I saw a bike option with ultegra di2 11 speed. Does it make any sense to get this with the new 12 speed option coming out. I was going to get 11 speed mechanical but not available on the bike option I was looking at in my size.
If i wait for 12 speed then may be mid 2022 on the bike option before available but 11 speed available now !
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Itās pretty much the same system, with an extra gear at the back 
The Ultegra 11 speed is still a fantastic groupsetā
Iād say, go!
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I am āstillā on 11-speed Ultegra Di2 (R8050) and I still enjoy riding my bike 
My Zwift bike has 6870 Ultegra Di2 installed, and that still works great too!
So yeah, like @Dubadai says, itās pretty much the same system, with an extra gear in the back.
Of course, the 12-speed Di2 systems are wireless (hydraulic disc levers) at the front and come with BluetoothLE/ANT connectivity. For 11-speed Di2 systems the BluetoothLE/ANT connectivity is an addon (EW-WU111).
Another thing to be aware of: if you want to āupgradeā your 11-speed Di2 to 12-speed Di2 at some point in the future, you cannot. You would have to replace everything (battery, FD, RD, shift levers, wires).
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I wouldnāt hesitate to buy it (in fact I bought an 11s Di2 bike this summer!)
1 extra gear is nice, but there likely be a premium on the new 12 speed stuff for a while. Thatās if you can find it and stores have bikes. Plus, prices just keep going up.
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There will always be pro- and anti-upgraders, but the simple fact remains that the current 11 speed Shimano di2 groupsets are some of the most successful in recent memory. The new groupsets are an incremental improvement, not some sort of revolutionary āmust-have.ā Iām sure my next bike (not for another couple of years) will have the new groupset on it, but I wouldnāt hesitate to buy 11 speed di2 right now.
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Im in the same boat and feel like i would rather have 12s SRAM due to the fact that its 12s and im not buying something outdated already.
Buying a new 11s bike now, you know that in 3 years you will need a new bike or swap a groupset.
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I was still riding 10 spd until 2018ā¦so yeah, there is no reason not to buy 11 spd right now, especially if it is available. I doubt youāll see 12 spd in any decent numbers until late 2022.
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Quick recap on some documents I made and shared on this website.
12 speed is heavier, more expensive and you only gain a single gear which does not matter IMO at this time as the cassette choice are still not optimal directly from shimano. I cannot comment if the new system is smoother or quicker shifting however.
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Good points. But honestly, are there folks who are concerned with the shifting speed or smoothness of current Di2? Mine has been flawless.
Just wondering. Thanks!
IMO - I think people are just trying to justify spending money on the new technology. My teamate just upgraded to 12spd DA and he said he doesnāt notice a āspeedā difference on it over his past 11spd.
He is a 1%'er for say and loves the best of the best and he also really wanted that 1 more tooth. My 11spd DA is flawless, never needs adjusting and handles my 1300+watt power shifts in sprints
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Not sure this is true. I imagine 11 speed parts that wear out like chains, cassettes and chainrings will be available for a very long time. Iāve got a 15 year old bike thatās still running 10 speed and have no problem getting parts for it, though does mean quite a bit of the original Ultegra drivetrain is now 105 (original rear derailleur still going strong!). I guess the challenge with 11 speed Di2 might be that as there was never a 105 Di2 then if Shimano discontinue the brifters and derailleurs it might get increasingly difficult to replace those parts. But then those parts also typically last for a pretty long time unless you have a bad crash.
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Actually there are quite few significant differences between the two groupsets beyond one extra cog.
I love my 11 speed Di2 Ultegra setup and wouldnāt hesitate to buy it now. Of course, having an extra cog would be nice but price and availability come into play here. And just because they say it will be available in mid 2022 doesnāt mean it actually will be with the way things are currently. Iād probably go with the 11 speed if it were me.
You are right, there are some significant differences, but those differences arenāt things that really affect anything once itās installed and youāre riding.
For riding, you have an extra gear - pretty much it.
Off the bike and for installation, yea, hereās where there are lots of improvements such as wireless shifters, built in Bluetooth, new charging port, etc.
But once itās setup and installed, difference is an extra cog. Also much faster front shiftingā¦. But we arenāt contending for the yellow jersey so that extra millisecond for the front shifting shouldnāt be a deal breakerā¦
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You would need to ride some extremely varied terrain in your given ride to ever justify 12 speeds (like sawtooth elevation profile). Just the latest gimmick IMO. I got into cycling w cheapo 9speed sora (or tiagra, idk) and upgraded to 11spd ultegra and that was a huge change (in performance really tho, not so much noticeably on range). I couldnāt make sense of spending money to grab one extra gear tho (almost no rides do I utilize all 11 cogs on my cassette).
Iād go for the option that gets you the bike you want ASAP. Specs sound pretty high end so you wonāt be disappointed
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I think this is a really good point in general. Not to long ago, I convinced myself I needed to upgrade bikes and get 12 speed SRAM when I had a perfectly functional DA Di2 setup. Not only has (surprise, surprise) my life or riding experience not fundamentally changed, but it ended up with me getting a lot more proprietary parts ā chain rings, chains, cassettes, etc. I already had a bunch of 11 speed stuff, and could have simply bought a nice new/different frame and swapped over my DA if I really wanted an āupgrade.ā Would have saved myself a good chunk of money.
All that being said, building up/swapping out bikes is pretty fun also, so I didnāt completely ālose out.ā
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Iām dubious over the so called increase in shift speed. When di2 was launched, Shimano stated the gears couldnāt shift any faster due to the limits of the chain & cassette and I struggle to believe theyāll be any noticeable difference in the latest generation.
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Shifting speed of all electronic groupsets (Shimano Di2, SRAM) are more than fast enough. I doubt that much faster shifts give you a meaningfully better experience.
@Peter1967
If you can get a good deal, I say go for it!
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The only downside of 11 speed is finding parts in the future. Shimano though is probably way better than SRAM and Campagnolo in this regard. And since Shimano sells in such volume, you can probably find used on ebay for a long time.
Iām on Campagnolo and since I have two groups plus spare parts, I thought Iād just stay on 11 speed indefinitely. Now Iām seeing that you canāt find a 11 speed cranksets nor medium cage rear derailleurs and I donāt think Campagnolo will produce more. Iām now thinking that maybe I should sell all my spares and get on 12 speed at some point.
For a while, you couldnāt find etap 11 speed derailleurs at any price. Since then SRAM has started producing a new 11 speed rear derailleur which is basically a 12 speed model programmed for 11. SRAMs new shifters can also be programed for 11. AFAIK, they still donāt have an 11 speed front derailleur option. (Itās also crazy to me that they have zero repair/refurbishment options for $700 electronic rear derailleurs but that is a separate issue.)
This is not an issue. I can still find parts for 9 and 10 speed dura ace.
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