The benefit it sanity…I am the type of person that will fiddle with indexing my gears for hours to try to get it perfect. With Etap, I don’t have to, thus I feel less stressed in terms of avoiding having my OCD kick in.
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What’s the difference in cost for Ultegra groupset - $500? If you were buying a $4k bike I see it pretty worthwhile. If you’re buying more of a 2k bike then yeah it’s a bigger addition.
I was lucky enough to get it as I bought the bike off a friend, so yeah I agree I’d never have had it otherwise as the new bike I would have purchased I would have been trying for highest spec possible in mechanical
I have eTap on my road bike - love it. For all the same reasons people have listed about shifting, etc, it is really great.
However the greatest benefit I see to eTap is the ease of travel with my bike. I travel quite a bit with my bike and to take off my rear derailleur and pack it separately is amazing. I’m never worried about my bike getting it’s derailleur or hanger bent, the bike fits better without worry in my bike bag, and it’s so easy to simply put it back on, no messing about. Cakewalk gearing and I don’t think i’d go back to mechanical.
I added Di2 to my road bike about four months ago. It’s awesome. I don’t want to go back to mechanical (though I do when I ride my gravel bike…). It shifts perfectly every time, even under load when I’m sprinting to a finish line.
I consider it a luxury item. It’s hardly necessary but it’s nicer than mechanical.
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I have DA 9150 Di2 on my Canyon Ultimate (good weather/competition bike) and Ultegra 8000 mechanical on my Cannondale CAAD10 (bad weather/commuter bike). Both perform flawlessly, and neither have ever let me down. The Di2 has a few advantages: Never, ever needed to readjust gears (even after nearly 200 hours of use). Lovely to change gears with the sprint shifters by my thumbs and on the top of the hoods. Superfast shifting. As an added bonus, DA Di2 is Shimano’s lightest offering.
Ultegra Di2 is rather heavy, so at Ultegra Di2’s price point, I would go for DA mechanical if weight were more important, but Ultegra Di2 if performance were more important. E.g. Ultegra Di2 makes more sense on an aero bike than a weight weenie bike.
Another thing to consider, which I don’t have first hand experience with: WIth hydraulic disc brakes, the hoods may be more bulky with mechianical shifters than Di2?
The new 12 speed e-two is super compelling not for the electronic benefits but gear-range and functionality. It’s pricy though…
Oh god I have to do that. My mechanic moved to Australia! Most attempts at dialing in my rear derailleur have ended in me making it worse. But I think this is the time.
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It’s really not hard - there are only 3 things to adjust (low stop, high stop, barrel adjust) assuming that the hanger is aligned, B-screw set correctly, and chain length is ok.
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Another vote for electronic. I’ve been running UDi2 for 2.5 years now. 2yrs with 6800 on a TCR and 6 months with 8000 on my Venge. I’ll never go back.
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had Ultegra DI2 for a few years now. No real performance benefit, but it just works, perfect shifting all the time. When I’m in the market for a new bike, I’d want that to have electronic shifting as well
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Another vote for Di2, had my canyon ultimate di2 for 3 years and just built a Tarmac with Di2. Once you ride electronic groupsets you will not go back, silky gear change every time
They don’t seem too pleased with the results thus far…
They’ve been testing 1x AXS on the Roubaix course but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion they’ll be running 2x or a chain guide on race day from here on out after Degenkolb’s San Remo issues.
The initial speculation seems to be that the speed differential between the smallest cogs and a 50t chainring at WT descending speeds is the factor regardless of what type of freehub design is used. Much less of an issue at gravel, cx or trail mtb speeds with a 30 or 40t ring.