Sell me on etap?

[FlashUNC]

And there's only two levers. Whattya gonna do, swap what the left and right one do? There's only two of them. I doubt that's worth the time developing software to customize the use of the paddles.

[R3awak3n]

I am sorry guys but I will disagree with both of you.

Keep the system closed but do give users some options. Speed of shifting, which one goes up and down, ect.

It would not be that hard to do. Mainly I just want to switch the way the pads shift so if they just let me do that, I would be happy.

But then again, I don't actually have the etap on the bike yet, for all we know I will love the way the right shifter shifts down and the left up.

[choke]

Originally Posted by Imaking20

Etap is easier to setup than anything else I've built... but you don't setup your bike every day. You shift it. The shift quality, in my opinion, is inferior to basically every group I've ridden that wasn't SRAM (which is where I started and was loyal to for years). If I were to build a digi-bike, it would be etap because of the aforementioned wiring gremlins and I appreciated the more decisive feedback from the shifters (I've never mis-shifted anything as much as I did 9070).<snip>

If your priority is quality of front shifting or speed of rear shifting - don't.

I'm confused.....you say the shifting is inferior yet that you'd build a bike with it if you were going electronic. Isn't that a bit of a contradiction?

[chiasticon]

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

I'm guessing we'll eventually see it. Shimano and Campy didn't have the user customizing option when they launched electronic, right? or did they...? didn't follow super closely but thought those were announced a year or two later...

simonov is correct that that will then open up all sorts of other issues for them to track down. you have to test every conceivable way a user would program it, against every conceivable thing they could possibly do wrong while riding or hanging it on the bike. add in all the ways they could also mess something up just by screwing up the programming process itself and they have an awful lot of test cases. going the simple route first - one group, one way to shift it - is a good way to guarantee you have less issues with a brand new, top tier product. then enhance it later once you recoup those R&D costs.

[kramnnim]

Originally Posted by huck*this

Was your buddy's buddy Chris?

Maybe. Charlotte area? I think I saw this Look for sale on OSM?

[happycampyer]

To expand on what I mean by speed of shifting, I’m referring to the response of the derailleur to the shift input. With mechanical shifting (my experience is almost exclusively with Campagnolo), the cable starts to pull the moment pressure is applied so, by the time the lever is thrown (or the thumb lever is depressed), the shift has occurred. Shifting obviously takes some effort since there is resistance from the cable, but that effort is part of what allows one to feel, for example, how many cogs are being shifted, etc. And the speed of the shift is as quick as the shifting motion. Di2 is also very quick, since it’s a simple click of a button. Otoh, I’m not a big fan of the mousy buttons. They don’t work well with gloves, and you need more precise hand positions to shift than with the other groups. With eTap, it seems as if there is a delay in the response to the lever, as if the shift is occurring when the lever is in the return phase of the shift motion.

Another thing I like about Campagnolo shifters is the ability to dump both of the thumb levers at once, to shift to the smaller chainring at the same time as shifting up a cog or two. It’s a hard motion to perform on Di2, and impossible on eTap (one needs both levers to shift the front derailleur).

None of these things is significant in the grand scheme of things. It’s a matter of personal preference. I won my eTap group as a prize in a raffle, so I don’t have much skin in the game. I put it on a travel bike, which makes for a clean and simple set up. If I didn’t have a travel bike, I would probably sell it.

[54ny77]

But oh what a travel bike it is!

Originally Posted by happycampyer

I put it on a travel bike, which makes for a clean and simple set up. If I didn’t have a travel bike, I would probably sell it.

[macaroon]

Some of you lot need your eyes testing, Etap looks atrocious.
When has adding a battery pack to anything ever made it look better?
It's the worst looking groupset out there, although some fat tubed carbon bikes can pull it off. But on a steel framed bike it's just a nasty juxtaposition.
Aside from that, it's supposed to work really well. I would pick it over Di2, but probably not SR!

[pdmtong]

Originally Posted by 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.

you have it backwards

eTAP

All of the underlying tech in our new SRAM RED® eTap groupset such as wireless shifting, advanced battery power management and mechatronics technologies are all meant to serve one ultimate purpose, to facilitate the most intuitive and consistent shifting available. This shift logic is called eTap. Right lever makes it harder, left lever makes it easier, both levers shift the front derailleur. Simple, unmistakable, and intuitive.

