DI2 Depression.

[Wahine]

A friend just bought a new bike with DI2 and I feel like someone has just told me that there is no Santa Clause. I realize that I'm probably over reacting in most people's eyes but the purist in me objects strongly to a motor on a bike. I get it. It's slick, it's the new thing, it's what the pros are using and Shimano has done a hell of a job with it's marketing. But it's still a motor. It still replaces some of the mechanical effort of the rider to make the bike perform and I'm not OK with that. I'm really not.

Go ahead and put a motor on your bike, but don't pretend it's the same as a fully human propelled bike, because it's not.

What is the world coming to.

Rant over, thank you for listening.

[WindingRoad]

I relate Wahine. It seems like its taking away an element of simplicity that I too value in my bikes.

[Owlie]

In some ways, I agree with you.

It's a cool toy, and the engineering is interesting. (That might be because I'm dating an engineer.) The programmable shifting is neat. Would I buy it? No. I can't remember to charge my cell phone. How would I remember to charge my bike? I like the feedback and the feel of mechanical shifters too.

You kids get off my lawn.

[OakLeaf]

The minute they started with indexed shifting, there went the neighborhood.

[Wahine]

The minute they started with indexed shifting, there went the neighborhood.

Hee hee. Well at least index shifting is still a mechanical process without an external power source assist.

[Wahine]

You kids get off my lawn.

LOL! Exactly!!

[Eden]

No. I can't remember to charge my cell phone. How would I remember to charge my bike? I.

yup.... I can't remember to charge my cell phone and my Garmin is always running out of battery life in the middle of a ride..... it would be pretty bad if my shifting ran out of batteries too....

[nuliajuk]

To be fair, it doesn't replace much of the effort. I just don't see the point of it, mainly. It doesn't take that much longer to use a shift lever. I suppose if you're riding the Vuelta or some other major race with extremely fast competitors it makes a difference, but I can't see that it adds much except weight for us average non-racing riders.

I suppose we all have our tipping point when it comes to new technology. Some people think there's no need to put shifters anywhere but on a down-tube, and what do you need clipless pedals for when there are perfectly good toe clips and straps? And some do away with gearing altogether and think a single fixed is all you need. What I find interesting is that the retro purists are most often people who were too young to have ever used their chosen technology when it was new. Riders who are in their 70s embrace brifters and carbon fibre bikes enthusiastically, or at least my husband and his former clubmates do.

[smilingcat]

nahhh its all hype me think.

More expensive thing to buy and more ways to separate you and your money. When index shifting first came out, I turned it off or disabled it. I hate adjusting index shifting. It has to be sooo right or else.

And I guess I wont say anything about an electric assist velomobile.

[Wahine]

And I guess I wont say anything about an electric assist velomobile.

This is going to seem really weird but I'm actually OK with an electronic assist velomobile. I'm assuming you mean motocycle. They aren't trying to be bicycles.

As for bikes that have motor assist on them to help with hills etc, I'm good with those too. I actually love them they get people out riding that wouldn't otherwise, especially where I live (it's super hilly). It's the only way a lot of mom's can commute whith their kids in a trailer or do the gorceries and I'm all for fewer cars on the road. But again, it's not trying to pretend to be a regular bicycle.

As for DI2 being a trend. I hope so. Being electronic with a battery (which is not environmentally friendly to produce or dispose of) I expect it to stop working or become annoying at some time and I really hope that people don't then just throw it away and replace it with a new set up every 2 years or whenever the new shiny thing comes out. What a waste. This bothers me.

But then, I should recognize that we live in a world where that is the norm. Most people get a new phone every 2 years, TVs, whatever. I'm unusual in how long I hold on to things. Heck, this lap top I'm on is at least 6 years old now.

[thekarens]

I guess I don't see the problem. Ultimately the legs determine how fast you are and if someone doesn't like Di2 they shouldn't get it. No one is forced to. Yes, the pros use it, which makes it popular, but that's true of a lot of things in cycling.

[Catrin]

+100 on what Wahine said. It really isn't the same thing as a traditional bicycle, and if someone wants one then that is fine - but it can't and shouldn't be compared with a full person-powered bicycle. I think they are great to help those get out who may not be otherwise able to ride. BTW, I also love a manual transmission - but that isn't related

[Crankin]

I kind of agree about the E bikes. Good for people who wouldn't otherwise be out there, and maybe parents lugging kids and groceries up big hills. One day as DH was commuting to work last spring, some guy dressed in street clothes passed him going up a hill. DH sprinted to catch him and the guy told him it was an e bike. Not fair, at all. In this case, it didn't matter, but still. The guy did not have any disabilities, either (he told DH this). Not sure about the DI2. I'll never get them, for sure. At one time, I could have seen DH wanting them, but not now. It does not seem fair, as Wahine says, to allow them in races, where not everyone has this technology. But, I am not sure how much easier it makes the shifting and how that translates to seconds shaved off of race time. I know how important this is, from my son's brief racing career, but again, a lot of people can't afford it.

[pll]

I don't buy the 'it's not fair, not everyone has the technology' argument on DI2. There is LOTS that people don't have (and cannot afford) and is allowed in races on the same footing: lighter bikes, nice carbon wheels, amazing TT bikes, properly fit bikes, components that are higher grade than others. Some even race with powermeters and heart rate monitors, aero skin suits, aero helmets. I won't go on. I don't see a fundamental problem with electronic shifting in this dimension -- the playing field isn't level already. Electronic shifting does not propel the bike and, at the end, a strong rider in a clunker can drop the fanciest equipment ridden by a bad rider.

[nuliajuk]

...Electronic shifting does not propel the bike and, at the end, a strong rider in a clunker can drop the fanciest equipment ridden by a bad rider.

Yup. At the Pan Am games in Winnipeg in 1999, a Cuban rider on an old steel Colnago track bike won the men's kilo on the track. The second place rider was on a state of the art carbon fibre wind-tunnel tested wonder-bike. The rumour was that it had cost his association almost $20000 to develop.