I have the Shimano ST-RS685 hydraulic brake levers. They can only "downshift" two gears at a time. My old 4600 shifters would do three at a time. Do any of the new hydraulic levers shift up to three gears at a time, or is that capability outdated? Thanks!
Alan

As far as Im aware all of the hydro shifters are like that. Tiagra 4700 mech also only does two. Its kind of annoying, because a 50/34 lend itself towards 3 cogs at a time, when shifting the rings. Maybe someone can confirm this for R7000 and R8000?

How do you mean DI2 only does two. Click 3 times?

I found this on the ST-8020-R webpage. So can any of the road shifters go more than 2 rear downshifts at a time?

Yes mechanical 5800 and 6800 mechanical can do 3. Im betting R7000 and R8000 mech can as well. To me its a little puzzling this "issue" largely has gone unnoticed. I find the 2 shift limit on 4700 kind of annoying.

Campy ultrashift does 3-up and 5-down.. fwiw.

Di2 can go up or down 10.

Di2 can be programmed for 3, 2 (maybe 1, but don't recall) or continuous on long press of the shifter. I have mine set to 3.

J.

Only limited by the amount of swing of the lever.

this

Mine is set to continuous and it is glorious.

As for Mech Hydro - I am not aware of any mech hydro unit that will dump more than 2 cogs at a time.

I go back and forth but have settled on the 3 per long press. If I do a long press on both small paddles, it moves me from the big ring to the little ring in about the same gear inches in preparation for climbing. Similarly with the large paddles, it goes to big ring in about the same gear inches in preparation for descending. My other bike has eTap which is only continuous and it works great too. I can achieve roughly the same behavior but it requires being attentive to the time depressed. But, if I had to pick a system as my favorite, I'd have to pick eTap.

J.

It may be a limitation due to space and movement restrictions with fitting in a hydro master cylinder, rather than a deliberate "feature".
Don't know though, only guessing.

Yes, Shimano are you listening?

I doubt it.

Mechanical shifting is for the Plebs.

Until that fateful ride you forgot to charge and your batteries ran empty!

I would say many use Garmins they like to keep charged too. New Di2 owner here. Really charging isn't a big deal. I normally make a habit of checking battery status when wiping down the bike. Simple left lever push if storing the bike in the small ring which I do.

Figure on 1000 mile battery life or so depending on ambient riding temp and shift frequency.

One cool feature is...front derailleur will stop shifting when battery gets real low. At this point you have about 200 rear shifts remaining. Of course if real far from home, choose a single speed in back where you can get the bike home without much discomfort by choosing that speed.

Di2 is very nice and I like it enough to keep it right now at least but to me no big improvement over mechanical shifting in which case I prefer Campy. I like both. In fact, if building another bike, it would likely be Campy mechanical. Almost a jump ball...in part due to the 'feel' of mechanical shifting..tactile connection to the bike. I wanted to own a Di2 bike. It is all everybody says it is. Excellent. But...I still like mechanical shifting and prefer Campy Record to Shimano DA including shifter ergonomics which to me, Campy hoods are the best in the industry...they have no equal. In summary, I like the 'feel' of shifting a bike with high end mechanical groupset...this connection to the bike. You feel the mechanism...the resistance of the derailleurs through the cable and into your hand. I suppose its somewhat like driving a manual shift car versus automatic...connection between driver and machine. Both are good. Personal preference. Lucky to own both for variety.

Why doesnt Shimano just offer an optional pulley wheel dynamo for DI2. Cant be much more than 0.1W. May even be lighter than the battery. I get racers may not want that, but for recreational purposes its one less thing to worry about then.

EDIT: The battery is 3.7wh. Assuming a 1000 mi charge life and a fast average speed of 20 mi/h, thats a 50 hour life. 3.7/50 = 0.074W average.

I believe for the reason you stated Dan...its subtractive from power and speed even though not much. Same argument could be made for lighting and Garmin charging.
I am old and go way back to the time of incadescent headlights on bikes with generators on the back wheel. Perhaps it was my age then but there was a bit of a mystique to this kit and indelible memories. Perhaps it was the cool factor of riding at night.

All said, this is the electronic age. People charge things almost automatically. I do. I am always charging my LED flashlight or Ipod or cell phone...something is always on a charger. A bike for Di2 will need a battery of sorts aka capacitor anyway for some level of storage to stabilize voltage to the servos.

I personally wouldn't be interested in a generator on the bike because Li-Ion batteries are so efficient at holding a charge. Including powerful lighting if night riding....something I used to do a bit as the days grew shorter after working all day.

Putting stuff on chargers almost seems part of daily life now. Since I bought my Di2 bike a month or so ago, I still haven't charged it and green light still showing. I shift a lot by nature as well.

As I see it, Shimano have created such a wonderful design overall that charging the thing isn't even in the equation. Perhaps if doing a bike tour...but would also like to keep other ancillaries charged as well...from laptop to cellphone. No big deal. To me, the larger issue is...is electric shifting really all that beneficial on a bicycle. I personally would say no. I like it but I suppose my heart is still with Campy mechanical shifting which just seems right on a bicycle. I like owning Di2 but only as an adjunct to mechanical shifting bikes and not a replacement.

what happens when a cable snaps?

FWIW, front shifting stops first, and you still have many miles of battery life remaining for the rear derailleur.

...And when a mechanical system starts to crap itself, which end goes first? That's right, the rear.

It will never get to that point; especially for derailleur cables. Even more so for the rear derailleur cable. Routine maintenance will be on top of that.
Even without routine maintenance, cables seldom fail catastrophically but gradually in an unraveling method. If you have a cable snap on you; you're most likely doing something wrong.

I have had 2 different di2 groupsets myself and now running etap.

Electronic or not, rear derailleurs will experience the most mechanical wear due to the nature of their functionality. Both are rebuildable nonetheless.
Any system, mechanical or electronic requires preventative maintenance regardless. With that, there will never be a "crapping out" in the first place.

I actually put a lot of thought into it before investing in my first di2 set back in 2009; DA 7900. And just like mechanical, there's equal cheers and jeers for electronic.

Electronics can short out and even catch fire; weather insulation for electronics can fail. Electronic shifter wires are jelly compared to shifter cables and are susceptible to being crushed and internally severed.
Batteries will fatigue over time with charging cycles and will need to be replaced when they'll no longer hold a decent charge.
Fast forward 20 years and proprietary di2 batteries and servos may very well not be made anymore and I doubt those are rebuildable. But that's something for future classic & vintage crowd to figure out.

None of these are valid reasons to stay away from Di2.
They would really only apply if you were touring in third world countries and keeping your bike running with readily available components was critical.

True. Reason why I run electronic now and on my 3rd electronic group. That was just my thought process in the broader scope of things to broaden the scope of comparison between mechanical and electronic.
At no point in this thread did I mention to stay away from di2/ etap. Can't take a joking jab guys?

Also etap > di2 in my book having owned both.