whether rear hub or frame mounted, sealed gearboxes make so much better sense than rd's in dh applications. the main hurdle i think is economies of scale; the dh segment is too small for a company to justify the development costs for a narrowly focussed device. products like the new nexus (more durable & refined) may be the way forward, as it can be sold into a variety of applications / markets, at a more reasonable price point.Pretty cool I think, I am still of the opinion that gearboxes will make rear mechs a thing of the past but whether or not progress will continue to be made in that department remains to be seen.
Quoted for truth. I can't afford it, but damn does it work well.I don't think I'll ever have enough money to run di2 on a DH bike, but after playing with it on several road bikes, I sure would love to.
absofrigginlutely...in an age where electronics can do practically everything, what's not to like? maybe battery life, but we have cars, phones, mp3 players, etc. that are long life and rechargeable.I'd bet all of you would be running these if they were the same price as normal shifters.
Transmitting the power from the battery to the der. (to make the shifts...) would be an issue without a wire. You could most likely have the shifter wireless but it would require more fiddily bits and weight. I'm sure Shimano looked at all the angles when designing this; they aren't exactly a fly-by night operation after all.meh, i still see a wire, wireless or nothing...
I could see one of these in a Honda-type gear-box. Speaking of which, could someone explain to me why that design was never taken up? Seemed like sheer genius to me: a cogset and derailleur inside the gear box... simple to maintain and light!whether rear hub or frame mounted, sealed gearboxes make so much better sense than rd's in dh applications. the main hurdle i think is economies of scale; the dh segment is too small for a company to justify the development costs for a narrowly focussed device. products like the new nexus (more durable & refined) may be the way forward, as it can be sold into a variety of applications / markets, at a more reasonable price point.
selling heaps of disposable dangly derailleurs & cogsets is good business however; i can understand the resistance to evolve.
The battery goes about 1000 miles between charges. Wonder how long that is in DH terms? My guess is a long, long time.I can´t go riding today. Forgot to charge my bike
Cool thing to experiment with though.
Exactly, and its not like you cant pack another battery???The battery goes about 1000 miles between charges. Wonder how long that is in DH terms? My guess is a long, long time.
and roadies shift more often...The battery goes about 1000 miles between charges. Wonder how long that is in DH terms? My guess is a long, long time.
What the rep said was that the Athertons didn't like the shifters because they didn't make any noise, so it just kind of messed with their heads since they didn't have that audible feedback to know that the shift had been made. The shifters themselves worked flawlessly, but I think it takes some getting used to, especially when you're a high level racer who is used to things working in a very specific way.i was at Diablo last year and a Shimano rep was there giving out surveys. got to bs about stuff, and he mentioned the Athertons were testing a DH version of the di2, and they didnt like it. something about the feel of the shifting. so they scrapped the idea.