I’ve recently had a GRX Di2 groupset fitted by my LBS and done just few rides so far. Yesterday evening I used the lowest gear for the first time (small chainring / largest cog), and after a few seconds in this gear it jumped into the 2nd-largest cog. Did this a few times…
I guessed it was probably rear mech limit screw setting and rode by my LBS on the way out this morning. However, limit screws and indexing all looked fine to him, and then we noticed that the Di2 was self-shifting out of that lowest gear (from small chainring / largest cog → small chainring / 2nd largest cog) by itself, consistently, several seconds after initially shifting into that bottom gear. It wouldn’t remain in bottom gear. This behaviour seemed to be consistent, occurring without any hands anywhere near the hoods causing accidental button presses.
Clearly looked like a software/config issue, not mechanical, but one which my mechanic pal hadn’t seen before. He left a message with the Shimano tech line while I continued with my ride…
Now back home, I have for the first time plugged in the charger (didn’t need charging, just trying it out) and cycled through the Synchro Shift modes by double-clicking the Junction A button, returning it back to semi-synchronized as it was previously. Now, it all seems to be working correctly: I can change into that lowest gear and it remains there.
Any idea what’s going on? Is there some obvious explanation for what was happening and why it’s now stopped (at least for the time being!)? Thanks!
Was the issue happening in Manual, Or full Synchro shift mode?
Sounds like a firmware issue.
If everything is up to date, I would try a full factory reset on the system and see how that goes. I have GRX Di2 and never have experienced this issue. I run in Semi-Sync shift as I didn’t care for the way it handles the shift to the small chainring. Never did spend any time in full manual mode.
I would check your b-screw adjustment, with the larger gear ratios of GRX it’s pretty important that it is in the right place, neither too close nor too far away from the largest cog. I think your problem could be that the upper pulley is too close to the largest cog, but too far away causes problems as well.
If it is very finnicky and can’t seem to be set correctly I have read of using a link longer chain and then being able to set it but haven’t had to do this myself.
On a side note I also don’t like the way Di2 shifts to the small ring, I’ve tried modifying the shifting patterns but still never sorted it out to my liking. It transitions to the big ring the way I want but I generally shift into the small ring myself and for this reason can’t see me going full syncro, unless I was going to be riding in winter with heavy gloves.
It was in semi-synchro mode at all times; we didn’t try the other modes (we were pressed for time so agreed to circle back after doing some digging). The firmware was all updated on installation a couple of weeks back and is still all current. All very odd!
We guessed that the gear change was being triggered by the rear mech moving, triggered by the software, but we didn’t actually confirm this to be certain (as mentioned, we were rushed and intended to circle back). If the problem returns I’ll be sure to bear in mind what you’ve written.
If this happens again, pay close attention to the RD and listen for any sounds. If it makes a clicking/ticking sound and then shifts back then that means the RD thinks it cannot shift to that gear somehow.
(probably limit screw or B-screw, but could also mean it’s failing in worst-case scenarios :))
So that would be a protection mechanism for the rear mech to avoid a situation that might prove damaging to it… Do you know how it actually detects these situations, eg. is it the motor determining that it cannot reach its desired position, or what?
I’m just interested in how this works, if you or anyone else knows the answer. Thanks.
I’ve certainly seen this behaviour with R8000 mech - it would shift into the lowest cog, but wouldn’t stay there under load. Low limit was just that little bit too tight, 1/4 of turn looser was fine. Haven’t seen it on di2, but I guess the same could happen.
It did happen again, so back home I did as you suggested and listened for the ticking sound, which it made.
Despite the RD’s low limit screw already looking OK (ie. not touching it), I’ve just backed it out a further 1/4 turn. This appears to have fixed the issue , and it’s changing into the lowest gear and remaining there (caveat: I’ve not ridden the bike out of the road yet, so will see…).
Question: does the RD slightly overshift, then move it back fractionally (or is that just the FD?). I’m just wondering why if the low limit screw previously looked OK how it is that unscrewing it a bit more seems to have fixed things (for now!).
Bit of a follow-up on this thread where @terry_bettershifting previously helped me fix this Di2 shifting oddity by correctly diagnosing the cause (see above).
Now, I’ve just done a like-for-like replacement of the cassette on this bike: a Shimano 11-34 11-speed (HG-800); because this cassette is also compatible with 10-speed, it requires the user of a spacer (provided with the cassette) when fitted to 11-speed…
What I found is that the spacer originally fitted (by my LBS) with the old cassette was ~1.45mm wide, while the correct spacer that’s supplied by Shimano with the new cassette is 1.85mm. Seems that for some reason my LBS must’ve used what was to hand rather than use the spacer that came with the cassette . That original spacer, being narrower than the correct spacer, required a lot of micro-adjustment (-8) of the rear mech in order to index it properly. Just now I’ve fitted the correct 1.85mm spacer with the new cassette, and I’ve been able to reduce the rear mech micro-adjustment to -2, which seems more like an expected value vs the previous -8.
NB The reason for me not just sticking with the 1.45mm spacer, even though that worked previously and wouldn’t have required any rear mech adjustment by me, was that it would’ve been contributing to slightly increased cross-chaining when in big-ring/large-cog combos - I didn’t make a habit of riding big ring + 1st gear but on the occasions I have the cross-chaining (noise) was noticeable - the GRX +2.5mm chainline offset will be contributing a lot to vs vs. that of regular road cranksets. Obviously, only a tiny improvement to this will come from this new wider spacer but better than nothing, hence no good reason not to use it.
Question (finally ): with such a tiny change in the chainline/offset as a result of this new ~0.4mm wider spacer, am I likely to need any limit screw adjustments on top of the RD micro-adjustment that I’ve done?
Not changed limit screws, and settled on -3 micro-adjustment for the RD. -4 also seemed just as good.
Which begs the (academic) question: are the Di2 micro-adjustment steps actually 1/10 mm increments? That’d fit with the adjustment mine required to compensate for the ~0.4mm (maybe 0.45mm) spacer width increase.
, and it’s changing into the lowest gear and remaining there (caveat: I’ve not ridden the bike out of the road yet, so will see…).
. That original spacer, being narrower than the correct spacer, required a lot of micro-adjustment (-8) of the rear mech in order to index it properly. Just now I’ve fitted the correct 1.85mm spacer with the new cassette, and I’ve been able to reduce the rear mech micro-adjustment to -2, which seems more like an expected value vs the previous -8.
): with such a tiny change in the chainline/offset as a result of this new ~0.4mm wider spacer, am I likely to need any limit screw adjustments on top of the RD micro-adjustment that I’ve done?