zzztt. Electric deraileurs
 

I've just come back from Italy-Campy's talking about releasing electric deraileur sets next year.

Does this seem like the NASA $2Million pressurized writing pen/ Russian pencil situation??

I dont get them It kind of seems pointless. Its like come on, its called fingers you have em USE EM! :rolleyes:

I used to think it was not worth it, but there are some pretty interesting things you can do with electronic derailleurs. For instance, you could program spacing adjustments on the fly. Also, you have no shift cables to fuss with when they get gunked up.

I guess only time will tell whether or not electronic becomes the new wave of the future.

It'd be cool if it had a built in power meter...wishful thinking...

Mavic sure thought so about 15 years ago.

-Z

Seems completely silly. My mechanical deralleurs shift just fine, thank you.

Are we getting so lazy that we can't push the levers anymore? :-P

Yeah, it's kinda pointless...Just that many more things to go wrong, in my opinion.

These things were supposed come out more than 10 years ago.

I can see it now:
"Sorry, can't ride today. Forgot to hook my bike up to the recharger last night."

Yeah, I don't get it either. Interesting pics here: http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?...005/news/04-14

in my opinion, there are enough damn electronics in my life, i don't need them on my bike.

I can't imagine how much they'll cost. Though, a simple wired transmitter + interface would actually be cheaper to produce than the existing mechanical ergo-levers. However, the cost of the rd + fd will probably make up for any cost savings.

I'll guess the price for the "system" to be about $1k

What the human mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve!

It'll solve some problems, and create others.

Pros: Will adjust the front derailluer according to what gear you are in the back, electronic wires instead of mechanical cables, no need to adjust cables, simpler brifter mechanics.

Cons: constrained to battery life, expensive/non-repairable (maybe), wires instead of cables, electronic interference. Weight (mainly because of battery), unpredictable performance when wires are frayed or water gets inside casings. its electronic.

When I mean its electronic, I mean the inherent fagileness of electronics. Static sensitivity, moisture, interference from outside objects, performance decrease as battery voltage drops, harder to repair, etc. Think of it, a lot of times when something you have that is electronic fails, you throw it away instead of trying to repair it. when a capacitor bursts, ic's fail, or burn off a trace on a PCB, most people won't go it, pull out their Weller Soldering station and fix it. They throw it out and get a new one.

Though techys like me would try to repair it if its remotly possible. Like how my friend gave me her dvd player because it didnt work anymore. Just needed a new spindle motor and it works, for the most part, fine

how bout having just one rear cog that could magically expand so shifting would be seamless :p

mavic tried and failed with both the Zap and Mektronic systems.
Mektronic was far better than Zap but still had problems. I know
alot of tandem riders who like them due to eliminating the long shift
cables.
Campy's design reportedly corrects/avoids the problems that plagued
the mavic sytems.
For a pro you have silent servo driven shifts, and not too much of a
weight penalty. precise shifting due to servo?
Would I personally buy it? don't think so, I'm quite happy with
my friction shifters and one ergo setup.
Will the pro's use it? Yup, I believe that Once used it 2 years ago,
and there will always be those teams that on the bleeding edge.
OCP members (those worth their membership cards) already have
downpayments on the system.

edit: I believe it's a wireless system for the most part, no cables or wires
from brifters to derailleurs). Individually coded to avoid interference.
Can you imagine if a pro initiated a shift and half the peloton shifted?
bloody murder would ensue.


Marty

Whenever something like this has as many naysayers as it does...

no $hit, I do not need a friggin electronic derallier, oops I lost the charge and I can't go anywhere, now I get to sit on my @$$ duh. Or oh Bleeeeeeeeeeep now I going to crash because of electric interference. Thank you but no thankyou


RacingPain

y'all should read up on the system
(campy only dot com has good write up)
before you go running off at the mouth.

couldn't they easily make it so that it's powered by your rear wheel or your pedal?

I thought with Mektronic the actual power for the shift came from the derailer (as Sheldon would say) pulley itself...

That's ingenious. Guess that's why they're engineers and I'm not :p

If they were good engineers, they'd make stuff that actually works well... ;)

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/e...-shifting.html

I hate that myth.
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp

When was the last time you reapired you broken DA der's, or shifters? Is this really something we worry about now. Just poking the stick, it would be a big deal as expensive as they would probably be.