deacon mark

[QUOTE=rm -rf;20461826]I was on a group ride recently, and we hit an unexpected very short, steep climb at a bend in the road. All the riders climbing while seated, in a reasonable gear, had electric shifting. The rest were grinding up in a way too high gear. The instant and drama free front and rear shifts are really nice on rides with lots of small rollers, or on these sudden situations.

A couple of years ago, even one or two Di2 bikes out of 12-20 riders was somewhat unusual. Now I notice maybe two to six on a ride of that size.[/QUOT

So you cannot shift to a lower gear and stay seated?

robbyville

GlennR

Yes, it does happen. I live on Long Island and we ride many residential roads where you can make a blind right turn and there's a short climb. We find it helpful to those that don't know about the hill to warn them so they can get in a lower gear.

noodle soup

I ride with a small group(usually 3-5 , but sometimes up to 7 people), and we use hand signals most of the time unless it's extremely important to stop quickly. If we shout "light", it's a signal to sprint so that we don't get caught behind a light.

awesomeame

I'll certainly be switching to electronic with the next setup. I ride about 250-300k/wk and the cassette shifting always gets worse towards the end of the week. It never fails...on a hill somewhere it just won't shift right, ha. A couple clicks on the cable and everything is back to perfect, but it's becoming annoying. Currently on Ultegra.

Matt

noodle soup

That is definitely not normal for any mechanical system. If you can't figure out why this is happening, I'm sure a competent professional can.

awesomeame

The cable is stretching...a couple clicks on it (turnable barrel at cassette shifter) and the problem goes away until I put on another 200k. It's probably only adjusting it a couple thousandths of an inch, but enough to make the shifting not perfect. I have the best cables that the Trek store sells...maybe there are better, I don't know?

Matt

hsuehhwa

I think the ratio is about right.

I've had di2 since 2013. It's all good until it's not. I replaced/upgraded the entire groupset with new di2 in 2017 after some ~22k miles. I would like to switch back to Dura Ace mechanical shifting, but my 2013 Evo frame is for di2 only. The new di2 battery definitely lasts a lot longer. I rode with an lady who didn't even know her di2 battery had to recharged.

A lot of bike manufacturers don't even over mechanical dura ace with their top of the line road frames, such as Cannondale Evo Hi-mod (disk brakes only)/SystemSix, S-Works...

robbyville

Interesting. I can see the need when riding in a tight group where people trust each other! As mentioned earlier, we can sometimes get over 100 people to our group rides and although we split up into categories and groups end up splitting during the ride I tend not to get too close riding with people who I don't know well.

We're the same, mostly saying rolling to go through or light up to stop,or glass calling. Otherwise we're mostly hand signals as well

datlas 

FWIW, I would estimate my friend/clubmate ratio to be roughly:

60% Mechanical
30% Di2
10% Etap

I am still mechanical btw. May consider electronic in the next few years, however.

Bah Humbug

I'll worry about that when the day comes that my paycheck is derived from how fast I can hustle a car around the track.

shafter

Actually, many older vehicles are MORE efficient with a manual transmission. The newer models (07 plus??) are smart enough to be more efficient with a automatic.

HTupolev

Modern pre-stretched cables shouldn't stretch much at all.

Are you giving new cables a good strong tug when you install them to make sure everything is seated, before adjusting them for real? Not doing this tends to result in "cable stretch."

GlennR

We will split a group of we get 12 or more int 2 groups. We find that larger groups tend to be dangerous with the number of cars and traffic lights.

GlennR

You don't need to be on a track to get better MPG at highway speeds.

noodle soup

Nope. The cable isn't stretching that much, and there's no way it can continue to happen like that.

I would first check the rear derailleur hanger alignment, and then replace the housings and shift cables.

Dean V

At highway speeds it doesn't matter what the trans is. They will all be locked up and at the same efficiency.
As for the OP I have Di2 and mechanical bikes. Just as happy to ride either. Those I ride with are still on mainly mechanical Probably at least 5:1.

Ald1 

No more etap comments? Well I have that and love it, except the FD is a PITA. Very twitchy. Never tried DI2 but would love the hear comments from those who have tried both.

awesomeame

Bike has only been serviced at Trek, but I'll get this looked at or look at it myself. I just assumed since I ride more than my buddies it was only natural I would need to adjust more often. Thanks for the headsup guys!

Doesn't mean I'm not switching to electronic next year though, ha

​​​​​​​Matt

awesomeame

Likewise

Matt

shafter

Isn't there a power loss due to differences in viscosity between ATF and manual transmission fluid?

GlennR

All I know is the CVT gets 38mpg vs the manual that gets 36mpg.

Litespud

I as reading a thread recently - maybe here or on another site - where the OP was concerned about how he was going to install firmware updates onto his Di2, and the conversation progressed to wireless dongles, operating system compatibility, dragging the bike inside to be beside a computer etc etc. I ride my bike to get away from this crap. The beauty of the bike is, IMO, the mechanical simplicity. I assembled it, I maintain it and I diagnose it if something goes wrong. When the shifting is buttery smooth, that's me, not some software engineer at Shimano or SRAM. I also drive stick shift cars and wear a mechanical watch - that's just how I like it. Are these the most efficient? Probably not, but there's more to life than efficiency

WhyFi

No offense, but that's such a lazy, catch-all refrain.

Litespud

OK, I suppose. Feel free to expand