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I was out on the road yesterday and was one of the few people with cable gears. At the café stop the discussion got around to the discussion of electric shifting reliability. This really struck me. Tales of connections failing, batteries dying (£350 for a Campag EPS!), batteries falling off, indexing going wrong.
Given how much easier life in some ways road bikes have (these were bling summer road bikes) I'll be sticking to cables on my MTBs!
Properly done it could be fine, it's a very new tech so expect some teething problems. Only one I saw in the TdF was the grumpy French man.
Out of interest who fitted the stuff? Was it looked after? Did any of them bother to check their batteries were tight?
Early hydraulic disk brakes attracted this sort of attitude (probably with some justification) - give it a couple of iterations and the systems will be a lot more reliable (and cheaper).
Not that I ride electronic but have been looking at it. I've heard it is more reliable than mechanical if looked after.
Having spoken to guys I ride with (who ride a lot, nearly 10000miles a year including races) I've heard of very few problems.
But I wouldn't put it on the mountain bike until the prices come down. Most damage on a road bike comes through wear and tear - things last a long time if looked after. However on a mtb things have more of a habit of breaking - hangers and mechs etc. can be destroyed through one unlucky encounter with a rock. For this reason I only run SLX not XT or XTR on some bits.
Maybe if racing it would be worth it but then electronic is still heavier.
Like disc brakes on road bikes, it will become the norm with time. When they start to do 105 electronic then there will be cheaper options.
How much of an improvement is electronic shifting?
It seems to me like a solution for a problem then doesn't really exist
Is it not like electronic car handbrakes - what's the point?
It also seems like something that wouldn't be fixable or respond very well to a bodge by the roadside
You can't really compare it to rim v disc brakes
It was a group of people who had all bikes either complete or built by bike shops. One bike - built at a nameless shop near Kingston Bridge - had to have the Di2 completely refitted by another shop due to the first installation.
Road cables are pretty damn reliable if you take a little care with maintenance - I very rarely miss a shift. My point is that even on the road this stuff breaks/stops working and it will only be worse on a MTB.
I would presume electronic shifting is quicker. Which if racing (and given the high end nature of the gear racing is surely it's expected purpose) is pretty important. So it is a problem that exists, the ability to get to the right gear quicker, saving time. Seems pretty logical to me.
I'm not sure I buy the hydraulic disc brake comparison. There are so many obvious advantages over cable and rim brakes that it was clearly only a matter of time before universal adoption.
Electronic shifting - the balance between potential advantages and disadvantages are far more subtle - and none that I can see that will provide a measurable increase in speed along the trail. A slightly more pleasurable shifting experience is not enough for me to switch.
When road racing eleccy shifting is only really better / less risky for front shifting. Although I saw more people having mechanicals with electric shifting racing this year than mechanical shifting. Watching an electric shifting system default to the lowest gear in a road race is pretty funny as long as it's not you.
I like the idea of really well executed electric shifting on a MTB but only if someone can guarantee that I'm not going to smash the hugely expensive mech on a rock or something. ..
I'm nether for or against electric shifting tbh, it's lovely to use on a road bike of course, literally finger taps to change gear is a thing of delight...Is it strictly necessary...maybe not, but then who the hell cares?
I wouldn't be in a rush to stick it on my mountain bike, but then I can change and maintain cables well enough so it's not an issue. I worry about all the hydraulic stuff on it (I've more hydraulic lines than tradition mechanical ones now) but in reality and day to day, they're pretty faultless, and I've never in 10 years plus had an accident that means my brakes don't work.
The only thing that would stop me would be cost.
I really like the auto handbrake on my car.