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Shimano 2008 electronic shifting.....
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Wow. Makes me like my single speed even more. I gave up when my STI push/push mountain stuff went south back in the days of seven speed. 1992 if I remember. I put on some new thumbshifters. Rode bar cons for 14 years on my roadie, bought a Campy ride with Ergo, and about a year later rebuilt the shifters. Easy enough but shoud be easly fixed in design of retainer. Shimano's STI stuff works just like the first MTB parts I tried, well for a while then you replace it at considerable cost. Ive been done with the bike parts arms race, but it's fun to watch.
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My guess........
is that it's the result of the following:
1.) The "Arms Race". Innovate or die. Shimano is facing additional competition and needs to stay ahead.
2.) More and more gears will require more and more precision as shifting tolerances get tighter & tighter. Electronics may help this.
3.) Because they can.
I actually have no idea what they are thinking, I'm just guessing. As you can see on the Serotta link, there is much debate there by people much more knowledgable than me as to the benefits of this.
Interesting to watch.
The amazing part to me is that it is much further along with, up until now, very little press.
Len
is that it's the result of the following:
1.) The "Arms Race". Innovate or die. Shimano is facing additional competition and needs to stay ahead.
2.) More and more gears will require more and more precision as shifting tolerances get tighter & tighter. Electronics may help this.
3.) Because they can.
I actually have no idea what they are thinking, I'm just guessing. As you can see on the Serotta link, there is much debate there by people much more knowledgable than me as to the benefits of this.
Interesting to watch.
The amazing part to me is that it is much further along with, up until now, very little press.
Len
Thank God I stocked up on eight-speed stuff
Call me a retro-grouch, but does anybody think this is more than a marketing ploy? It's going to cost a ton of money to shift (maybe) 2 percent better than existing stuff WHEN IT WORKS, which isn't going to be always. Even the argument that we'll need more precision as the number of gears increases is bogus, because we don't need more speeds than we already have.
I'm going to keep my eyes open for one more eight-speed cassette, and then I should have enough to last me the rest of my life.
Call me a retro-grouch, but does anybody think this is more than a marketing ploy? It's going to cost a ton of money to shift (maybe) 2 percent better than existing stuff WHEN IT WORKS, which isn't going to be always. Even the argument that we'll need more precision as the number of gears increases is bogus, because we don't need more speeds than we already have.
I'm going to keep my eyes open for one more eight-speed cassette, and then I should have enough to last me the rest of my life.
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428 Posts
One of the great things about bicycles is everyone and anyone can fix/repair/build a bike. I don't see how this will be an option with electronic shifting in the picture. that is the biggest misfortune about electronic shifting, i see.
I would think it makes more sense to move away from our current chain dimensions into new realms that allow more gears and better shifting options then to go electronic.
I didn't think Shimano could make an uglier shifter. Man, was I wrong.
I would think it makes more sense to move away from our current chain dimensions into new realms that allow more gears and better shifting options then to go electronic.
I didn't think Shimano could make an uglier shifter. Man, was I wrong.
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10,503 Posts
What I don't get...
Is why they would choose to keep the goofy swing levers and big chunky uncomfortable hoods. If it's electronic, toss a couple of buttons where the equally goofy FliteDeck buttons are supposed to go (or better yet, on the front of the drops just under the hood, where they could be reached from hoods and drops) and give us a hood shaped like they should be for a change.
I know it's not the rumor, but the first look at this gear made me think "hydraulic" rather than "electronic." Not sure why, and I couldn't think of a reason to try to do it that way, either.
All this worrying about batteries is for naught. All they need to do is include a dynamo in the front hub, to guarantee that you need to buy the wheelset from them as well. But that won't happen. Shimano would never strive to lock in sales of unreliable, unneeded equipment.
Is why they would choose to keep the goofy swing levers and big chunky uncomfortable hoods. If it's electronic, toss a couple of buttons where the equally goofy FliteDeck buttons are supposed to go (or better yet, on the front of the drops just under the hood, where they could be reached from hoods and drops) and give us a hood shaped like they should be for a change.
I know it's not the rumor, but the first look at this gear made me think "hydraulic" rather than "electronic." Not sure why, and I couldn't think of a reason to try to do it that way, either.
All this worrying about batteries is for naught. All they need to do is include a dynamo in the front hub, to guarantee that you need to buy the wheelset from them as well. But that won't happen. Shimano would never strive to lock in sales of unreliable, unneeded equipment.
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608 Posts
> Is why they would choose to keep the goofy swing levers and big chunky
> uncomfortable hoods.
There is a new trend in Japanese product design to make things that are ugly (see some new Japanese cars). Seems like Shimano was a very early adopter of this philosophy and is determined to remain at the forefront. Those levers are even more fugly than usual.
> uncomfortable hoods.
There is a new trend in Japanese product design to make things that are ugly (see some new Japanese cars). Seems like Shimano was a very early adopter of this philosophy and is determined to remain at the forefront. Those levers are even more fugly than usual.
Just f-ing great
Thanks Campy, thanks dumb-asses willing to buy this crap. We'll need a f-ing P I N number in the future just to ride these electro-wonders. Enough already. How many coaches will be on the side lines with a little hand held gizmo jamming the opponant's shifting systems to give their riders an upper hand?
Thanks Campy, thanks dumb-asses willing to buy this crap. We'll need a f-ing P I N number in the future just to ride these electro-wonders. Enough already. How many coaches will be on the side lines with a little hand held gizmo jamming the opponant's shifting systems to give their riders an upper hand?
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Source of the pics are from
http://www.cyclingtime.com/
http://www.cyclingtime.com/
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Looks like the traffic took the cyclingtime server down.
As I remember it (since I can't see it now) I thought there was a cable coming out from under the bar tape that wasn't for brakes, and I assumed that it went down to the fd unit.
I didn't see a traditional cable going into the rd - whatever that connection was, it was bent too sharply to be a normal control cable. At the same time, it was bigger than it would need to be to move electrons... That's what had me imagining hydraulics.
As I remember it (since I can't see it now) I thought there was a cable coming out from under the bar tape that wasn't for brakes, and I assumed that it went down to the fd unit.
I didn't see a traditional cable going into the rd - whatever that connection was, it was bent too sharply to be a normal control cable. At the same time, it was bigger than it would need to be to move electrons... That's what had me imagining hydraulics.
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