Always on—the plight of the humble gear cable

I think the Government should cancel all new road building and transfer the money saved to the 'road maintenance' budget, specifically that allocated to local councils rather than to centrally-funded trunk roads. Our minor roads - those best for cycling - are a disgrace and certainly reduce the pleasure of cycling. Nobody wants to commute with the bump-bump-bump of many of our roads. Why should they?

And for Government to every now and then announce a new allocation for 'fixing potholes' is hardly a strategic road maintenance programme (how many potholes does it take to make a road?). Let's get back to the continental standard of road building and maybe enjoy their level of cycle usage.

Of course, separate cycle lanes (properly surfaced) are much better but not always possible.

My carbon road bike, I installed Di2 on there. It's great. I was always adjusting my ultegra gears, and sometimes they'd let me down on a gear change; not what you want sprinting away from the lights ahead of cars!
I have a boardman MTB with SRAM X0 group set. No issues there. When there was chaos on the roads due to snow, I quickly changed the tyres to the fattest I had, and had great fun passing the stuck traffic, got to my important appointment and back on time.
I like Di2 because it allows me to be efficient and consistent. I don't need that for messing around in the park with the kids.
I've always liked bikes, and things always change. It's all good. However If I decided to cycle around the world, I wouldn't do if on a di2 equipped bike. Just common sense really.

Several years ago my bike computer stopped working

I've never got around to replacing it, and I now just enjoy the freedom of the road and buzzing of my hub as I swish down the hills.

I feel back in touch with myself, I'm not stressing about average speed, heart rates or anything else, just enjoying the effort and sensations as the scenery rushes past.

Cycling is an amazing way to get around

personally i dont see electronic shifting ever completely replacing mechanical shifting just like cd's/mp3 hasn't completely replaced vinyl records

some people will just always prefer mechanical shifting

now i run shimano di2 on both my road bikes and i dont think id ever go back to mechanical shifting on a roadbike (my only other geared bike is a 1992 hardrock mtb)

di2 has no fuss, once its set up thats it, works in all weather (-10 and snowing to pissing with rain and being submerged in deep puddles)

as for the argument that what if i forget to charge the battery

1. the front mech will stop working first, the rear will carry on going for quite a few more shifts (like 50+)

2. the control box has a battery indicator, hold down the shift button for two secs and it displays the battery power, easy thing to check when you do your pre ride bike check/get your gear ready for your ride, a full charge is good for over 1500 miles so u only need to charge 2-3 times a year

3. if you are a complete tool/muppet and manage to fully flatten the battery then the drivetrain will just stay in the pre selected gear, so you can ride it home quite easily (campag u can disengage the mech and select the gear u want)

4.the battery only takes 1.5 hours to fully charge and if your that worried buy a spare for under £50

i commute around 5k a year using di2 plus i do another 2-3k on my nice di2 bike

ive been using di2 since 2012 so im very experienced with the system and i love it!

i have run the system down fully to see what would happen and even then when it wont shift if u dont try to shift for 5 mins you get limited shift back for around 4-5 shifts allowing u to select a better gear to get back home

the whole "if the battery runs out im stranded" argument is a pretty poor one in my eyes

hoping to upgrade to super record eps soon so will have a good play with that system too!

This has the potential to free me and all the other reluctant roadside (pub side) mechanics from the infuriating drudgery of having to adjust the gears on the bikes of other people who do not properly maintain their steeds. You know the ones, the ones who are far too busy with work to drop their bike off at the shop and get it sorted, the ones who bitch and moan about not being able to keep up because of gear issues, the ones who buy the most recent and expensive kit but never learn how it works. Thank you for this marvellous invention that means when the batteries go flat the must have show off's will have no other option than to wait roadside for their grumpy wives to rescue them while the real men, get on with the business of riding and drinking! Real men do not need electronic gear shifting, hip hip hoooo *ucking ray.

The Glendevon road is okay but it's nothing next to the road up and over to Dunning, if my memory is correct. That downhill to Dunning runs for about 3 hours!

There will always be some who like draw a line at an arbitrary point in time and say 'this represents perfection for me, I want no more technology, no more developments'. They will then pour a lot of energy into justifying why they're right.

It's the same with cameras, cars, hi-fi, music, art...........

For me, it's easier to be flexible and accept technology I want/can afford for some of the time and leave the wooden rims, toe clips and woolen jerseys for special occasions.

Useful, reliable technology will tend to endure and other developments will not stand the test of time. Thankfully, Mavic's alloy rims replaced wood and endured otherwise 'Muckoff' would be producing linseed oil

cables fray and brake. to keep your electronic shifting working well, you have to charge it every few thousand miles. same with your derailleur cables. maintenance is maintenance, just on different parts and if you dont take care of your bike, you will get stranded at some point

I'm still running mechanical, and probably will be for some time, but can't help but feel attracted to the idea of fault free shifting every time and consistently perfect indexing as there is no cable stretch etc. but, really these are just conveniences. Nice conveniences, but conveniences.
I have a friend who was a plumber; he had to stop plumbing due to problems with his hands but, due to recent technological advances, he is still riding his bicycle

I don't have an issue with electronic shifting, but the price kills me. Athena EPS or Super Record wired? Simple choice, that.