[happycampyer]

Originally Posted by pdmtong

<snip>All of the underlying tech in our new SRAM RED® eTap groupset such as wireless shifting, advanced battery power management and mechatronics technologies are all meant to serve one ultimate purpose, to facilitate the most intuitive and consistent shifting available. This shift logic is called eTap. Right lever makes it harder, left lever makes it easier, both levers shift the front derailleur. Simple, unmistakable, and intuitive.

Advanced battery power management my ass. I refuse to buy extra batteries simply because the power management is unreliable and the battery tabs break. I'm surprised that I'm the only one whose derailleur drains its battery completely in less than a week, just hanging in the rack. Hopefully my third front derailleur is a charm...

[huck*this]

Originally Posted by happycampyer

Advanced battery power management my ass. I refuse to buy extra batteries simply because the power management is unreliable and the battery tabs break. I'm surprised that I'm the only one whose derailleur drains its battery completely in less than a week, just hanging in the rack. Hopefully my third front derailleur is a charm...

^^this made my decision oh so much easier^^ going to stick with SR. On the aesthetic side which didn't really weigh on my decision, SR is leaps and bounds sexier than etap. Maybe revisit this once Campy comes out with the wireless solution. With that said. Who wants some DA c35 wheels.

[ORMojo]

Originally Posted by happycampyer

Advanced battery power management my ass. I refuse to buy extra batteries simply because the power management is unreliable and the battery tabs break. I'm surprised that I'm the only one whose derailleur drains its battery completely in less than a week, just hanging in the rack. Hopefully my third front derailleur is a charm...

Originally Posted by huck*this

^^this made my decision oh so much easier^^ going to stick with SR. On the aesthetic side which didn't really weigh on my decision, SR is leaps and bounds sexier than etap. Maybe revisit this once Campy comes out with the wireless solution. With that said. Who wants some DA c35 wheels.

You'll base your decision on one instance, which appears, at least regarding the battery drain, to be isolated? I know some here reported early trouble with breaking battery tabs, but I haven't seen any reports of that, here or elsewhere, recently. I've seen zero reports anywhere about an etap battery draining in one week, and lots of reports about the great battery life (and, of course, the ease of carrying a spare battery). And in my heavy ~6 months of use on my etap group, I've had zero experience with either problem.

[Imaking20]

Originally Posted by choke

I'm confused.....you say the shifting is inferior yet that you'd build a bike with it if you were going electronic. Isn't that a bit of a contradiction?

I don't think it's a contradiction. I'm not likely to go electronic again in the near future because I don't think it's necessary. I don't believe electronic shifts any better than its mechanical counterparts. I was just trying to give more perspective than "mechanical is better than electronic" - because that's not the question OP is asking.

[Clean39T]

I'm giving eTap a try on my next build because it'll be on a bike with internal routing that was already set up with a SRAM eTap-finish chainset and because Rob gave me a helluva deal on the setup. If I wasn't giving carbon a whirl again (and internally routed carbon at that), I'd have no reason to try it. At fullish new-kit pricing, there's no way I'd choose eTap over SR Mech for a frame where good old external routing was an option. I also agree that it generally looks garish on skinny-tubed bikes (as does Di2) - and I generally hate the look of skinny wires poking out here and there, the junction boxes, etc., so Di2 has been off my radar. But again, I'm trying a carbon gravel/cross rig out, and it came with Di2, so I'm going to run that for a bit until I see what I think of the bike overall. Depending on which direction I go, it could be swapped out for SRAM mech and mech brakes, or the whole thing may go in favor of something ti with canti's and light wheels. Adventures in bike testing continue - wouldn't have it any other way

[happycampyer]

Originally Posted by ORMojo

You'll base your decision on one instance, which appears, at least regarding the battery drain, to be isolated? I know some here reported early trouble with breaking battery tabs, but I haven't seen any reports of that, here or elsewhere, recently. I've seen zero reports anywhere about an etap battery draining in one week, and lots of reports about the great battery life (and, of course, the ease of carrying a spare battery). And in my heavy ~6 months of use on my etap group, I've had zero experience with either problem.

Doing some searching on the internet, it appears someone else here had the same issue:

https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=209277

I guess I'm not the only one. It's true that it doesn't appear to be a common problem.