While I hate reading platitudes in bike equipment reviews like, “This is a game changer” or “best (insert whatever here) ever”, this best describes how I feel about the Shimano Ultegra DI2 electronic shifting. Like most people who first heard about using batteries to run bicycle drivetrains, especially mountain bikers, I was incredulous about the benefits versus the detriments of such a system. In a traditional sense, one of the many beautiful aspects of cycling is that it is free from technological constraints, yet ironically, we yearn year to year for the newest innovations from the industry so we can ride lighter, faster and more efficient bikes. Bikes basically have looked the same for a hundred years, yet it is packed full of modern engineering and manufacturing, so when the idea of electronic drivetrains came to light, the misoneists went on a hysterical rant whilst fondling their Garmin and updating their Strava.

After having many discussions with fellow cyclists about the positives and negatives of the DI2 system, I decided that the best way to settle the dispute was for me to actually buy a bike with such a system and test it out in a single sample size experiment. While I was eager to try out the new DI2 XTR system for mountain bikes, it was unavailable at the time. But, when the opportunity for me to obtain a cyclocross bike with Ultegra DI2, hydraulic disc brakes and carbon frame and fork came up from Opus, I immediately took it. To be honest, I have been eyeing this bike all summer as I was impressed that such a well built bike was a stock option considering that Devinci and Rocky Mountain seemed to be going with a conservative build within their cross lineup.

Out of the box, the Opus Stelle 1.0 had the looks that immediately made people look for adjectives which would describe an ugly baby: Unique, interesting or whatever. Well, whatever the looks or lack there of, I was more excited about the battery, modules and robotic noises of the electronic system. All you have to do to get the system working is to plug it in just like any other computerized toy in the house via its USB connector that plugs into the module placed underneath the stem. That’s it. I started to push the buttons and the derailleurs simply started to move. I didn’t have to connect it to the computer and program it like The Matrix, although with the Shimano software, which I have not bothered to download, you can adjust all the settings your heart desires. I find that I’d rather live in ignorance and just enjoy the simple pleasures of button shifting.

The buttons corresponded exactly like the mechanical system where the right shifter controls the rear derailleur and the left controls the front, so the system was very intuitive from the start if you are familiar with the mechanical system (You can totally change the button functions if you want to, but I don’t know why) Once riding, the system was essentially fluid and precise, just like advertised. A click of whatever button you press, the system just moves the chain to where it’s supposed to go, and I know it sounds obvious, but there has been many times where I tried to shift and it didn’t do what it was suppose to do. The brilliance is in the front shifting, the bane of my existence. I hated its poor reliability and performance. I can’t tell you how many times I looked down in vain as the front derailleur refused to move that chain up or down on the desired ring. With one easy push of a button, the front derailleur moved that chain up or down with stoic authority. I would guess that the DI2 shifting will add to our need for immediate gratification, but I will not feel guilty about enjoying the expedience of bicycle shifting.

After racing half the ABA cyclocross season so far, I think I put the system through a solid enough testing session. The results have been a resounding positive experience with no dropped chains, missed shifts or even delayed shifts. I had to only charge my battery once during the 6 weeks of riding, and that includes commuting, training and racing. I haven’t found any negatives in having an electronic system so far, and I’m sure something will come up as nothing is infallible, but even so, the positives will far exceed the negatives. Bring on the wireless electronic systems and the brain chips.

Most people spend a cold snowy evening drinking hot chocolate cuddled up with a loved one next to a fireplace watching a nameless Jennifer Lopez romantic comedy, and I am no exception.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any hot chocolate, I have this pathetic electric fireplace that blows fake paper flames like a Gillian’s Island campfire and I won’t bore you with stories of my floundering personal life, so I spend my nights scouring the interweb for cool and interesting cycling things to covet for the next 6 months until spring.  Here are a few things that I can’t wait to try out next year:

Dropper seatpost:

I can remember when the mere mention of a dropper seatpost at the shop would set you up for an earful of vitriolic derision like “Learn how to descend better, loser”, “Do you want training wheels with that?” or “Is your mother learning how to mountain bike?”  I personally would love to see my mom on a mountain bike so I didn’t see the point of disparaging mothers along with dropper seatposts, but I digress.  We didn’t understand why any self respecting mountain biker would want one as most of us local Edmonton cyclists can clean all the technical descents, and if we were doing anything else like chairlift or shuttle access downhilling, we just rode our downhill bikes with a low saddle height and 8 inches of travel.  Very few people have them locally, but reading the general reviews online, it made me understand some of the inherent benefits of a dropper seatpost, especially the remote actuated ones.

