Originally Posted by
WhyFi
Ah. Yeah, I've seen a couple (literally two) reports of a crankset coming apart. Chewing up cables is a x700-series thing, though - haven't heard of that happening with x800 and newer. Difficulty removing the wheel is new to me, too - is this a problem that people are having with Shadow Tech RDs?
I dunno - maybe I don't have my ear to the ground, but the number of complaints I hear is so minimal that I have a hard time believing there's a lot of problematic stuff going on. Meanwhile, Di2 is awesome, mechanical front shifting has gotten very good, rear shifting is quick, light and precise up and down the line, the hydro stoppers are crazy good and people are saying that the new rim brakes, direct mount in particular, are a huge improvement, too.
Over on WW there are people with half a dozen broken cranksets together, and even a few on ST under tri geek watts. The cables are still getting chewed by X800 and RX000, though maybe at a reduced rate. And yes, the rear wheel removal is on frames with a lot of material behind the BB and short chainstays with the Shadow RDs. The more forward position of the upper jockey wheel means the wheel has to move more forward to clear it, and on some frames that means the tire hits the back of the BB and can't get past. In the worst cases, the tire has to be deflated for rear wheel removal or replacement. Again, bad enough on Pinarellos that Sky puts the RD out of Shimano's spec, to the rear, to solve it.
I'm sure Di2 is great, and I'll pay for it on my tri bike because of being able to shift from the basebar. I'm not paying for it on my roadie though, in large part because I think it should be on 105 by now and not commanding such a price premium. And the R8000 rim brakes feel awesome just squeezing the levels on AG's new bike. But yeah, overall I don't get a warm fuzzy from their quality.