The Cost of Convenience: Taking a Hard Look at Wireless Shifting

The novelty of it wasn’t lost on me. When I unpacked the largely assembled frame with shifters and rear mech already in place, I thought, “Well, I guess that’s it.” Cautiously, I approached the oversized controls and lightly tapped the paddle shifter.

Nothing.

Once more, then again.

Still nothing.

After an increasingly impatient series of clicks, it sprung to life. A quick, mechanical whir actuated the arm into motion and caught up with as many inputs as it could. A green light flashed against the dimly lit floor of my apartment. Electronic shifting was here.

I’ve long been an ardent advocate of not just mechanical shifting, but friction. Yet, within the throes of opportunities in bike media, I’d somehow ended up with SRAM’s new Apex AXS groupset—a cosmic joke for someone who had set up most of their personal bikes with a mix of bar-end and downtube friction shifters. However, all the more willing to either revise or reinforce my predisposition against these new technologies, I thought no better opportunity to take stock of electronic shifting.

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Aesthetic preferences aside, what amazed me about friction shifting all those years ago was its open-ended versatility. With a $50 bar-end shifter from Microshift, I could run virtually any derailleur, chain, or cassette within reason. I was no longer locked into the arduous groupset economies all too well laid out by component manufacturers. Materially, I could more feasibly afford an activity that consumed my life through the sheer range of components available. It felt like a cheat code. As someone who watches a lot of bike content on YouTube, I’d watched what felt like hundreds of hours of people complaining and poo-slinging about SRAM vs. Shimano vs. this vs. that. It was all, relatively, null and void. Friction didn’t care.

In practice, my love for the new-to-me mode of shifting only deepened. Bent derailleur hanger? Doesn’t matter. Slightly worn chain? Inconsequential. There were no more missed shifts or worried sensations when I felt a slight clicking upon a sketchy, mistimed shift. The quality of shifting was now up to me. I didn’t pine for the slightly lighter, significantly more expensive groupset upgrade because it all felt pretty similar with friction. On top of all that, I no longer relied on increasingly expensive trips to the bike shop when something inevitably went wrong. I was encouraged, through the sheer simplicity of the system, to address any problems myself, and I often succeeded in finding a solution. It improved my experience as a person who rides bikes and has led me to be a pretty competent home mechanic.

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With all that in mind, how could something like electronic shifting ever compete?

Taking it at face value, the only immediate application I saw for electronic shifting was travel-related. A friend had long run SRAM’s Eagle AXS on his All-City Cosmic Stallion and traveled often for work. With a bike-specific case, assembly and disassembly were easier with fewer cables. Great. The only other benefit I understood was that Lael Wilcox endorsed it because the light touch on the digitized system saved her hands during events like the Great Divide. An incredibly relatable and widespread experience for the average cyclist, surely! To be clear, I love Lael, and she can do whatever she likes. It’s an entirely valid reason to want the tech, and closer to home, the ease of actuation on SRAM’s Eagle GX axis has been a “game changer” for our very own Virginia Krabill, as she’s struggled with issues around her carpal tunnel surgery. Injuries and special applications withstanding, it seems all too niche a use case to base an entire system around.

So, what is the point of electronic shifting? Sorting through the marketing copy, I’ve arrived at the following: from a design perspective, electronic shifting nails down what mechanically indexed shifting never could.

For the uninitiated, indexed mechanical shifting isn’t all that far away from friction. In the case of my beloved Microshift bar-end shifter, the simple twist of a 4mm Allen key enables users to switch between index and friction. Effectively, a steel cable is pulled varying lengths across a set space. Different points across said length correspond to different gears. That’s it. Indexing creates a system where accessing points across the cable pull is no longer open-ended and is actuated via a ratcheting mechanism inside the shifter body. Every time you click up or down on a shifter, the mechanism ratchets to another position, and the cable is pulled in one direction or another. Cross-compatibility is limited between various shifters and derailleurs because other groupsets use different pull ratios to access their gears.

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The Achilles heel of indexed systems is the need for an unchanged, fixed position at either end of the derailleur’s range. If altered even slightly, the set points on the cable no longer directly correspond to the appropriate position for specific gears, so the shifting must be re-tuned or the affected variables must be corrected to rectify the issue. This is invariably the nail in the coffin for mechanically indexed systems in comparison to electronic or even friction systems. Where the latter allows the user to fine-tune any mis-shift through the open-ended pull of the cable, the former does a variety of things to foolproof the system from its well-known foibles.