The first misconception I learned is that they are not used to help clean a decent, but to help you do them faster.  Sure, having a lowered saddle will position your body with a lower center of gravity to stay in more control thus helping you with completing the downhill section, but it’s really about being able to do it faster.  If you come up to a steep technical section and your saddle is at the normal pedaling height, you may have to brake a bit more because if you hit something and your center of gravity is high, you have a greater chance of going over your handlebar.  With a dropper seatpost, you can attack a downhill with more speed without stopping to lower it manually.

Second, a dropper seatpost is actually an advantage to the more skillful technically sound rider.  For example, if you are riding a rolling section of trail with lots of obstacles, a rider who has strong technical skill can “pump” speed into and out of the corners and smoothly “bunnyhop” over obstacles instead of hitting them and lose speed.  Imagine how fast Roddi Lega can ride “Golfcourse trail aka Rollercoaster trail” if he can drop his saddle 125mm and really use his bike handling skills to go faster in the corners and “pump” harder on the rolling bumps.  A hack like me probably will go slightly faster with a dropper seatpost, but not as much as a skilled cyclist like Roddi, Brad, Kurt, etc.

This is how fast Roddi can rip RollerCoaster without a Dropper Post

Third, the dropper seatpost will allow you to use larger stronger muscles on long descents during mountain multi-day races.  There are some races where the descents are so long, your arms actually get tired because your weight shifts to your upper body. With a dropper seatpost, you can lower your stance on your bike so you can transfer your weight to larger and stronger muscles or at least, you can shift positions on the bike to rest muscles periodically.

Lastly, with RockShox leading the industry with their well-reviewed Reverb, the dropper seatpost seemed to have left the plagues of the past in regards to their poor performance and durability behind.  Specialized, KS, Thomson and others are in the market and all seem to be producing some quality product.  I am personally excited about Thomson getting involved and hopefully imbuing their meticulous engineering into their dropper seatposts as they have with their other fine cycling products.

Thomson Dropper Seatpost

XX1:

Ever since the beginning of my mountain biking history, which goes back to the early 90’s, I’ve always loathed the front derailleur as it seemed archaic and poorly designed for it’s purpose.  I can remember countless moments when I wanted and needed to drop from the middle ring to the granny ring, but when I turned my thumbshifter (Yes, I wrote thumbshifter you young punks!!!), the front derailleur cage just rubbed sadly against the chain without action, much like a husband getting a lapdance from his wife.  Once you knew the chain wouldn’t drop, you had to concede, get off your bike, lift the rear wheel, pedal with your hands until the chain dropped to the granny ring, then you can continue with your epic cycling journey.  The design of the front derailleur didn’t change much over the past 20 years as it seemed the technology hit it’s zenith in the 90’s, so what did the geniuses at SRAM decide to do?  They just got rid of it.

XX1 is a single ring drivetrain with a rear cassette that has 11 cogs ranging from 10 to 42 teeth effectively making the mountain bike an 11 speeder.  I don’t know why they call it XX1 as it implies that it has 21 gears; I thought they would call it XI to correspond to their 20 speed 2×10 XX nomenclature.  Anyways, you can change the ring up or down 2 teeth without adding or subtracting chainlinks so you can add variability to the gearing without too much effort.  Sure, I may need a 30, 32 and 34 ring collection, but apparently, the switch is simple with only 4 bolts to deal with.  The idea of not having a front derailleur is exciting and monumental as this could be the beginning of a mountain bike standard.  The simplicity of having just a rear derailleur and shifter opens up more possibilities like a 1×12 system and clearing space on the handlebar for other remotes like lockout and dropper seatpost.

My Beargrease is coming with XX1, and it really makes sense for winter riding as the front derailleur can freeze up or get clogged with snow and ice rendering it nonfunctional.  It comes with a 28 ring which seems logical as you need the lower gears to trudge through the snow, but as a race bike, I am considering a 30 ring.  Overall, I am just excited to never look down with consternation at that pathetic front derailleur again.

