Any recent converts to electronic shifting? Thoughts.

[Tommasini53]

I'm curious to hear thoughts from adopters of electronic shifting. Would you go back to mechanical shifting? Do you believe it is more or less work to maintain than mechanical shifting? I'd also like to know if YOU did the install and the maintenance. I don't want to depend on a shop. I'm very experienced with repair and maintenance.

I have to wonder if upper-end groups are soon to be exclusively electronic. I have a custom frame due in the next year and am contemplating whether I should make the leap to electronic if that's where we are all headed. FYI, I am a bit of a Luddite, but if that is the direction of the industry, well, I'll follow the herd.

[raisinberry777]

Originally Posted by Tommasini53

Would you go back to mechanical shifting?

For a new bike, unlikely. I would never pick a mechanical groupset for a bike that had cables running through the headset as many high-end road bikes currently do. I would only consider it for frames with external or semi-external (cables through the downtube) routing.

If the bike is a disc brake bike, electronic also comes with the advantage of smaller shifter hoods on Shimano groupsets - the same size as the prior rim brake shifter hoods. For someone like me with small hands, this is significant.

Originally Posted by Tommasini53

Do you believe it is more or less work to maintain than mechanical shifting?

Less. It will always stay perfect unless there is an electronic failure (quite rare) or the derailleur hanger is bent.

Originally Posted by Tommasini53

I'd also like to know if YOU did the install and the maintenance

Didn't do the install as it came on a new bike, but would be comfortable installing myself. Modern groups have been made much easier by being completely wireless (SRAM/Campagnolo) or only the derailleurs being wired to a central battery (Shimano). Would have no issues replacing a part if one failed.

Originally Posted by Tommasini53

I have to wonder if upper-end groups are soon to be exclusively electronic. I have a custom frame due in the next year

They already are. Many high-end frames at a consumer level are now exclusively electronic. It's unlikely that we'll ever see another top-end mechanical group from Shimano or SRAM.

[bigbill]

I am a life-long mechanical group guy, but last year, I picked up an Open Min.d. with a Red AXS disc 12 speed. The SRAM AXS stuff was easy to install, and I used an app on my phone to adjust the rear derailleur. You still have to set up the FD correctly with the right height and travel, and the same for the RD. The individual batteries in each shifter (coin type) and derailleurs (rechargeable) haven't been a hassle. I can check the charge state with my phone. It's nice that there are no cables, just two hydraulic hoses. I have a mechanical hydro Shimano group on a gravel bike and I think Shimano road disc braking is better than SRAM, but both still stop.

My Garmin will tell me what gear I'm in if I'm too lazy to look down, battery status, and a "ding" to tell me I'm in the 10. I can add blips to my handlebars as well. With the 12-speed, I run a 10-33 cassette with a 35/48 powermeter. The shifters have a nice shape that fits my hand.

My other bikes have various Campy 10 and 11, an Ultegra 8000 group on my Lynskey, XT mechanical on my MTB, and a mix of Shimano on my gravel bike.

I got the Open because it clears 32s and the Red because it was part of the deal and I haven't regretted it.

[Alistair]

My first robot bike is a 2022 with Force AXS. I like it enough that I just upgraded my other road bike to Rival AXS.

No more replacing cables (and in 2024, where cables all almost all internal, that’s a good thing). No more adjustments.

[Turkle]

I've been running Ultegra 12-speed electronic shifting on my main road bike since November.

I guess it's nice? But I wouldn't say that it shifts noticeably better than my mechanical 105 bike? In fact, I feel like the front shifting is even more stable on the mechanical 105 bike.

Also, sometimes when I'm riding I'll accidentally bump the button on the left shifter and my chain will drop into the small ring unexpectedly. That never happened, ever, with mechanical shifting.

So I can't say I'm totally sold on the whole thing. But it does have the "bling" factor so there's that.

[jtakeda]

I had sram etap and went back to mechanical.

No knock on the electronic shifting, it worked great. I didn’t want to have to worry about charging/spare batteries etc.

Maintaining a mechanical shifting group is less work than time spent charging and moving batteries into different bags for me.

Performance is the same.

