Years and years ago, (we’re talking early 90’s) I remember hearing rumours of a crazy electric drivetrain. Oh how my cycling buddies and I laughed. “What happens when you cycle through a puddle…”, “what happens when the batteries run flat…”, “the rear mech will cost the same as my whole bike…”.
In 2005 these rumours started to become reality with prototype electric drivetrains cropping up on the bikes of select Shimano Pro Peloton racers. Now almost 20 years after those original whispers and here we are with a fully electric drivetrain from the bicycle component behemoth Shimano.
Named Di2 or e-Dura-Ace, it’s an electronic version of Shimano’s top of the line road bike groupset and by all accounts if freakin’ amazing! Riders familiar with Dual Control levers (pull towards the bar for braking, push perpendicular to the bar for gear shifting) will be instantly comfortable with operating the system as it works in the same way…. except now your shifts are almost instantaneous. Other major benefits over a standard mechanical system is the ability to shift under extreme load (changing gears whilst sprinting or climbing) and the new front shifter. The Di2 front derailleur not only shifts super fast but also trims itself to eliminate chain rub. Wow, imagine never again having to listen to chain rub! Add to that the fact you wont have any cables that need replacing/fray/stab you.
The designers at Shimano have obviously poured a lot of hours into the development of Di2. Technically speaking I think they’ve done a great job but I would have like to have seen a little more visual appeal injected into such a unique groupset. Carbon fibre paired with dark grey anodised aluminum and polished titanium make the parts look extremely high end and goes some way to justifying the price tag (we’ll get into that in a minute) but they dont really jump out and say “I’m special” or “I just spent thousands on these”. Rather they look a little understated when compared to SRAM’s Red Groupset.
The front derailleur houses the “brains” of the system – an ultra compact CPU that not only controls the servo motors in each derailleur but also monitors positioning to trim the chain line perfectly. A wise choice to house the CPU in a place where it is most protected from knocks! The rechargeable Lithium Ion battery pack bolts on to standard water bottle mounts and is surprisingly small and light considering it lasts long enough to supply gear shifts for over 1000km of racing. Overall I reckon a lot of people will dismiss Di2 as a gimmick. “Why change something that isn’t broken”. But this stuff is made for high end competitive cycling, where the difference between winning and losing a 100km race is measured in milliseconds. If you can make a shift faster, smoother and without dropping power, then you’ve got a pretty hefty advantage over that guy racing you to the line.
Before you all rush out and deck your prized race steed with Di2 loveliness think about this – it’s going to set you back over $2000 MORE than the standard Dura-Ace groupset (which is already uber expensive). I bet that antiquated mechanical drive-train you’re currently running starts to look not so bad after all. And what’s cycling without a little chain rub eh!
Check out Di2 here.
Man personally, I love the whole move to electric. It’s just blowing my socks off the designed coming down the pipe that have wheels, batteries and electric motors. Some wicked stuff from companies and some not half bad stuff from DIY types like on Instrucatables.com. I saw one that some kid and his Dad made and It looked amazing. Clean steel frame, gogeous welds and great performance to boot!
Written by: Daniel on December 09th, 2010 at 20:58