Sell me on etap?

[chiasticon]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

I really think campy and sram missed the mark not coming out with wireless. The technology has been there and they could have easily developed it and probably would have been better than etap.

I know people will say, who cares about a few wires but I would have had 0 interest in electric group set if it wasn't for the fact that it was wireless. That is the beauty of it imo.

Campy yes, Sram no

(I know you meant Shimano.)

I agree though. I don't like the wired e-groups really. looks wise or having to route internally. I know people scream about the four e-tap batteries, but it's a not a bad trade-off I think.

[huck*this]

Originally Posted by kramnnim

This reminded me that I bought my etap group from a local friend who bought it from a guy who bought it to use on his Look 695. It did not work properly with the 695 so he sold it.

Was your buddy's buddy Chris?

[David Tollefson]

As a framebuilder (yes, I know that's not most of you), eTAP is a game changer. Fewer braze-ons means fewer points of extra heat on a tube, and no holes in the frame for internally routing wires or cables. Those are often where a frame starts to fail. And it's less touch-work on the frame.*

For anyone that prefers the aesthetic of internally routed cables, eTAP is the ticket. It's the clean look that I dig.

* And for those that want to know, yes, I charge less for a eTAP-dedicated frame, just as I do for dedicated single-speeds, and for the same reason.

[R3awak3n]

Originally Posted by chiasticon

Campy yes, Sram no

(I know you meant Shimano.)

I agree though. I don't like the wired e-groups really. looks wise or having to route internally. I know people scream about the four e-tap batteries, but it's a not a bad trade-off I think.

ahah, yes I meant shimano.

The 4 batteries really aren't a deal braker to me. At first I thought it was dumb, mainly the shifter batteries, but they last for 2 years so its not a big deal at all.

The derailleur batteries charge damn fast and last for a good time. Also with the ability to have extras, its nice to just have 1 in the charger ready to be thrown on the bike. From what I read, the rear battery lasts longer than the front so having 1 extra is great.


As far as framebuilders and etap, I know when I just sent my frame back for repair and ask to remove all the cable stops he was totally cool with it but when I mentioned eps it seemed like it was a pain in the ass (probably because di2 is different than campy v2 thats different than v3).

[crankles]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

but not quite as simple when it comes to moving the chain around as any mechanical or the other 2 electronic(etap-both levers to shift front der, RH for higher, LH for lower, gear)

To each his own. I find it WAY easier.

This may not translate as well on the road, but I've been racing CX all season on two bikes, one with di2, one with etap and giving each about equal time.

etap wins for me because I find that it's virtually impossible to miss-shift by hitting the wrong button. Not so with di2...especially with gloves or on bumpy courses. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's usually in a situation where you'd really wished it hadn't ;-).

I'm a big fan of electronic for race situations (especially CX), and a bigger fan of etap's shifting paradigm. Now if they could only make a decent Hydro brake.

[bob heinatz]

Give it a try then you will know. As others have suggested if you don’t like it sell it. Perhaps you can find a group used.

[Jeff N.]

I say wait a year or two. It's almost certain that Campy and Shimano will go wireless eventually (soon), making everything before it obsolete...then you'll have all those holes all over your frame. Better yet, stick (IMO) with mechanical...I'd MUCH rather try to sell you on DA 9100 Mechanical.

[mistermo]

Not many seem to be answering the question directly. Since you didn't ask about Di2 or EPS, let's ignore them.

I have bikes built with both eTap and Campy Record/SR. I like both. There are days I prefer one or the other. My "A" bike is built with eTap and it's just so easy to use. It's not slow shifting at all. All this brewha about shifting speed is crazy. My mechanical Campy doesn't shift slow and eTap shifts faster. Maybe Di2 or EPS is faster still, but who cares. I like the battery system of the eTap and the clean lines. Another thing I like about eTap is the logical shifting system. Left=harder, right=easier. IMO, this makes it easy to switch between Campy bikes and eTap bikes without 'rewiring' my shifting brain.

In short, both are great and you can't go wrong. If you haven't tried eTap, give it a whirl. But you won't go wrong with SR either. There's something inherently proper about a Euro bike with SR and Boras. Neither is game changing. This is a good choice to have.

PS. Not sure why you'd pick wifli. The reg derailleur should be sufficient. On one of my bikes I've got it shifting an 11-30 cassette.

[bigman]

My experience is with Ui2 and eTap. I tried eTap for 2 reasons - put it on a travel bike and did not want the wires and SOCAL Steve's endorsement.
They both work very well, but the eTap shifting is amazingly intuitive, and for a rig that is being broken down to be packed up it is very convenient not have to deal with the wires.
It should be noted I use the eTap with 6800 cranks chain, cassette and
brakes. It's terrific.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by mistermo

Another thing I like about eTap is the logical shifting system. Left=harder, right=easier.

I thought eTap was the other way around?

[mistermo]

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

I thought eTap was the other way around?

It is! It's so intuitive I never even think about it!

[R3awak3n]

Originally Posted by mistermo

It is! It's so intuitive I never even think about it!

I think they missed the mark on that. Don't get me wrong, totally fine if you have 3 etap bikes but when you have other bikes with different shifting systems, it is kind of annoying that right shifts down and left shifts up on the RD.

[simonov]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

I think they missed the mark on that. Don't get me wrong, totally fine if you have 3 etap bikes but when you have other bikes with different shifting systems, it is kind of annoying that right shifts down and left shifts up on the RD.

In practice it's not at all annoying. This has all been hashed out before, but I jump around between mechanical SRAM, Campy and Shimano and eTap bikes and the easiest one to adapt to and away from is eTap. Campy always leaves my pinky looking for a lever to click from the bar tops when I try the other mechanical bikes. The floppy Shimano brake lever takes a little getting used to as well. But eTap is always a breeze.

[R3awak3n]

Originally Posted by simonov

In practice it's not at all annoying. This has all been hashed out before, but I jump around between mechanical SRAM, Campy and Shimano and eTap bikes and the easiest one to adapt to and away from is eTap. Campy always leaves my pinky looking for a lever to click from the bar tops when I try the other mechanical bikes. The floppy Shimano brake lever takes a little getting used to as well. But eTap is always a breeze.

but sram should just let us program what we wanted. I agree its great and it will be easy to adapt to but why not just give us the choice

[simonov]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

but sram should just let us program what we wanted. I agree its great and it will be easy to adapt to but why not just give us the choice

Probably because the stability of a closed system outweighs the complexity of a user programmable system. From a software, and possibly a hardware, standpoint, making it so the user can program the buttons to do what they want opens up the product to errors or user introduced problems. I know plenty of people with Di2 who have done more harm than good with trying to customize the function.