Electronic shifting seems like technology for technology's sake in my opinion.

If I'm ever let down by my drivetrain it is invariably because of a problem with a derailier, not with a cable. It's usually due to the derailier being full of mud and grass but bashing/bending derailiers or hangers is also a bit of a weak point (I should add at this point that my geared bike is for CX and I'm also drawing on the experience of friends with MTBs).

Electronic shifting may have benefits for world-class pros, but for us mere mortals it seems like more trouble than its worth. If any part of the conventional shifting system needs to be engineered out its the fragile and muck-afflicted derailiers themselves.

Dr.Galactus wrote:

abudhabiChris wrote:

My objection to electric shifting is that it undermines the whole principle of riding a bike.

A bicycle is a human powered vehicle. Once you introduce electric shifting you've replaced human power with external power. It's not a bike any more.

Charge the shifters with a dynamo, problem solved?

Once this tech is mature and power consumption is down to a trickle of microwatts all you'll need is a small solar cell with battery back up on the shifters and a generator hooked up to the top jockey wheel on the rear to charge both derailers. Use capacitors rather than batteries to store the charge, less of an aging effect especially if you over spec a little.

Remember the slide ruler? Or seen the soroban being used in shops all over Japan (at least in the 70s)? These completely mechanical calculators provided real gymnastics for the mind and should be reintroduced at elementary schools before youths "upgrade" to electronic ones; if well taught, they are actually fun to use.

The parallel does not extend to cycling. I too love the concept of all mechanical - my 4 bikes are - but I am a true believer in cycling as a solution for urban mass transport and pollution. Here, electronics will deliver by convincing the chain & lube & all things mechanical adverse to take the step. Check the rise and rise of the pedelec in Holland and Germany. And here we sportive cyclists play a humble role by paying for high end electronics so that they can trickle down a few generations later. But I am still not up to it...

And the best bit? Shimano electronic gears default to 53 x 11 if the battery fails. Spirit of the V!!

Electronic shifting is using pre-stored energy, and that the rider didn't even produce!

Unless you are talking about professional racing (where the governing bodies presumably can agree whatever slightly-abitrary rules about equipment that they wish) I don't get the philosophical objections about direct relationships between man and machine. I don't really care, and in any case whether its mechanical or electronic its still physics! Its not magic.

The practical objection seems more to the point to me - one more thing where batteries going flat could ruin your day. For that reason alone I think I'd rather stick with mechanical cables.

WiFLiWiFi

Some people just love old obsolete stuff.
Which means that as Di2 does become mainstream and price has dropped a lot, there will be some mighty cheap cable deraillieurs going.

There's nothing I love more than borrowing my dad's 1970's Sun Solo and pootling along, loving the five-speed block and downtube shifters.

I can understand that. I get the same simple mechanical pleasure from using my dad's 1953 Leica camera. Nothing electric in it, no batteries to die, no contacts to fail; it just keeps soldiering on.

Good article

Each to their own but unlike clipless pedals or other great inventions, I cant recall ever going on a ride and thinking damn, I wish I had electronic shifting. That's my measure and until that changes I'll be cabled up.

Lets not forgot the worse case scenario.
Hitting the deck drive side (isn't it always the way) is bad enough and costly. hitting the desk drive side with electronic shifting = national debt of uganda

I agree with abudhabiChris. By introducing systems to a bike that are powered by a battery we are losing the direct relationship between man and machine.

I don't mind if others use them, good luck to them. But I like that direct feel, the ability to fix on the go, and the simplicity.

I also have an old downtube shifter bike in the collection, agree, it's a joy to ride.

I too think its step too far and over complicates the basic function of the machine.

One of my frames is so old it was built for a rod front changer as they hadn't invited cables yet.

Lets face it, bicycles are a mature technology and we are really only farting about with tiny changes and almost everything has a negative effect as well as positive.

My objection to electric shifting is that it undermines the whole principle of riding a bike.

A bicycle is a human powered vehicle. Once you introduce electric shifting you've replaced human power with external power. It's not a bike any more.

In a race that could be the difference between someone so badly affected by cold they aren't able to change gear and someone who is strong enough or hard enough to do it - the difference between winning and losing perhaps.

Why is there a difference between that and some form of power assistance to my wheels or chain? No that's ridiculous you say, it's a clear line.

But what if it was power that I had produced from braking, or from excess power on flats and descents which was stored, the way KERS works in F1 racing. It's my power, I'm just using it later.

I think the UCI should never have approved it. It's wrong. I'm not luddite - I have a power meter, bike computer and all that stuff, but none of it helps me actually ride the bike.