Bottom line ... a Fool and his money are soon parted ...

You just have to wait a while, BikesDirect will soon sell Di2 on a 'race winning legendary Motobecane' for $1299, w free shipping (MSRP $8000).




P.S. My sources have indicated an Si2 version in development as well for Sora.

I don't see why not. Sora is a fine working group, thumb shifters and all. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

I'd be really curious to hear what you think the average wage is...

Alright, now we know where you stand. It's that extra $650 you're having a problem with. So $650... what is that? 1/2 of your annual car maintenance costs, excluding car payments and insurance? A few days worth of work for a client? Selling a few stocks for cash? Selling your rarely used Motobecane? It's really not much. Aren't you tired of all that clunky shifting given how much you ride? I know I'm tired of it and I ride 1/3 the amount of annual mileage as you!* I'd love to be able to press a little button and gink, I'm in a new gear. Think about it.

*Though less miles overall, I do climb more feet per mile on average than you. A matter of geographic proximity, your living atop Mt. Doom notwithstanding.

I can see it now...

You always regret starting these stupid threads, but by the time you realize it, it's too late.

i haven't read any of the posts in this thread except the op. i like my ultegra non-electric manual equipment. call me a luddite but i think it is all i need.

who was it who said, "ride more buy less." That person is a genius.

I would think that they could ad a auto shifting mode that is tied to Candace.

All other Ultegra groups have included a triple crank option. Do you think the same would be true for electronic Ultegra? Apparently, front shifts are amazingly good with Di2, so it could help triple FDs a lot.

See?

After they get electronic shifting down, they can move to the crankset -- that could really help riders improve their speed. I hear some pros are so enamored with the concept they'll use it without a huge sponsorship deal.

Shimano's product development cycle is so long that the 2011 products (which would have been shown at Eurobike) have been in development for years.

Considering the bath they are taking on Duhi2 I would be surprised to see them introduce another electronic group unless...they cut the fat (carbon etc) and dropped the price considerably - this way they could move through the products they already have and at least recover their tooling costs! They could then quietly phase it out like carbon cranks, Sante and bio-pace and get back to what they do best: working alloys and running the OE market.

For Campagnolo...yeah, considering the astounding success Di2 has been I'm sure their just itching to finally release it.

Do a search and read what I've posted before about why I believe Shimano pulled the trigger on electronic shifting. I don't believe it was because they wanted to. They were forced into it and now they are paying the price.

Meanwhile SRAM just keeps cutting into their pie.

It's tough to be the King.

Some interesting stuff on SRAM E Series popped up in Competitive Cyclists Twitter page: https://www.rouesartisanales.com/arti...#more-53428568

Edit: False alarm, the SRAM E Series is an April Fool's joke from last year.
https://happymtb.org/2009/04/01/sram-goes-electric/

I'm trying to understand why Shimano felt 'forced' to introduce electronic shifting when nobody else has brought it to market since, that's odd. Plus whatever they spend on R&D, the stuff can't cost THAT much to manufacture that they have to charge that much for it. But what do I know, maybe it does? That seems strange to me, you'd think the only way they get their investment back is to use it to fight Sram.

The whole thing is baffling, but that source I cited is pretty reliable most of the time when it comes to this crap, so we'll see what happens. Hey BD, see what you can find out on your end, you're in the industry and you're out there closer to the source. You are correct, Sram is eating their friggin lunch.

Note to Sram: I'll TOTALLY pass on electronic brakes, but thanks for asking.

In a nutshell; Campagnolo floored the Shimano guys with 11spd Record. Then 11spd down the line. Shimano had previously taken a beating on their wheel program, too (since recovered somewhat). Both had electronic groups ready to go and a game of chicken ensued. Shimano was loosing momentum (from inside the industry), Campagnolo was giving them pressure and SRAM was also making it's presence felt. Shimano blinked first.

Neither company was sure the market was ready but how could Shimano let Campagnolo be the first to bring it to market? What if it sold? They had to take the plunge.

All of this is speculation on my part BTW. Even though I worked for/with Campagnolo at the time no-one was calling me in the middle of the night to talk about this stuff or having frank discussions with me about any future moves being made. I was on the product side and saw what I saw and heard what I head. All of which is dated now.

I'm focused on my own bike business now and working with Taiwan manufacturers. Group sets are not even in the picture right now.

But think of the power gains with the regenerative braking energy getting stored and then being unleashed by the Cancellera motor when you need to give the look and dial it up to 400 watts.

There's also the Halo Effect to consider as a possible reason for Shimano selling Di2 at all.

If Ui2 is real, it's probably virtually identical to Di2 but badged to facilitate price discrimination / face saving - and would probably hit your price point. At that point, I bet a lot of time trialers and especially triathletes will jump at it.

Depending on what's she's into Candace might not like that.

The brakes don't have to be electronically actuated to benefit from regenerative braking.

Beat me to it.

Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

I posted this a couple months ago on Weightweenies. I would run it on my TT bike. I love the Di2 for TT. Super nice to ride.