On Friday, July 12, 2019 at 11:54:54 AM UTC-7, Tom Evans wrote:
On 12/07/2019 18:09, Frank Krygowski wrote:


My concern is that unlike mechanical systems, electronics are a black box. I can
look at a conventional derailleur system and figure out what's wrong with it.
Usually I can fix it with very simple tools, even out on the road.


I normally do all my own bike stuff. However twice this decade I have
had to get shift levers replaced. They seem impossible to me to fix.

So I can't really see that electronic is that big a change from where we
are now.

I can't do that with my cell phone, my TV or even my TV remote, my CD player,
etc. They're reliable, but when they're not, they usually need replacement. I
wouldn't want that to happen to my shifters when I was 30 miles from home.

As long a you can set them to a specific gear its not much different
from having to tie a broken gear cable to the frame, which I think I
have had to do in the past

They don't supply any repair parts for Ultegra or DuraAce beyond levers and beauty caps. And they are EXPENSIVE.

You can get repair parts for Campy while the shifters are being built. As soon as production halts you have to hope that some distributor stocked some. And you have to buy or manufacture the assembly tools required.