Any reason against RD only di2 upgrade?

burnthesheep

I've been reading, and it appears that some people find better deals on the parts separately sometimes when upgrading to di2.

If this is true, could you further reduce cost by not doing the FD? Keep the FD mech. I have seen places selling ONLY the right hand or left hand shifter/brake lever. It's not a savings of 1/2, but would save about $50. Then not buying the FD saves another $130.

Also, if it is sometimes cheaper to buy parts separate, you could save money and buy those parts later.

I live somewhere that I might shift into the small ring once every other month. Otherwise I'm in the 50t the entire ride, and it stays there for many rides. If I went to the mountains, sure, but that's maybe 2 rides per year.

Brakeless

One of the nicest things about Di2 is the ease with which you can change at the front.

Matthewfalle

no reason at all not to.

i'm the same as you when using a compact - no fd needed.

Matthewfalle

Brakeless wrote:

One of the nicest things about Di2 is the ease with which you can change at the front.

great. makes all the cost and hassle so worthwhile.

Brakeless

What hassle?

pilot_pete

He doesn’t like it so he belittles it, with opinion...usually of the worthless variety. And watch, he’ll come back again for a dig...

PP

shirley_basso

I kind of agree with brakeless in that there is little point as the FD is the real gem with Di2

Sure it's nice but for flattish rides which it sounds like you're doing it's bit of faff for a fair cost. Have you included wires and junction boxes in your budget?

Maybe spend it on some deep section wheels which could be ideal for where you're riding.

Just putting some ideas out there instead.

If your heart is set on it then yes it is definitely possible to do it. You are able to control the whole gear system from one shifter using synchro shift which automatically shifts the front mech once you get to a certain gear on the rear mech (requires front mech obviously but no RH shifter).

StillGoing

If you're thinking of just upgrading the rear derailleur and shifter to R8050 and keeping the front 6870 its a bit of a waste, but will work. R8050 has the hidden buttons on the hoods allowing you to program them for various uses. Handy when riding on the hoods for scrolling through your computer screens, changing gear, activating lights etc, but you'll not have full use of it. The shifter bodies are different shapes too. There are also some improvements to the FD operation with R8050.

If you plan on going D-Fly, you'll need the new DN110 battery too. You can program the shifter buttons to do various things, for instance, both paddles on my rear change up while both paddles on the front change down, much like eTap. With synchro shifting, the front derailleur shifting is taken care of automatically. In cold weather and think gloves, it means I'm not struggling to hit the right paddle.

If it were me, I'd either go full hog (minus cranks, cassette and brake callipers, as I did) or wait a while until the price drops for R8050. Its still relatively new and expensive.

shirley_basso

I think the OP is currently running mechanical and wants the rear to be electronic, not upgrade across generations of di2

StillGoing

Shirley Basso wrote:

I think the OP is currently running mechanical and wants the rear to be electronic, not upgrade across generations of di2

:shock: Completely missing out on added benefits and abilities of Di2 then.

Beatmaker

I'd rather buy used Di2 than save $180 on a hybrid, half cable, half wired system.

burnthesheep

Good points. Thanks.

I think I should wait it out then.

If I do the full upgrade, it would be with following the method the triathlon guys over in the US do........they set it up so you can swap a TT cockpit over in about 5 minutes.

pippi_langsamer-2

philthy3 wrote:

R8050 has the hidden buttons on the hoods allowing you to program them for various uses. Handy when riding on the hoods for scrolling through your computer screens, changing gear, activating lights etc.

Is this right? I'm using 9070 with the hidden buttons, and I'm sure all they're able to do is scroll thru the computer screens and zoom in or out?

StillGoing

Pippi Langsamer wrote:

philthy3 wrote:

R8050 has the hidden buttons on the hoods allowing you to program them for various uses. Handy when riding on the hoods for scrolling through your computer screens, changing gear, activating lights etc.

Is this right? I'm using 9070 with the hidden buttons, and I'm sure all they're able to do is scroll thru the computer screens and zoom in or out?

You can program them to do the shifting and operate some remote devices such as lights and cameras. R8050 and 9070 must operate the same way? I'm using the R910 junction, but that shouldn't make any difference to anyone using the original A junction as its the eTube app that does the programming.

Scroll through 3:00

https://youtu.be/o9NdWA-Q-pU

https://youtu.be/o9NdWA-Q-pU