Electronic shifting thoughts.

[ebikeerwidnes]

The shifters are powered by coin style batteries, the deraileur by a rechargeable battery. How often the shifter batteries are changed or the deraileur needs charging is entirely dependent on use. I'm told it can be 6 - 12 months.

You ride an ebike. I don't know if electronic gearing is available on e-bikes or how it is/would be charged but I would say this. I guess an e-bike needs charging before every ride. If you get it wrong you can be stuck somewhere with no power and stuck till you get a charger. On this basis an e-bike user is far, far more vulnerable than a rider with electronic gearing who probably only has to worry about battery levels every 3-6 months.

Both e-bikes and electric gearing equipped bikes remain rideable without power. It's just harder. One isn't stuck.

Oh yes - ebikes are very vulnerable to having no charge if you are not careful

which is why they mostly have a very clear charge level display on the bars
and yo get used to monitoring it carefully if it starts to get low

As a result you generally have quite a few miles of range left when you get home

My thoughts were that an ebike has this damn big battery on board
and the ride will be checking it frequently and making sure it has electrons left

and the gear stuff uses very little compared to the motor

so why not just power the gear change from the battery as well

OK if you do lose power you are stuck in whatever ear you are in on a heavy bike with extra resistance from the dead motor

but mostly it seems like a good idea
the loss in range would be measured in yards so is not important


maybe

 

[HLaB]

When I‘m going out for a ride I go out put bottles on my bike, check the tyres and the battery level. The difference when checking my mechanical bikes to my Di2 is pressing 3 buttons. It’s hardly a game changer.

Seems to be for a lot of people who's game I have saw changed and they've been forced to become pedestrians or vehicle passengers. Tbh for me on an early ride or when I've dashed home from work it probably would be too 🥴

 

[oxoman]

With the sram 1x12 the shifters as already said are coin batteries similar to car key remotes. I always carried 2 new ones as spare. Takes about 5 mins max to replace. Up and down shifting I spread across both shifters 1 up and 1 down. TBH no reason to go out with a flat battery as the sram app allows you to connect wirelessly and check shifter and rear mech battery levels.

 

[Binky]

I check battery after every ride as I've got old 6870 Di2 and a Bolt V1 so it needs gears to be used to link so easier to do post ride than before.
It's two buttons to press to get accurate reading.

Honestly, if checking a battery level is too much for some people then they really shouldn't be on the road! I get around 600miles per charge which is a lot less than the newer versions which I believe are well over 1000miles.

Anyway, go electronic or not it's an indivdual choice if you have the money. It's not necessary but it's great but battery level anxiety really shouldn't even be a consideration.

 

[DaveReading]

I love the integration with head unit so can see which gear I'm in. Again a lot may not even think of that but I find it useful.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

Anyway, go electronic or not it's an indivdual choice if you have the money. It's not necessary but it's great but battery level anxiety really shouldn't even be a consideration.

The same people who think charging the battery every few months is too much hassle are quite happy to charge their iphone every single night.

 

[scotsbikester]

Your thread title is "Electronic Shifting Thoughts", but in the post you say "Who has tried electronic shifting? Did you think it was worth it?" I haven't actually tried it, but I hope you won't mind me responding with my personal "thoughts", as per the title, even though I haven't tried it.

At the moment I'm not considering it, because:

1. My derailleur bike is a triple, and I think there's no electronic shifting for triples. Or at least only with some sort of hack with old Shimano kit.

2. I built the bike myself, and I quite like having a totally mechanical machine.

3. I've got enough electronic stuff to charge before a ride (front and rear cameras, sports watch, iPhone, lights at night). I think the batteries for electronic shifting don't need charging as frequently, but checking them would be yet another thing to slow down actually getting out of the house on the bike. And if the cameras/iphone/watch go flat, at least I can still ride.

4. My bike is smart, and actually not that old (at least not the frame). But maybe 9 speed shifters, no hydraulics, steel frame, make it look non-flashy to thieves. And that thing of bikes being stripped for parts might be a greater possibility with Di2.

5. I actually like the feel of cable operating gears. Weird, isn't it?

Things that might make me consider electronic shifting:

1. For a while I got a regular twinge in my left hand as I went from middle to outer chainring. I thought the start of arthritis. It seems to have stopped now, or else I've adapted my technique. But at the time I thought - "mmm, maybe time to change to a double and Di2". As I get older and more creaky, this becomes an increasing possibility.

