Di2 in the sales ...is it worth it

[Globalti]

Di2 is a luxury and not a necessity. If you are happy with mechanical, save your money for something else. My Di2 is excellent. But it is my least used bike.

I faced the decision yesterday: decided to buy a new Roubaix and had to choose between a Comp with Ultegra cable gears or an Expert with carbon wheels and Di2 but at a cost of a couple of grand extra. I've tried Di2 and thought it was impressive but doesn't offer me much more than what a well-adjusted cable system offers so I saved my money and went cable. Took the bike home and tested it up the street and spotted straight away that the gears needed a tweak, which I sorted by the road in about ten seconds. Di2 takes this adjustment away from you and you can call me old-fashioned but I enjoy maintaining bikes and have no fear of setting up shifting to work perfectly.

If I had spent the extra money I would now be sitting here feeling terrible about having wasted family funds on something I didn't really need.

Proper ride today. Woohoo.

 

[Blue Hills]

Could be that the firmware versions arent compatible, have you got everything at the latest version? Have you plugged it in to a PC to check diagnostics? If you are using an internal battery you can use the internal battery charger SM-BCR2 to connect to a PC via USB and use the eTube software to do most of the diagnostics you can do with the more expensive PC link device

Not criticising your post or advice at all but just saying that that para alone is all I need to decide never to go anywhere near the damn thing.

 

[JhnBssll]

Not criticising your post or advice at all but just saying that that para alone is all I need to decide never to go anywhere near the damn thing.

Hahaha I understand but it shouldn't put you off. I should stress that these issues are pretty rare, I've only seen a firmware compatibility problem once on 7 installs and that was when I was building from second hand components all sourced from different places. Once it's working it doesnt go wrong The only maintenance is remembering to charge the battery

 

[Mike_P]

A Di2 benefit is, assuming they are all ANT+, the ability for a Garmin etc to show what gear you are in. Always wondered why an ANT+ sensor does not exist for mechanical gearsets.

 

[Mark pallister]

I faced the decision yesterday: decided to buy a new Roubaix and had to choose between a Comp with Ultegra cable gears or an Expert with carbon wheels and Di2 but at a cost of a couple of grand extra. I've tried Di2 and thought it was impressive but doesn't offer me much more than what a well-adjusted cable system offers so I saved my money and went cable. Took the bike home and tested it up the street and spotted straight away that the gears needed a tweak, which I sorted by the road in about ten seconds. Di2 takes this adjustment away from you and you can call me old-fashioned but I enjoy maintaining bikes and have no fear of setting up shifting to work perfectly.

If I had spent the extra money I would now be sitting here feeling terrible about having wasted family funds on something I didn't really need.

Proper ride today. Woohoo.

Di2 is easily adjusted ,takes no longer than indexing ordinary gears
once it’s set all it needs is to charge the battery,probably charged mine 4 or 5 times in over 11000 trouble free miles
also you have the 3 preset shift patterns to choose from and the ability to cycle through your garmin or wahoo ect through the shifters if you have the little Bluetooth dongle fitted

 

[Globalti]

I expect switching over to Di2 is like buying a VAG car with a DSG gearbox.... you suddenly realise you'll never go back to the old system.

 

[PaulSB]

also you have the 3 preset shift patterns to choose from and the ability to cycle through your garmin or wahoo ect through the shifters if you have the little Bluetooth dongle fitted

I'm no dinosaur and I might well invest in Di2 the next time I buy a bike.

However I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about with the above. Can you explain and what the benefits are?

 

[PaulSB]

A Di2 benefit is, assuming they are all ANT+, the ability for a Garmin etc to show what gear you are in. Always wondered why an ANT+ sensor does not exist for mechanical gearsets.

Can I ask why one needs to know what gear one is in?

I work on how my legs feel and shift up and down accordingly. Occasionally I glance down to see which gear I'm in. I don't need to look at my Wahoo to be told which gear I'm in.

 

[JhnBssll]

I'm no dinosaur and I might well invest in Di2 the next time I buy a bike.

However I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about with the above. Can you explain and what the benefits are?

The three modes are standard shifting, syncronized shifting and semi synchronized shifting, described below

Synchronized shifting is quite clever - when you set it up you tell the Di2 which ratios you have front and rear and it then shifts the front mech for you as and when needed. You just use the buttons to go up or down gears and it does the rest. You can program the four (or six, depending which shifters you have) buttons to be up or down so it's quite flexible.

It also has a mode called Semi Synchronized shifting which is what I use - again you tell it which ratio cassette and chainrings you have but this time you are in control of the front mech. The rear mech shifts up and down as normal with the right hand shifter but when you shift the front with the left hand shifter the rear simultaneously moves up or down a few sprockets to achieve the next ratio. So if you're approaching a climb and you shift the front down to the smaller ring you're not suddenly spinning like crazy as it shifts down a few at the back too - you can then move back up the cassette smoothly as the incline increases Clever stuff!

Can I ask why one needs to know what gear one is in?

I work on how my legs feel and shift up and down accordingly. Occasionally I glance down to see which gear I'm in. I don't need to look at my Wahoo to be told which gear I'm in.

Yeah the gear indication is a bit gimmicky - I find the most useful functions of the ANT wireless link to the cycling computer are the Di2 battery charge status display and the ability to use the top shifter buttons to change screens and zoom in/out on the map page. The buttons can be programmed to do other things too

 

[PaulSB]

@JhnBssll thanks for explaining I've got to grips with that now. None of the people I ride with who use Di2 have ever spoken about such features.

 

[JhnBssll]

They may not have it - these features are a fairly recent addition

 

[Globalti]

It's amazing that riders using all this screen stuff actually have time to look around at the scenery. I'm reminded of my neighbour who sets up her phone with Google Maps running in line of sight even when doing her familiar commute to work.

 

[Mark pallister]

I expect switching over to Di2 is like buying a VAG car with a DSG gearbox.... you suddenly realise you'll never go back to the old system.

Exactly,you just think why didn’t I do this years ago

 

[Mark pallister]

Can I ask why one needs to know what gear one is in?

I work on how my legs feel and shift up and down accordingly. Occasionally I glance down to see which gear I'm in. I don't need to look at my Wahoo to be told which gear I'm in.

You won’t need to glance down
You can just glance at your computer instead

 

[Mike_P]

Can I ask why one needs to know what gear one is in?

Strikes me as being useful climbing to know just how many gears are left. Yes you can look, more back than down for the rear, but on a few occasions I have not been able to do to that safely due navigating a minefield of potholes.