A new GRX Di2?
 

Hello, I wanted to buy a bike with GRX Di2, but Shimano already released the new Ultegra and Dura Ace, so I am wondering if there is a new GRX Di2 on the way for 2022, what do you guys think?

At this point, I would be hesitant to buy any new bike with an 11sp drivetrain.

With the parts shortages, I doubt they will be releasing a new GRX Di2. GRX Di2 is not as old as the previous versions of Ultegra or Dura Ace either.

No updated GRX Di2 in the works this year. And very few parts available right now. Shimano production has been drastically impacted over the past year (and continues to be) by COVID shutdowns affecting their production plans. They have $300M capacity expansion in the works but that is at least a year off. They also say that GRX component demand has far outstripped planned production plans. They extremely far behind production plans and probably will be behind even at this time next year.

Yup. I've had a GRX front caliper on order from my shop for a few months now (leaky piston). Shimano isn't even giving a solid estimated delivery time right now. Since they are pretty much interchangeable for the most part I told my shop if a Dura-Ace, Ultegra, or even a 105 front caliper come in I'll take what I can get.

They feel it's going to be this way most of the year. Just gotta be patient.

Was in the shop with my GRX Di2 over the weekend and one of the techs asked: "How much would you sell your group for?" They were told no known ETA for the right shifter and prior to that it was August at best.

12sp Di2 Ultegra and Dura Ace was released in August of last year, and it's still nearly impossible to find on new bikes. I'm sure 12sp GRX is around the corner, but even if they announced it today you probably wouldn't be able to buy it until 2023 at the earliest.

I would have no hesitation buying an 11sp Shimano groupset right now. They are fantastic and Shimano is going to be making replacement parts for many years.

I bought two GRX di2 setups last year and when Shimano comes out with 12 speed I won't be bothered at all. Except by the fact that Shimano has made their new 12 speed stuff incompatible with current 11 speed. I run 2x so 11 cogs is all I need anyway!

This is not exactly true. later model 11 speed shifters can have a firmware update to convert them to 12 speed.

I was going by what I read on bettershifting.com. Maybe I'm misinterpreting what he said but it sounded like you cannot actually get a firmware update for most 11 speed shifters, including GRX.

Later model shifters could, theoretically, get a firmware update to make them compatible with 12-speed Di2, yes. Any Di2 components can, really.

At this time though, only some TT switches and the SW-R9150 satellite shifters have updated firmware available. Shimano has chosen not to update the other units, and I don't expect them to do that any time this year :)

I was informed of this directly by Shimano in a Di2 seminar organized by Shimano employees.

Then they were wrong :).

Again, the only 11-speed units that'll work with 12-speed at this time are:

• ST-R9160 (TT)
• ST-R9180 (TT)
• ST-R8060 (TT)
• SW-R9160 (TT)
• SW-R9150 (satellite shifter)

Also, they can't piggyback the wireless signal. If you use these, they must have a wired connection to the battery.
(if you plug them into a 12-speed shift lever, you must wire that lever to the battery)
https://bike.shimano.com/content/dam....0.1-00-EN.pdf

Shimano employees are nice, but most of them don't know all the Di2 details. I once attended a Di2 course at Shimano and they told me that just using the BT-DN110 battery would be enough for Bluetooth/ANT, and that you don't need any other modules - and we all know that's not true :)

The older lever may get the firmware update at some point, but there's also a valid reason not to do so.
I do expect Shimano to add backward compatibility to the 12-speed levers at some point.

If Shimano did release a firmware update for the shifter, would the current 11-speed derailleur be able to shift a 12-speed cassette? I suspect it would.

While the 11-speed derailleur could probably be reprogrammed to shift a 12-speed cassette, Shimano will never do that ::). I wish :)

Oops, I'm sorry, the question was about GRX Di2 upgrades. They told us the firmware upgrade for 11 to 12-speed will be available just for the later model non GRX Di2 shifters, and I believe they had to be wired as you indicate. No news about GRX upgradability.