XX1 Groupset

Enve carbon Wheelset:

This was a total ego purchase as the logic of spending $3000 on a set of wheels seems to escape most people, including me.  As a mid pack Expert ABA Master racer, my pedigree deserves a $3000 bike with decent reliable parts as my weakest link is probably my “muffintop” from drinking too much beer with my fellow cyclists (or anyone to be totally honest) and my penchant for 1 hour rides and 3 hours of coffee with Paavo or Shantel.  I never rode or raced with carbon wheels, and with its availability, I just thought the time for self-reward was now.  With it’s gossamer weight claims and purported durability, I chose Enve XC wheels because I didn’t want to second guess my decision as this may be the last chance to purchase such a decadent piece of cycling equipment.  Contrary to most people’s opinion, I despise the Enve logo/font plastered on the rims as it is reminiscent of some tacky 70’s USSR propaganda design.   Thankfully, the stickers peeled off easily to display the carbon rims in their beautiful naked form.  Despite my hopeful intentions of buying a set of light carbon wheels, I don’t really expect to see my racing results change much, unless you think placing 15^th instead of 16^th is an improvement.  I just really love the way it looks on my Rocky Mountain Vertex with XX1.  It’s a $3000 ornamental accent so I plan on taking plenty of pictures and posting them on facebook ad nauseam.

Enve Wheels in all their glory 

Patience is a virtue for those who seek it or already have it.  For me, I always liked sulking and whining like a petulant child when I don’t get my way or get what I want right away.  In today’s society of instant gratification, it’s very easy to get things or information immediately from the palms of our hands, literally.  If we have any fleeting thought whether it’s trivial or a cathartic epiphany, we just go to our social media outlet and just type it out on our virtual soapbox and hope to get an appropriate response from our adoring audience.  We, as a society, do not have much patience for anything anymore so I can feel somewhat justified, or at least an assuaged guilt, to have a wrenching angst in my gut for my new carbon Beargrease XX1.

Carbon Salsa Beargrease XX1 in the flesh @ Interbike.  With these HED fatbike wheels, the bike tipped the scale at 21.5 lbs!

This story starts back in April of this year where I was propositioned by redbike to demo a carbon Beargrease XX1 with a purported weight of sub 25lbs for the upcoming winter.  There were a couple of real concerns regarding this offer: First, I really had a great time riding my old Mukluk the past winter without any complains or failures, other than the time I broke my chain misshifting on a climb.  Secondly, will the BearGrease show up in time for the winter season or at all?  There are some famous quotes describing this situation: “ Once bitten, twice shy” and “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”.   The second quote was fantastically mishandled by George W. Bush which still makes me chortle whenever I think of it.  For those unacquainted, last fall, QBP failed to deliver my Beargrease which left me fatbikeless for the impending winter.  Fortunately, redbike had a Mukluk that I was able to filch as a replacement for the BearGrease, then winter fatbiking history was made.  Hyperbolic?  Probably, but I put in so many winter trail miles, it felt monumental.

I will not be too redundant about the benefits of riding a fatbike as you can refer to my previous blogs, but I think that is why this waiting game is so frustrating for me.  I don’t have to guess, surmise or anticipate the fun of riding a fatbike on the snowpacked singletrack as I know exactly what I am missing.  I hate looking at my friends’ smug little faces as they discuss rear hub spacing, which tire width is best on what conditions and them feigning sympathy about my situation.  I love and hate being so covetous.

Salsa Beargrease Glam Shot

So here was are, at the beginning of December, still waiting for my BearGrease to arrive from Salsa.  I can almost hear George W. Bush laughing at my misfortune, and that man should have no reason to be laughing at anyone.  Well, perhaps the American and Iraqi people.  Please don’t let me give you the impression that I don’t like winter riding on my 29er Devinci as it works really well, and I love the serenity, silence and Robert Frost whiteness of cycling in the snow with my friends.  As a lifer Edmontonian, I realize that fondness of cold snowy days is paramount to surviving the winters, and I just sampled cycling’s next big thing for snow so I want it, now.