chrisjur

Hi All -

I recently spent a week riding on a trip using a rental bike with Ultegra Di2 shifting and I think I'd like to make the move to electronic shifting on my bikes at home. I am currently running a 2016 Trek Emonda with full Dura-Ace 9000 mechanical.

Given that the 9100-series Dura Ace has recently been introduced, I'm seeing further reduction in pricing on the "old" DA 9070 Di2 components. I'm familiar with the newer features of the 9100-series and I don't think it's compelling enough for me to wait for the 9150 Di2 to be released, nor to pay the sky-high premium that I'm seeing for the new groupset.

That being said, a few questions:

1. Will Shimano continue to produce and distribute "old" 9070 components are they transitioning fully to the 9100 series now? Will I have issues finding these parts if I wait 2 or 3 months? Will there be any issue getting replacement parts a year or two down the road?

2. Is there a "lite" Di2 groupset package that includes only shifters, RD, FD, junction/battery/cables, as opposed to buying each part individually? I've hunted and the only thing I can find is this at Merlin Cycles:

https://www.merlincycles.com/shimano...FcRahgodmdEIMw

Is this bundle that I should be able to find elsewhere or should I prepare to buy each component individually, which seems like it would be a more costly approach?

3. Lastly, I am intersted in the Syncro-shift functionality that is coming to the new DA 9100. My understanding is that this will be available on the old DA 9070 through a firmware upgrade, but will require an upgrade to the new 9100 battery, which I assume will be backward compatible with 9070. Does anyone have any insight about this?

I'd appreciate any thought or useful information anyone may have on this topic.

Thanks very much for your help!

Silvercivic27

Tl:dr. Just buy it and don't worry about it so much. Shimano is really good about supporting their group sets.

trailflow1

If only that were true. They discontinued 6770 and 7970 so spares are longer available to buy aftermarket. Which caused an increase in demand and rise of prices of used parts. Sometimes selling more than they cost new.

They switched from the 5-pin wire system on 7970 to the e-tube format with 6770,6870,9070. Which prevented any compatabilty at all with 7970. And abandoned 7970 completely. So new Di2 add-on features like the D-Fly Garmin on screen display module will not work with 7970.

They deliberately released a firmware update to prevent mixing and matching of any 10spd 6770 FD,RD,Shifters with 6780,9070 and vice versa , which was possible before the update. After the update they force you to have to buy both matching front and rear Di2 derailleurs to get the system to work otherwise neither will work. So essentially bricking the system without the option of reverting back to the old firmware.

So the OP's questions about future compatability is a real concern.

Interestingly there has been a 10spd 7970-A RD (with the same look/design of 9070) recently reported that will integrate with 7970 via an included e-tube adapter (which means it may also work with 6770,9070,6870,and maybe 9170 ?) but it doesn't seem to be available to buy anywhere (yet). The guy received his through the Shimano warranty procedure but still had to pay.

It's now up on Shimano's Madison site.

7970-A
RD-7970-A Dura-Ace Di2 10-speed rear derailleur, SS cage | madison.co.uk

6770-A
RD-6770-A Ultegra Di2 10-speed rear derailleur E-tube, SS cage | madison.co.uk

So it looks like they are finally coming round to giving early Di2 adopters some fall back options.

Based on their moves in the past i would guess no. They won't continue to make those 9070 parts. And will stop some time in the next 12/24 months if they haven't already. When and if the sales of 9170 increase.

Should have no issues in 2-3 months. All shops seems to have plenty of stock. a year or two i see stocks getting lower but not totally sold out. My impression is the 11spd e-tube groupsets have been alot more popular so they have been produced in much bigger numbers. And the availability of spares is therfore bigger.

Because the new 9170 is also 11 speed and uses e-tube. There should be total compatility between 9070 and 9170, 6870 and 6970. All the incompatibilty issues arose because the system went from 5-pin to e-tube,from 10 to 11 speed,and to a completely new version of each groupset in a relatively short space of time. Now that the dust has settled and they seem to be sticking to 11spd and the e-tube format. There should less potential issues in the future,so that includes compatability and availability of spares. Worst case scenario is you'll need to buy a 9170 part instead if 9070 parts are sold out.


That's the upgrade kit. It's only available from EU stores and Merlin are known to be the cheapest AFAIK. Buying the kit should definitely save money over sourcing the bits separately.

No idea sorry.

My advice if you are not concerned about weight. Is buy the Ultegra 6870. The performance between them is indistinguishable. It's very very close indeed. The weight difference is around 400 grams. The only down side of Ultegra is the brake levers are made of metal instead of carbon.

chrisjur

Thank you trailflow1. Great insight...very helpful.

softreset

The DA 9070 levers also have the hidden, programmable button at the top (knuckle) of the brake hood.

Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 levers to act as remote control | road.cc
Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 levers now control bike computers | Cyclingnews.com

Those articles are older but functionality exists to offer all sorts of programmable solutions via D-Fly.

For example, I use the button to start/stop my Garmin 820.

All of the support/dealer manual documentation that's been made available for DA 9150 has indicated that backwards compatibility for synchro-shift just requires the new battery. Originally it was a new battery and junction box but it's been holding firm on just the new battery, plus whatever software will be made available.

We're still a month (plus) away from getting it but I suspect the review sites will get early access and hopefully answer a lot of these similar questions.