Dura Ace mechanical or Ultegra Di2?

Highly personal and I’m sure some will disagree…

  1. Dura Ace is a waste of money.

  2. Electronic shifting is a really nice to have but doesn’t worth the money at this time.

Ultegra mechanical for me and I would spend the excess buying comfort

Edit: for does who complain about the Di2 run out of battery… do you also complain when you run out of gas in your car?

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Ultegra Di2 would be my choice. With DA, mechanical or Di2, I don’t think you can exceed a 30t cassette. Perhaps not a concern for you but I need at least a 32t cassette where I live for power targets.

Of course they did. Your mechanical setup will need a tune and cables will fray so you’ll bring it back to them (if you don’t do it yourself)

Di2 done right won’t need to be touched. Ever.

Di2

For years Ultegra mechanical was the sweet spot for quality vs. cost on the Shimano price curve - 95% of the functionality of Dura Ace for like 60% of the cost - better for nearly everyone

I’d propose that your real decision should be between Ultegra mechanical and Ultegra Di2. Look at the cost difference between those two groups and decide what you would want to purchase with that money and how that compares to the difference between mechanical and Di2

Given your two choices Ultegra Di2 is a no-brainer.

Given a limited budget and a potential list of other upgrades (higher quality frame, better wheels, power meter for the bike, etc.) I might recommend Ultegra mechanical so you can get something else nice on the bike

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If that was the reason, they talked themselves out of a lot of money. I know the shop well, and they know me. They know that they aren’t going to make any money servicing my bikes!!!

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Ultegra Di2. To those arguing about battery, you can charge it and should charge it. It’s called basic bike maintenance. And any shop can fix Di2.

I bought a GRX mechanical Aspero and honestly I either need to upgrade to GRX Di2 or get rid of the bike. Di2 is that big of a game changer.

Hey. I was faced with the same decision last year and opted for DA mechanical. The comment I’d make is that DA is a noisy groupset. I was told by my bike shop that ultegra is quieter. Maybe others can opine on that but this is my observation.

I have DA mechanical (Trek Madone). It’s very quiet. My wife’s bike Ultegra DI2 (Canyon). If I have to chose today I will go Ultegra DI2 because DA is very expensive to buy and too expensive for maintenance.

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Thanks for the recommendations. Went for Ultegra Di2 in the end.

I did almost push the button on Dura Ace Di2 at one point, but I honestly couldn’t justify the expense… 300g lighter and looks very slightly nicer.

Not sure of the marketing rationale there. Coming over from Campagnolo at least you got a few splashes of red to differentiate between Chorus and Record gruppos :laughing:

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I went with Ultegra Di2 on the bike I built up this spring, too, and have put just shy of 5k km on it since. I’ve only had to charge it twice so far, and it’s been flawless in that entire time, just one snappy shift after another. One thing I really like is that the brake levers are more stable, at least to me. I have an easier time braking on a downhill and shifting at the same time, since I don’t have to try to pull the lever and push it to the side simultaneously. Worth every additional cent over mechanical, at least to me so far.

di2 no questions asked

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eTap.

But more seriously, Ultegra di2 is excellent, there is essentially no difference between Ultegra Di2 or Duraace di2 in shifting performance, just some reduced weight (and the hidden top buttons on the di2 shifters)

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Saw this after i did the meme

:rofl:

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I think the most recent ultegra di2 (R8050) has the buttons on top of the shifters. So I don’t know if dura ace has any extra functionality things like that anymore over ultegra other than the weight

It does have the buttons, and they’re brilliant. I have mine set to the left/right Wahoo buttons, so I can scroll through pages and start/stop laps with my hands on the hoods. I use them way more than I thought I would. You do need the wireless unit though if you want to control your head unit, and that’s £50ish on top of the groupset. Totally worth it.

Did think about eTap - but I really don’t want 12 speed and compatibility issues with every wheelset I own…

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Clearly 11speed eTap is the answer!
I have spare Duraace 11 speed cassettes to wear out before I decide to move to 12 speed…

DI2 all day every day. I was sold when I had to shift from little to big ring 3.5 hours into a difficult 4 hour ride. Just tapping that button instead of cranking over the shifter was huge when I was feeling tired and beat. And basically not having to adjust the rear derailleur alignment due to cable stretch is really nice.

Early on I was caught out a couple of times with the dreaded low battery. I set up a recurring reminder in my Google Calendar to remind me to charge batteries on the first of every month. Problem solved.

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