smart gears: the rise of shimano’s di2

Ten years ago, a road cyclist would have just been happy with smooth gears that neatly clicked in place when the lever on a bike’s handlebars were pushed one way or the other. But fast-forward to 2017 and you’d be forgiven for thinking the robots had taken over cycling. Well, at least the groupsets anyway. Digital gearing is well and truly a thing, and is becoming more prevalent in both amateur road bikes and pro bikes alike. The benefits? No metal cables to lube, no gears to index (manually, at least); just effortless shifting via the Xbox-like button shifters on your hoods.

While some manufacturers have gone further – SRAM, for instance, with its wireless shifting, so no need for cables – Shimano has stuck with cables (for now) but has made technological advances elsewhere. All current generation Shimano Di2 gear systems can be hooked up to a mobile or tablet via Bluetooth (or USB on a laptop) and, using the official E-TUBE app, you’re granted access to a seriously smart cycling upgrade: Synchronised Shifting. In full synchro mode, this function has the effect that you only need to use one shifter to change gears throughout the range.

Essentially, the system is semiautomated, and the computer decides the optimum gear for you, from the front and rear derailleur. In semisynchro mode, the computer only shifts the rear derailleur when you shift at the front derailleur. If you don’t like the way the computer is doing things, you can reign it in; the custom option in the app enables you to adjust when and how the system shifts gears, or you can switch back to manual mode.