way down from past years, as the "stable" is stable and there are spares in the drawer. I've never snapped a cable but I do carry a spare on trips.

[ltwtsculler91]

Originally Posted by Lionel

If you have one main bike or two and live in one location it's all good. In my case I have way too many bikes and live between France and CA. It has happened a lot that the e-shifting bike is dead when I want it. The worse one is my Spec Levo SL S-Works. You have the main bike battery, then SRAM shifter and derailleur as well as the wireless drop post.... So many things can be dead This morning I grabbed my Crumpton, I had not ridden it in months, pumped tires and go. BTW this bike is great and works so well, makes you wonder the value of all the stuff I got since that bike.

It's funny you say that, my father in law and I just had the same conversation about dead batteries and keeping a mechanical bike for "grab and go." He had just arrived at their beach house to find his etap bike dead from sitting with the shifter pressed accidentally. He keeps 1 bike always mechanical at their main house, and I try to do the same because I know that no matter what it'll be pump tires and go. Though in Nashville, I only have space for one bike, so there I just keep a spare etap battery that I always toss on the charger when we arrive to be ready for a ride.

[KonaSS]

I look at this issue as just differing tradeoffs. Nothing is free.

e-drivetrain - Gotta charge it usually monthly (Sram) or every 6 months (Shimano). For that, you almost never have to touch it. On my 4 year old Shimano di2, I have never adjusted anything. Never replaced and cables(duh). Never had a cable snap (duh). This bike probably has 25k miles on it.

Mechanical - never have to charge. But does need adjustment from time to time. Does need new cables and new housing from time to time. Can break cables, which has happened to me more than once. Now this probably sounds super easy to most on this site, but many people have no idea how to adjust their derailleur. They are certainly not going to be able to put in new cables and housing. But they know how charge something.

So - choose your drivetrain and choose your maintenance.

[deluz]

I used to have to change shift cables every so often.
But lately it seems like they last much longer, not sure why.
I usually use the more expensive Jagwire cables, but some came with my SRAM shifters.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by fa63

I would love to see someone replace a shifter cable on the side of the road on a frame with internal cable routing

Depending on the bike, this could be really easy. Some bikes use full housing, so you'd just pull the old cable out and slide the new cable in. Personally, on bikes that use internal routing I always use cables with full liners (such as made by Jagwire and SRAM, and used to be made by Gore), in which case you can also just pull the old cable out and slide the new cable in. And there are some bikes where the internal cables enter into the down tube and then exit through a hole at the BB, around a guide, and back into the frame - these cables can also be replaced without special tools.

[Sarhog]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

Depending on the bike, this could be really easy. Some bikes use full housing, so you'd just pull the old cable out and slide the new cable in. Personally, on bikes that use internal routing I always use cables with full liners (such as made by Jagwire and SRAM, and used to be made by Gore), in which case you can also just pull the old cable out and slide the new cable in. And there are some bikes where the internal cables enter into the down tube and then exit through a hole at the BB, around a guide, and back into the frame - these cables can also be replaced without special tools.

Yeah, I’ll stick with clicking in a new AXS battery.

[bigbill]

Like NH Aero, I keep a space on my workbench for charging components. HRM, AXS batteries, Knog lights, and computer. I check with the app and Garmin is my backup for battery status.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

Depending on the bike, this could be really easy. Some bikes use full housing, so you'd just pull the old cable out and slide the new cable in. Personally, on bikes that use internal routing I always use cables with full liners (such as made by Jagwire and SRAM, and used to be made by Gore), in which case you can also just pull the old cable out and slide the new cable in. And there are some bikes where the internal cables enter into the down tube and then exit through a hole at the BB, around a guide, and back into the frame - these cables can also be replaced without special tools.

Hardest part of that to me would be, depending on the shifter, getting the new cable into the old housing without removing the bar tape.

[Philster]

Originally Posted by ltwtsculler91

It's funny you say that, my father in law and I just had the same conversation about dead batteries and keeping a mechanical bike for "grab and go." He had just arrived at their beach house to find his etap bike dead from sitting with the shifter pressed accidentally. He keeps 1 bike always mechanical at their main house, and I try to do the same because I know that no matter what it'll be pump tires and go. Though in Nashville, I only have space for one bike, so there I just keep a spare etap battery that I always toss on the charger when we arrive to be ready for a ride.

I recently converted my old Z3 back to mechanical shifting as this type of backup. I even had to (got to?) use it like this last week. I will note that my “#nobatteries” bike has 4 batteries: power meter, rear radar, front light and Garmin. Ah …. the simple life.

[FastCanon]

You all are taking the fun out of biking. On shorter rides, there are usually a way to contact somebody if something like a broken cable or dead battery. On longer rides 80+ miles, I usually go over our bikes and also would ride with a group. If something went wrong, >99% of the time, I'm using tire levers, the patch kit/tube. <1% of the time, I would use one of the hex wrenches. If I snapped my cable or a dead battery, which hasn't happened, then I'm on an adventure. No biggie. But those are the last thing on my mind. I have been riding long distances since early 80's.

Lately, what saved tubeless seem to let me ride uninterrupted until I got home to find out that I had several flats.