jiangshi

Apart from having to use SRAM.

David Newton

Is there a club for a Drew to belong to?
I so want to drew, but I am restrained by the lack of a C&V club.

armstrong101

So in the long scheme of things, it seems wired electronic shifting will have a pretty short history, all things considered. I can't imagine any company offering wireless AND a lower-end wired electronic group. So in the history of bicycle components, wired electronic groups will exist only in this current era of a few years, and will soon be forever obsolete. You won't be able to make the same prediction about either mechanical or wireless groups.

icepick_trotsky 

Voila. Royal H custom with Mavic Mektronic

Henry III

Ahhhh...Rev X's. Man I loved those wheels and the crazy sound they made once you got up to speed. I had two sets and those things were bulletproof in spite of the online hearsay. Heck one set was even fixed with a Surley fixer.

bici_mania

I am not sure if I should be afraid or amused. It has a certain other-worldly-just-plain-fugly thing about it.

RiddleOfSteel

Holy Thread Dredge, Batman!

I wondered if there was a thread of this variety, and alas there was! Alas 2x, it was just before my time on BF, and before electronic shifting was on any of my bikes. So if @armstrong101 is still around, it must be said he is the on-the-record pioneer of this particular C&V insanity. I thank you for your efforts, sir. I have picked up this torch and will carry it!

And since we're about sharing what we've done, for those that haven't already seen these photos a million times, for the eternity of the internet:

1974 Schwinn Paramount - Campagnolo Athena EPS - Hoods' waffle pattern rubbed my hands raw and the "new" (sitting on shelf for five years) battery never held a charge well at all, but great ergonomics, great shifting, and really lovely "natural" shift button feel.


1974 Schwinn Paramount - Shimano Ultegra 6770 Di2 - This was a few years later, and is thus out of order chronologically, but it's here for the uncomfortable aesthetic juxtaposition (of all things, right? lol). It wore the Campagnolo group better, IMO.

1987 Schwinn Prologue - Shimano Ultegra 6770 Di2 - Same groupset, different frame. What a beautiful combination!


1988 Davidson Impulse - Shimano Ultegra 6770 Di2 - This was climbing and accelerating perfection. Ride comfort around Seattle roads? Not so much.

RiddleOfSteel

Part II (accidentally)

1988 Land Shark Road Shark - Shimano Ultegra 6770 Di2 - Last frame to get this groupset before selling during Covid (along with a zoo of other components and bikes). 66cm frame for the correct bike size/fit and Di2 for the fun. The closest to carbon in feel of a steel frame I've ever ridden. Magic.


1984 Nishiki Medalist - Shimano Dura-Ace 9070 Di2 - I scraped this groupset together--no Bike Works discounts here!--and had it on a 2006 Orbea Onix before testing it out on this 63cm Tange Champion #1 frame. Did really well, but I need a taller frame as you can probably tell...


1980 Trek 510 - Shimano Dura-Ace 9070 Di2 - Present day, with an even older frame. This is a bike. I've actually swapped cages to a modified, longer Ultegra 6800 GS cage and it tackles 32t max cogs easily, and if you do the B-screw right, 34t. In this photo, we're looking at a 20.3 lb bike.

RH Clark

Yes, but this would not even be worth mentioning with normal mechanical shifting. It's only surprising that complicated electronics lasted that long.

cb400bill

So now nine years after I posted that, she is still using that same (Ultegra) Di2 system. She still averages about 5,000 miles per year. That makes it about 12 years old and with about 60,000 miles with no issues.

icemilkcoffee 

Those are clean installations. Do you tape the wire to the bottom of the down tube and chain stay?

AdventureManCO 

The heresy! The scandal! The outrage!

RH Clark

That's good information. I wonder what the failure rate is in general. I'm just old and set in my ways. I usually don't trust anything until it's considered old by everyone else. What's the initial cost of the Di2? What's the cost of upkeep? Honestly asking.

RiddleOfSteel

Thank you! I did tape the wires down the center of the underside of the down tube as well as to the bottom of the chain stay. Shimano makes wire guides/channels with adhesive strips running on either side of the channel, but they tend to not like the tight radii that steel frames possess. For black bikes, black electrical tape; white bikes, white electrical tape; and for other colors, maybe black tape or the very clear Scotch tape (used for the Land Shark). The chain stay routing required the most thought for me since there is a wheel, tire, chain, and road debris that one must protect the wire from (as practically as possible).

RiddleOfSteel

Lol, I'm buying all the pitchforks so no one will chase me with them!

RiddleOfSteel

That Ultegra 6770 groupset was nearly a decade old when I picked it up. It showed signs of normal use, but was plug and play and never gave me any trouble.

The initial cost of Di2 is naturally more than a mechanical groupset, even more if hydraulic brakes are part of the equation. I would say the most affordable is that Ultegra 6770 group. First of the modern e-Tubes Di2--Dura-Ace 7970 was it's own system--that is compatible (wires, batteries, etc) with the next two generations of Di2. 6770 being 6700 is still 10-speed, so it works with any 8-10 speed wheelset/freehub, which are still cheaper and much more plentiful than their 11-speed brethren. Your costs specific to getting a running Di2 system will be shifters (2), junction boxes (2), derailleurs (2), battery, battery holder (if external), and wires (6). I don't know what a 6770 group costs off hand, but it's certainly less than 9070 (not that 9000 is much cheaper). Ultegra gets you all the Di2 goodness and fun that you'd want, but at a lot better a rate than Dura-Ace.