In my last post a briefly mentioned that last year the cycling world was introduced to the first electronic shifters and derailleurs. This offering came from the largest bike component manufacture Shimano and I must admit that mine as well as much of the bike world thought of it to be little more than a gimmick. Well my eyes have been opened.
This past weekend I had the privilege of playing around with Shimano's Di2 drivetrain and it was incredible. First the obvious is the shifting was effortless and smooth every time. A minor click of the button followed by a pleasant home of an electronic servo and bam you’re in your new gear. The not so obvious though is the stealthy shifting that can be done prior to attacking in a race. In the past as a rider shifting caused so much noise it could be a dead giveaway that you were about to attack. What amazed me the most though was the ability to shift under full power. On a typical cable controlled drivetrain you have to back off the pedaling slightly to make clean shifts this can be particularly difficult when cresting a major hill and trying to find big gear to roar down the other side. All to often a missed shift of this nature can result in thrown or broken chains and leave standing at the side of the road as the racers stream by. Not with Di2 thanks to the power of the electronic motors in the derailleurs you can be mashing the gears as hard as you want depress the shifter button the chain will move from one gear to the next with ease. What does this mean for the rider with Di2, well it means while the rest of the group is backing off the gas your putting the pedal to the metal and making the winning break.
To say I stand corrected is an understatement from my original opinion of electronic shifting. I now want this stuff not because it is cool but because I see it as a technological advantage. Oh and for those still trying to find potential faults with the system like weight, battery life etc. Let me say that it weights 65 grams more than the lightest drivetrain made by Shimano, and the battery has been lasting in excess of 1000 miles.
