Video: programming Shimano's Di2 system

ubercurmudgeon - there speaks a person who has not spent any time with the new technology and in mind view narrow minded, however like arse holes we all have opinions and thankfully we live in a place whereby we can express them.

Electronic shifting is the future, don't care if people like it or not, it is, from my experience electronic shifting brilliant, especially the front, nothing compares to how good the front shift is, the rear on the other hand does not have any real advantage at this stage of its development over manual gears, perhaps the new 11 speed will bring an improvement.

I've never had a mis-shift, a partial shift, never have to trim, can change gear with ease whether seated or standing at full power, its not failed, set-up is fair easier than a manual (once you know how :)), and as the mass market takes hold of it, it will become lighter and cheaper.

Now, lets have internal batteries, smaller and lighter parts and it will be perfect

interestingly, i am of the opposite opinion and also the opposite background to ubercurmudgeon. i have a mechanical engineering background and been riding since the time when cassettes were screw on freewheels.

i love the idea of electronic shifting (and tubeless tyres and disc brakes and, and and). it won't be long before the technology trickles down to more affordable levels.

Whilst I don't disagree with you ubercurnudgeon, I think same sentiment was commonly felt about the introduction of STI shifters..."new fangled nonsense where a well-set up down tube shifter works just fine" etc. I think if the technology improves at the rate it's been doing it'll become pervasive and eventually commonplace. How long that'll take I don't know, but it'll happen quicker than we imagine. And when it does I'll be quite happy to have an up button and a down button...much like a sequential gearbox.

Well said ubercurmudgeon!

I've done my fair share of hacking, having first learnt to program in the 8-bit era. Developing code which elegantly solves a problem is still a genuine pleasure, sadly rarely afforded to me in my professional life. I'm always interested to read about the weird and wonderful things people do with truly disruptive technology like, say, the Raspberry Pi. But this leaves me completely cold. I get far more satisfaction from riding a perfectly set up mechanical bike which I built up myself, than I could ever get from electronic gearing, whether standard or customised. Knowing that, when I smoothly shift across the cassette, it is thanks to my mechanical aptitude, or when there is a minor deficiency that I will be able to figure it out, without having to take it in to a bike shop, or plug it in to a laptop, is something I value. I can see why professional teams would like the plug-and-play nature of electronic gearing. But, it is not an efficient solution for the amateur cyclist. It's a labour-saving device for people with too much money.

Shimano are the Big S, the main reasons being that they are BIG, and their name starts with an 'S"

Isn't the "Big S" generally Specialized, considering that a large "S" is one of their trademarks, and Shimano has not in recent memory used an individual "S" as a mark? Yes, I know there are some who opt to use "Speshy", but that just sounds douchy.

So it won't be long before we all don't have to concern ourselves with the front/back rings, we'll just press a button to go up or down the available gear ratios!