Howzit

Well, i would hope what you find so funny kills you because that would hopefully be evolution weeding out the slow ones.
A signal is sent from the shifter to the computer. the computer computes then relays the signal to the shifting mech. Thats not instantaneous, if you think it is, well then you and Shimano can most probably travel through time.

Bah Humbug

I know this will blow your mind, but it's quicker than pulling cable.

neuronal

I'm gonna have to keep posting this until you address it:

"And you know this how? You have no idea of the long-term impacts of the technology shift. All you've done is give a negligible argument about "charging batteries". If Di2 wears out 5% slower as result, then we've actually helped the environment. The energy needed to charge a battery is negligible compared to the energy and resources it takes to manufacture a groupset."

tradtimbo

I remember looking at how fast it shifts compared to a cable when it first came out. Here was my conclusion:

When you pull a cable to shift one gear down in the back, the time considered begins the instant tension is put into the cable. The time ends when the rear derailer is in its final position (the time doesn't end when the gear is fully shifted because this has more to do with the position of the cogs and where you are in your pedal stroke). This is not instantaneous. You, as the shifter, must pull the cable (via your shifter mechanism) a specified distance. Once the cable is pulled that distance, then the ratchet on the inside of the shifter must engage. Once the ratchet is engaged, the rear derailer is in its final position. Its true that the derailer moves while the cable is being pulled, but its not in its final position until the ratchet is engaged.

Compare this to the Di2 system. The time begins the instant pressure is put on the shift lever. Once the lever moves far enough, a circuit is completed, a signal is sent, and the derailer mechanism moves the derailer for one shift increment. The time it takes for the signal to be sent and received is so fast it is negligible compared to the time it takes for a human to complete the circuit by moving the lever. In fact, the time it takes for the signal to be sent and received is so fast it is perceived by us to be instantaneous. Once notable difference between the systems is that in a cable system while you pull a cable, the derailer moves at the same time. In the Di2 system, the derailer does not begin moving until the signal is received. I haven't tried the system, but I would bet the mechanism to move the derailer is faster than Joe Rider pulling a cable. here is sum of the times:

cable system: [time to pull cable the distance of one shift increment] + [time it takes for ratchet to engage within shifter]

Di2: [time to move shifter to complete circuit] + [signal time = 0s] + [time it takes for derailer mechanism to move derailer into final position]

I would put my money on the Di2 system if I was a betting man.

anticlimbactic

The point is that we're ruining the earth in terms of it being a habitable planet for humans and most of the species we know and have known. Sure, life will find a way, but is that somehow an excuse to willfully destroy most of the bountiful life this planet harbors today?

Oh and Di2 sucks. Because Howzit said so.

umd

It's not a new claim... I've been through this a few times with him, and whether true or not, he claims to be Timmothy Jones, from Zimbabwe. He posted a wikipedia link, so it must be true...

patentcad

Oh stop.

Reynolds 

Those are not "fixies".

wirelessness

You forgot to mention the best part of Di2!!!

You will not be riding on it ever. I would like to not emulate you in any way!!!

turbo2L

Hey Howzit: I don't have a manual bicycle pump, so when I needed air today I do what I always do: I started my car (which lacks a catalytic converter), waited for it to warm up, plugged my pump into the cigarette lighter, and pumped away. How ya like them apples?

BobLoblaw

Buy your Di2 and enjoy it. I'll cover the carbon for everyone who will ever own it by unscrewing the light bulbs in my garage door opener.

BL

BNroadie#1

I dont own a manual pump either i turn on an air compressor and wait 3 mins for it to become fully pressurized then i pump the air then i release all that air back into my garage because youre not supposed to leave it full. And recently my air hose broke and its made of plastic but im not going to recycle it because Air compressor"s use oil to lubricate and that is allover my hose and i dont know if it is recyclable either way. So basically thats alot of wasted energy. How does that make you feel?

MM225

fixed

cuski

It's been a long time coming:

turbo2L

Look, the Di2 pays attention to every tooth of every gear, as well as the chain angle and power going through the system. It's infinitely better than comparitively ham-fisted cable shifting.

Ask any F1 driver if they'd trade their electrohydraulic transmissions, which shift in microseconds, back to manual cable-shifted transmssions. I don't think you'd get many takers...

bpert

Howzit-

I hope you get hit by a natural gas powered bus.

Howzit

This suppose to be funny?
Hope one of the mods ban you. In fact, I might report this

Nachoman

Live long and prosper.

challaday

The planet only has to last a few more years before I'm dead and then I won't really care.

Meanwhile I'm going to enjoy my 12 mpg car and go killing off endangered animals because if they were meant to survive they'd learn how to shoot back. Darwin, baby.

pinwheel

shifting by yanking on the cable wears out the cable over time. the cable needs to be replaced which means the old one has to go somewhere and the new one needs to be made. to make a new cable, the metals need to be mined, separated, remixed, drawn, twisted into cable, coated with slippery chemicals, packaged, shipped, unpacked, and the packaging needs to be thrown out before they can be installed on the bike.

Maybe its better for the earth to just charge it a few times with the handful of joules its needs to do its thing for another couple hundred miles. the power is on tap direct from the power plant and gets stored as chemical potential energy with very low loss over time.

terrymorse 

That is all.

umd

Well we'd hate for it to be an environment destroying diesel bus...

wirelessness

What if it was just a Di2 equipped pair of 'Clydes' on a tandem? What if those Clydes lived in a carbon neutral solar powered house?

kuf

Howzit, how about doing something good for the environment (and perhaps many of us here), by not wasting electricity posting on BF?

dje31

Don't forget that, per the Mayans, the world ends on 2012 Dec. 21, whether we use Di2 or not, so go nuts!