I ride eTap, but imo its worth it. Outside of my Campy group, all mech has let me down at some point. Shimano goes out of tune fast, SRAM drops the front chain, etc. I remember one race I got dropped on a roller because the front chain came off, others I didn’t want to take the risk so I rode with a less than optimal gearing.
The electronic stuff just works, and if it doesn’t, its much easier to adjust. I’ve never tried Di2, but both seem to be close enough I can make the judgement call to get them if you can afford them.
It’s not worth $1000. It does have some advantages.
Let’s be honest: people on the group ride will hold you in higher regard if you have the di2. Only you can value what their perception is worth to you. It’s worth WAY MORE than $1000 to some…it’s worth nothing for others.
Also consider how many times in your life you’ve said, ‘Oh. I forgot to charge my xxxxxxx!’ If the answer is ‘often’ then DI2 may wind up being more of a hassle for you than it might be for some others. Consider that if you bump DI2 it can go squirrely…what do they call it? Crash mode, I think?
I got a DI2 battery low warning on Paris Brest Paris after 1100km, 1200km since last charge. So I plugged it in to a USB battery I brought with me and continued riding.
The Di2 battery lasts a long time. Like 2 months depending on how many hours a week you ride. My general practice is to start worrying about it when I can’t remember the last time I charged it, then after that first little nag, forget for another week or two to charge it. Anyone who runs their Di2 battery to zero has some major bike maintenance attention issues. Just charge it every time you clean your chain and you should never get below half a charge.
One time I did hit the end of my driveway and realized the battery was still in the charger but that is the only time I have ever hit the button and not gotten a shift! I now have a little hang tag I keep on the charger that goes on my handlebar whenever the battery is being charged,
Crash mode in Di2 is called “bent derailleur hanger and derailleur in the spokes” mode on a regular cable set up - try fixing that with a button push
Exactly this too!! I love riding with my palms/wrists laying on the top of my hoods and having the ability to shift either direction with a small movement from my pinky and not having to move my hands back down.
Like most everyone here, I think it’s a luxury but I wouldn’t go back. An additional $1k on top of the $10k didn’t seem like too much of a stretch. The feature I tend to like is synchro shifting to “safe guard” against cross chaining and just optimizing gear selection. Yes, I’m lazy.
I don’t think that’s what he’s saying at all…I think he’s saying that the only times he’s ever seen crash mode in a Di2 setup it was an actual crash that would’ve destroyed the rear mech.
Could be misinterpreting though.
My take on the battery thing…I don’t think I’ve ever, with any electronic, said ‘oh crap I forgot to charge this’ and likewise I probably over-charge my Di2. Probably every other week - or after 25-30 hours of riding. I’ve never had an issue.
I have two friends who have had issues with dead batteries. One never charged his bike and showed up to a race with it nearly dead - user error entirely and something he wouldn’t have had to worry about with mechanical. The other put his bike in his car improperly such that one of the shifters was depressed and it drained the battery while the bike sat in his car at work. Again - user error and not something he’d have had with mechanical.
The second one is the legitimate battery concern in my opinion. If you can’t be bothered to charge your bike, or at least check the battery, ahead of a race that’s on you and you maybe shouldn’t be responsible for your own things. But…if you accidentally lean your bike ‘improperly’ and discharge your battery - that’s harder to avoid and harder to stomach
And your mechanical system has run perfectly for the past 4 years?
Anyway, in my race this weekend I was able to shift with one finger at 25 mph with some dude leaning on my shoulder as we hit a climb. Sure I could have done that with mechanical as well but Di2 made it easier than it otherwise would have been and let me keep a good grip on the bars.
You don’t need Di2 and you certainly don’t need it on the trainer or coffee shop ride. But when stuff is going down, it can give you an edge.
When I bought my Emonda I pondered too whether Di2 was worth it. In the end I went for it and have absolutely no regrets since buying it close to two years ago. Shifting is always flawless and the only maintenance item was that the initial battery didn’t hold a charge as long as it was supposed to. It was replaced free of charge under warranty and no issues since.
Where Di2 really shines is riding in the hills. I love the semi-auto synchro mode where you bomb down a hill in the big ring up front, hit the bottom and start up the climb and then drop into the small ring while the rear automatically shifts over two cogs.
Having wired connections with Di2 still has its pluses too. No delay, no dropouts. I have Eagle AXS on my hardtail XC bike and during the Columbine Climb in the Leadville 100 this year I lost the ability to shift for about 30 minutes with no apparent reason why - it just stopped. 30 minutes later it worked fine again. Battery charge was fine, never had the problem before.
Correct. Crash mode (a/k/a protection mode) freezes the rear after it gets hit hard to keep you from shifting it into the spokes if things get bent. Once you check things out, if all is well, you press one button for 5 seconds and things are back to normal.
I’ve only triggered it once despite a couple rather spectacular crashes. The time I triggered it the hanger was bent enough to send the derailleur into the spokes so it did save me.
Thank you everyone for the great replies. It seems to me this is a “no it’s not necessary but you’re going to love it” kind of purchase. I do ride a lot of short steep rolling hills and find myself shifting constantly. I’m not concerned about battery charging, I have a pretty well established charging regimen for my computer/varia/pm. And if all else fails and I do somehow manage to goof it, I have my backup bike.
I’m way too much of a cheapskate to add $1000 for the marginal advantages of Di2 - but I can well understand people loving it. I’d rather put that money on wheels or a frame. In the end, you’re moving a chain around cogs, not igniting plasma propulsion.
I charged it right before the trip - 100km was riding to/from registration and bike check. I suspect the shorter than expected life may have been down to the cold night time temperatures, as low as 3-4 deg C. The battery was showing 25% when I got the warning, so it probably would have made it anyway. I also remembered to top up the cache battery at a cafe at 5am the night before it ran low, as that had been run down keeping my phone and Garmin topped up.
I had etap on a bike last year and I found that it would take a split second longer to adjust, and sometimes I would push a button to shift and got nothing. Would usually happen around my 6th gear. Was super frustrating.
I think Nate talked about something similar in the past. Never happened with my old Udi2 or my new Di2.
Anybody who thinks th ‘battery running dead’ can never be a problem…forget the two testimonials to that effect that we’ve seen in this thread…go watch stage 4 of the Vuelta 2019.
I doubt that either breakaway rider will share your opinion.
That’s a grand tour…so I assume they have mechanics.