2. I also have hub geared bikes, which is what I started on. But I find the gearing range a bit small. Low isn't low enough, high isn't high enough, in Shimano 8 speed Nexus/Alfine. The 11 speed Alfine would be better range-wise, but reports are that the shifting is very unreliable with mechanical shifters, but is fine with the electronic version.

 

[YMFB]

My road bike came with Di2 Ultegra, absolutely fantastic. I then upgraded my gravel bike from SRAM Apex to SRAM AXS, which I prefer to the Shimano system. The removable rechargeable batteries that SRAM use are more convenient.

 

[NorvernRob]

Had Red eTap for 8 years. A while back I started a ride and got a ‘left shifter battery critical’ warning pop up on my Garmin. Didn’t have a spare with me so cracked on with the thought that if I passed a shop I’d pick one up.

80 miles later it still worked perfectly, so it’s not as if they suddenly run out and leave you in the lurch. I only changed them twice in 8 years.

Never had a low battery warning off the mech batteries, but that’s always likely to be the rear anyway, and worse case you just swap the batteries over.

It’s just so so much better than mechanical. In 8 years I only had to adjust the rear mech once, when I bought some new wheels.

 

[Webbo2]

Had Red eTap for 8 years. A while back I started a ride and got a ‘left shifter battery critical’ warning pop up on my Garmin. Didn’t have a spare with me so cracked on with the thought that if I passed a shop I’d pick one up.

80 miles later it still worked perfectly, so it’s not as if they suddenly run out and leave you in the lurch. I only changed them twice in 8 years.

Never had a low battery warning off the mech batteries, but that’s always likely to be the rear anyway, and worse case you just swap the batteries over.

It’s just so so much better than mechanical. In 8 years I only had to adjust the rear mech once, when I bought some new wheels.

I thought that the front changer used the most power but I guess it depends how often you change chain rings to how soon they run down.

 

[presta]

I saw someone complaining that he'd had to change a worn out part or something, and then found that he couldn't reprogram the gears because they'd stopped talking to his computer.

The same people who think charging the battery every few months is too much hassle are quite happy to charge their iphone every single night.

The longer they go between charges, the more time there is to forget all about them. I've lost count of the number of rechargeable batteries I've written off because they're in something that just sits unused on standby for months until it over discharges the battery. It got to the stage where I was throwing away rechargeables like they were disposables.

I'm not impressed with battery life measured in months either, it needs to be in miles as well. Do they last 500 miles or 5000?

 

[Vapin' Joe]

The longer they go between charges, the more time there is to forget all about them.

The head unit displays battery state and gives you a warning when it is getting low. Running out of battery is on a par with running out of fuel in a car, operator negligence.

I believe the battery can last a full Grand Tour and is mainly dependent on mileage / use.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I saw someone complaining that he'd had to change a worn out part or something, and then found that he couldn't reprogram the gears because they'd stopped talking to his computer.

The longer they go between charges, the more time there is to forget all about them. I've lost count of the number of rechargeable batteries I've written off because they're in something that just sits unused on standby for months until it over discharges the battery. It got to the stage where I was throwing away rechargeables like they were disposables.

I'm not impressed with battery life measured in months either, it needs to be in miles as well. Do they last 500 miles or 5000?

Surely they work by number of changes??

so they would last far longer if you mostly ride on long flat road - and hence do not change much
and far less time if you ride on raods that requires lots of gear change for corners, hills etc etc

Or am I not thinking right about it?

 

[Animo]

Had my Ultegra "hidden" buttons set up to switch the pages on my Wahoo but found I wasn't really using them. Just changed them over to control the rear derailleur. Wow, what a revelation. You can just hold the "aero hoods" position and the buttons sit perfectly where your thumbs are.

 

[Webbo2]

Surely they work by number of changes??

so they would last far longer if you mostly ride on long flat road - and hence do not change much
and far less time if you ride on raods that requires lots of gear change for corners, hills etc etc

Or am I not thinking right about it?

I was told in regard to Shimano lots of front mech changes tends to run the battery down more.
I charged mine up 5 weeks ago and have done about 600 miles and it’s still showing green( charged ) I haven’t looked at what the level is on my Wahoo.
I tend to be charging my head unit about every 10 days.