- Shimano were not the first
to release electronic groupsets,
when Di2 was launched back in 2009.
But it's fair to say, they were the first
to actually get it right.
And here we are, now riding the latest and greatest Di2,
the third generation.
And what has actually changed?
And how did we even get here?
(calming music)
Let's start back at the beginning then shall we.
Shimano released their first generation,
Dura-Ace 7970, to an initially skeptical public.
Why put electronics on a bike,
when mechanical was already so efficient?
But fortunately for us, Shimano had realized
the limits of mechanical.
It was inconsistent for a start.
It's open to user error.
And its performance can degrade in poor conditions.
And also, your shifting options are inherently limited.
So, they set about their work.
And according to Shimano it took them four years
to create that first generation.
But they weren't actually starting from scratch.
They had already got Di2, for town bikes.
They called it Smover, and while ultimately
it didn't really catch on,
what they had created was internal gear shifting.
It was electronically activated.
And it even had an automatic function
Now it's a far cry from the Dura-Ace that we know and love,
but what Smover did do, was ultimately create
a knowledge base within Shimano, about electronics.
The 7970 quickly changed perceptions,
of just what an electronic groupset could do.
So all fears about weatherproofing and battery life
and reliability, all completely disappeared.
Dura-Ace Di2 worked.
And it was here to stay.
Dura-Ace 9070 followed up four years later.
It was launched at the same time that Shimano
also refreshed the mechanical groupset.
And the changes to Di2, were pretty significant.
Firstly, and perhaps most importantly for those people
that were still skeptical about electronic groupsets,
now Di2 weighed less than mechanical Dura-Ace.
In order to do that, they'd stripped out 170 grams
from that first generation, part of which could
be attributed to the fact
that the external battery was now internal.
Housed inside the frame.
And then, they'd also launched E-Tube, which is the ability
to connect up your Di2 to your PC,
and then customize its functionality.
So you could speed up shifts, or slow them down.
Change what the buttons did.
And indeed, turn on or off the multi-shift function,
which was also new to that generation.
Now for the nerds out there, the way they did this,
was by changing it to a PLC system, which stands
for Power Line Communication.
And basically what that meant, was that both energy
and information could now pass along the same cable.
And Shimano said they always anticipated that Di2
would be upgradeable, customizable, and also programmable.
And E-Tube allowed that.
(calming music)
Which brings us up to here, the Dura-Ace R9150 groupset.
Now a lot has changed.
We've got a new crank.
We've got the first ever Shimano power meter.
Even the way the rear derailleur attaches
to the frame has changed, and the fact
that it now accommodates an 11 to 30 cassette.
But, what about the Di2 parts?
Well, the previously only exposed part of Di2
on the last groupset, which was the junction box,
has now been hidden.
Away in the frame in a dedicated port,
or in fact in the end of your handlebars.
Now these ones from PRO are actually
dedicated specifically to Di2.
They have a little port on the back there
for the cable to escape.
And that all up, means the whole groupset
looks a lot cleaner.
And indeed we're told, it's more aerodynamic, thanks in part
to a lot of pressure from one particular world tour team.
A world tour team that's keen on marginal gains.
I'm not sure you can guess which one.
Then the whole groupset is also more connected as well.
There was an interim upgrade
between version two and version three, that allowed you
to then connect up your Di2,
to third party devices via AMP Plus.
So we're talking like Garmin Head Units here.
And that connectivity is here on the 9150 groupset,
but, there is also Bluetooth connectivity as well.
So what that means, is that you are now able
to connect up to your Di2, using your phone or a tablet.
Which means that with the new E-Tube app,
you can customize it to your heart's content.
Then there's also a semiautomatic shifting functioned,
called Synchro Shift.
So when you switch it on, it effectively means
that you don't have to think about your front derailleur.
Your Di2 controls it for you, shifting from your little ring
to your big ring and back again, as it seems fit.
Now my initial fear is that this
would lead the front derailleur to shift far more
then I ever would normally,
were actually completely unfounded.
Because, instead of using all 22 gears sequentially,
what it does is it instead uses 15 or so
of your most efficient gears.
So effectively, when you're in the smallest sprockets
at the back, you will be in your big ring.
And then as you shift up the cassette, when it gets
to a certain point, it will then decide
that you need to be in your little ring.
And so you will find that when you use the larger sprockets
at the back, that's the ring that you will be in.
Believe it or not, this kind
of best shifting practice actually ends up saving you watts.
Reasonably significant watts as well.
There is also a semi-synchronized option, which means
that a front shift results in an automatic correction shift
at the back of maybe one or two sprockets,
depending on how you choose to set it up.
But perhaps one of the biggest shifts,
if you pardon the pun, in this latest groupset,
is the move to hydraulics.
This is the first Dura-Ace level groupset
to have dedicated hydraulic disc brakes.
And that is a pretty significant moment.
And it is at this point,
where perhaps we might of start wondering what comes next.
What is generation four of Di2 going to look like?
Well I put this question to Shimano's engineers.
And having just spent four years working their butts off
to bring this one to the market, they were understandably
not too happy about going down that route.
But they did have one very perceptive observation,
and that is that the very nature of road riding
is starting to change.
The roads that we ride on are becoming ever more versatile.
And the bikes that we use for it are following suit.
And even the fact that Dura-Ace
is unashamedly a racing level groupset.
They pointed out that races themselves are also changing,
with ever more farm tracks, or cobbles, or gravel sections.
And so perhaps, the next generation of Di2,
is going to be going down this route.
For more videos about Shimano's Dura-Ace groups,
and indeed any tech in cycling,
the first thing you should probably do is subscribe to GCN.
To do that, just click on the globe.
And that way, you will also be in the right place,
for any forthcoming videos.
But if you are after another video right now
about Shimano Dura-Ace, we were there at the very launch.
And if you want to see that video, click just up there.
Or for a first ride of the mechanical Dura-Ace, which is
in itself something of a masterpiece, click just up there.