Modern drivetrains - observations from today's ride

[fa63]

We did our customary Wednesday morning 50ish mile group ride this morning; it was a great ride as usual (made even better by an unusually cool morning in Atlanta for this time of the year):

https://www.strava.com/activities/12205576246

We had a large group today; 22 riders in total. During the ride, I noticed that one of the regular riders was on his back-up bike with a mechanical drivetrain (he said his main bike was at the shop), and it got me wondering how many others were on mechanical groupsets. So I counted, and out of the 22, just two people were Of the other 20, eight were on SRAM AXS and twelve on Shimano Di2.

Have you all observed similar trends in your group rides? This was likely not a representative sample because almost everyone on this particular ride is retired and somewhat affluent so they tend to ride the latest and greatest, but it feels like I have been seeing more and more people on electronic drivetrains lately.

[Turkle]

On our faster group rides around here, I think it's about 50/50. We still have a lot of people on rim brakes and mechanical shifting. They are among the fastest riders in our group, actually. Which should tell you something.

Our rides are a pretty mixed group of retirees, racers, college students, and fit middle-aged hobbyists like myself, so you see a pretty wide range of gear to match the wide range of "stages of life" people are in.

I took the plunge and I'm on di2 and it is in fact very nice, but I'm not sure it's all that huge an upgrade from mechanical shifting.

ETA: My newest bike is GRX 12-speed 2x mechanical. So I'm still rolling on mech drivetrains. But all my go-fast bikes are now disc.

[dgauthier]

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

[bigbill]

I put the majority of miles on my Red 12 AXS bike this year. Yesterday, I was on my gravel bike which is Shimano mechanical 2X. A couple of times, I pushed both paddles to shift on/off the big ring. But otherwise, its no different than swapping between Shimano and Campy bikes.

The only advantage I see other than ease of setup with AXS, is the ability to shift multiple gears in the rear by holding down the paddle. I know I can do all kinds of programming stuff, but that feature alone is pretty cool.

[MikeD]

I see more people that have battery problems with their e shifting than people with cable problems on mechanical shifting systems.

[Wunder]

Fast group rides around me are about 50/50 mechanical/electronic and also disc/rim. All my bikes remain mechanical and most are rim.

[DeBike]

I don’t much attention to other bikes while I am riding, and don’t do group rides. I am pretty sure the local bike club would have similar numbers in their A and B categories. I was a member for only a year ride mostly with the B group, and once with the A group. That is a number of years ago, they all had high dollar bikes. I got some looks the first time I rode with them, I was sporting my 2006 Schwinn SS DBX. I liked that bike, it’s now with a friend.

I see a fair amount of serious cyclists in the summer. I would not be surprised if a large percentage of them are using electronic components.

[Spdntrxi]

likely to see everything in my group.. round carbon, aero carbon, Ti bikes. probably 50/50 mix of disc/electronic and rim/mech.

The racers are on aero carbon, or aero optimized all rounders and electronic.
3 SL8s, Aeroad, Madones, the lone S5 recently lost to home left.

[GregL]

Depends on the group ride. Race team training rides and fast group rides: Nearly all are on e-shifting and disc brakes. Social & club rides: a mix of both shifting and braking systems. Definitely trending more toward electronics and discs for enthusiasts.

Greg

[tv_vt]

Walking around Montreal the last few days. There are thousands of rim brake mechanical shift bikes still in service. Gives you a totally different perspective on what it means to ride a bike. This forum is at the pointy end of a very big spear.

[zap]

On my team rides, mechanical and rim brakes are very much the minority. As others noted, on slower group rides it's pretty diverse.

[mass_biker]

On the weekly fast group rides here, it is mostly disc and electronic.

On these rides, I usually bring my “A”/fast bikes - which are electronic (eTap) and (deeper/faster) rim.

I do feel I am in the minority on both counts.
And absolutely the minority (sole) riding either steel or aluminum.

MB

[mcteague]

Originally Posted by MikeD

I see more people that have battery problems with their e shifting than people with cable problems on mechanical shifting systems.

I’ve had a Campy shift cable break twice and my Red AXS has never had any issues… not even a dead battery. My Wahoo Bolt notifies me when they need a charge so I really don’t need to keep track of it. If I had a big event I would fully charge the day before just to be sure.

Tim

[marciero]

Group rides are a specific type of situation-specifically, close to home, shortish distance. I wonder if some of those affluent retired types would use something different on a 100 mile gravel ride in a remote area. Speaking of which, there was a guy wandering around the campsite Friday night before D2R2 asking for Shimano charge cable.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by mcteague

I’ve had a Campy shift cable break twice and my Red AXS has never had any issues… not even a dead battery. My Wahoo Bolt notifies me when they need a charge so I really don’t need to keep track of it. If I had a big event I would fully charge the day before just to be sure.

Tim

Button batteries in the shifters? They're not chargeable. Two people recently had dead batteries, zero mechanical shift cable problems. Both bailed on the ride.