[BryanE]

Arthritic hands love electric shifting

[JMT3]

Been on SRAM Red eTap 11 speed since 2019. I love the eTap. Do need to charge the derailleur batteries every couple of weeks. I have yet to have a battery go out while riding. Also have ASX X01 shifter and derailleur on my fat bike. Love it. I do have two bikes with mechanical Rival and standard calipers. One bike with Red mechanical 11 speed and standard calipers. Also have a Stump jumper with Shimano 12 speed mechanical shifters and derailleurs and hydro brakes. Those bike that are mechanical are staying that way until they break down and those with electronic shifting I do enjoy immensely and they will stay that way too.

The only minor issue is when riding the eTap bike the proper way to shift takes a few minutes to remember down shifting is the right lever not the left when on the mechanical bikes.

[Philster]

I’m pretty indifferent for 1x, but if front shifting is required I choose electronic. My mountain bike has electronic because I have old man’s hands.

I’ve built up mechanical, wired and wireless bikes. None are hard, but obviously, wireless (which would include Di2 12 speed) is very easy.

I can’t see how mechanical could possibly be easier to maintain than electronic.

The industry is long past mechanical shifting except for low end or gravel. If you want it on your new bike, I would stockpile parts.

Still, variety is the spice of life. I just built a rim brake mechanical bike for kicks. Maybe something will destroy the grid and I’ll have a bike to ride.

[tv_vt]

I have one bike with Shimano 11 speed Di2 and it's great. But I don't ride it in the rain or in the winter or cooler weather when I'm wearing gloves, as the shifting buttons/levers are smaller than mechanical. Because it's not current generation Di2, when I replaced the battery last year, I had to take it to a shop to upgrade the firmware/software to the latest version.

For most of my bikes, componentry has become frozen at the Ultegra R8000/Dura Ace 9100 11 speed point in time. Having started out with 5 cogs in back and friction downtube shifters, I'm pretty OK with the mechanical stuff that's on there now. And I'm not crazy about having to recharge or replace batteries to ride a bike. So, yeah, I guess I should hoard a few more parts.

And one bike with 10 speed DA 7950 is totally fun to ride, too.

Bottom line, it's all relative. We're talking marginal gains, for sure.

[Tommasini53]

Originally Posted by Philster

The industry is long past mechanical shifting except for low end or gravel. If you want it on your new bike, I would stockpile parts.

Many thanks to the posters, your comments and insights are helpful. The notion of having to stockpile mechanical parts came to mind after I put my down payment on a frame. The build is many months off, so there is plenty of time to decide on the details, such as mechanical vs electronic.

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. I fear that 12-speed mechanicals might be difficult to find in a couple of years. So, as much as this Luddite is happy with mechanical, I hate the idea of searching for repair/replacement parts when something breaks. Plus, hands are a bit arthritic.

[tv_vt]

Originally Posted by Tommasini53

I hate the idea of searching for repair/replacement parts when something breaks.

Don't think that getting electronic shifting componentry will save you from having to search for parts. No matter what you get now, it will be scarce in a few years. Period.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by tv_vt

Don't think that getting electronic shifting componentry will save you from having to search for parts. No matter what you get now, it will be scarce in a few years. Period.

Not to mention that there is more ways for electronic shifting components to be incompatible/obsolete. Electronic shifting components tend to be obsoleted more quickly than mechanical systems, so if you are looking for long production lifetimes, then you may want to consider mechanical components.

[NHAero]

I'm another 11s Shimano parts hoarder. With three bikes set up this way I have one set of shifters and derailleurs in the drawer. As together those bikes get about 4,000 miles annually I expect the equipment on them will last this 70 year old a long time. I'm not at all pooh-poohing electronic shifting, it's as tv_vt says, the 11s stuff seems awesome to me and I don't want for more. If I really needed a whole new group I'd consider electronic but I wouldn't expect that choice to shield me from ongoing obsolescence.

[BrazAd]

I put 100 miles this weekend on my new-to-me ‘21 S-Works Roubaix with Dura Ace Di2 11-speed - it is wonderful!

The road bike I’m retiring to back-up status has 105 mechanical (2015) and I’ve put over 30,000 miles on it since I bought it in August 2018.

I won’t mind riding it again but lawd hammercy, Di2 is sweet!!

Gary


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