First and foremost, electronic shifters house no physical connection between the shifter bodies and shifting mechanisms. So, there is no cable pull, and thus, no physically correlated position between actuation and gear position, limiting the number of things that can go awry. The entirety of the physical shifting process, save for the input, happens at the rear mech. In conjunction with something like SRAM’s new direct mount Transmission, they’ve effectively done away with most of the variables that can meaningfully affect the consistency of shifting in an indexed shifting system. All this, paired with the ease of use provided by something stored within a phone application, makes less-than-ideal shifting experiences a thing of the past.

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Most of these new, tech-oriented features serve both the customer and the creator. Electronic shifting systems are easy to set up and, from the perspective of groupset manufacturers, create a more reliable and consistent user experience. Wayward anecdotal experiences of SRAM or Shimano systems can no longer affect the sales of any one groupset. By limiting the user error all but inevitable through faulty setups, groupset manufacturers have greater control over the experience of their product, and users with limited technical knowledge have a more seamless end experience.

So, where’s the bad?

Well, for one, they’re entirely useless without their power source. Irrespective of the desired function, it speaks to the quality of design that one can log onto eBay or any other major resale website, buy a 20-year-old mechanical system and have it function as it did at inception. Components created with mechanical logic hold value, regardless of their aesthetic quality, because they have a use function inherent to their design. The use function of electronic shifting systems is severely hampered by the fact that they can’t even be bodged or repurposed into functional shifting systems because their use is predicated on electrical power.

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Electrical power leads to the next point—and hold onto your brake levers here—but lithium mining is difficult, complex, and taxing. To put it briefly, lest we are to repeat the imperialistic horrors brought forth by the oil industry, lithium mining and its consequences must be fully understood before the world embarks on a wholesale shift toward its use. Without intending to go down a rabbit’s hole of whataboutisms, the reality, at least as I see it, is that we can’t magically, suddenly, and immediately, revert to a way of life that exists in greater harmony with our natural world but must do so gradually. Electricity and its use in the many facets of our lives that require power is, seemingly, a viable way to ease the transition toward degrowth. However, there are appropriate applications and those that seem entirely auxiliary. For me, electronic shifting falls well within the latter category.

It’s kind of like walking up to motion-activated sliding doors, such as those at CVS and malls, and saying, “I’m not sure how we ever got into buildings before!” They’re a fanciful incarnation of technology that, yes, provides some benefits. Particularly to those who suffer from a disability or have a physical impairment of some kind. But, for the vast majority of able-bodied people, they’re simply a convenience. And like any convenience, it doesn’t come without cost.

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As the video linked above details, not only are there serious questions about the environmental impacts of lithium mining, but a whole host of other questions regarding the divvying of resources and appropriations by multi-national corporations that have a proven track record of draining the non-Westernized world for all its worth and leaving locals in the wake of their destruction. This is without mentioning that while known sources of precious metals crucial to global electrification/decarbonization are sufficient in providing us with the ability to move toward a largely electric world, it’s a very slim margin. As this phenomenal piece describes, enterprising individuals are chomping at the proverbial bit to enter into a new “deep-sea rush” for whatever treasures may lie at the bottom of the ocean floor. A place that exists largely without protections or regulations but undoubtedly affects the greater ecosystem in which we all live. By using the precious and dwindling resources already known to us on what are mostly high-end playthings for the affluent, I’d venture to say we’re not exactly spending our resources wisely.

To be clear, this isn’t to moralize or create a binary as to what ownership of electronic shifting means. If one buys an e-cargo bike to eliminate the use of their car, that is obviously a much better outcome than continuing to use a gas-powered or even entirely electric vehicle! Things are not black and white. But, by and large, I question the function of the industry’s shift toward electronics. Who does this serve? Does this meaningfully make the bicycle better? Does it make the world better?

I can’t answer all those questions. And living in a world that has normalized such energy usage is complex. I’m typing this on a computer powered by lithium batteries while sitting next to a phone powered by lithium batteries and being kept cool by a window unit A/C powered by electricity. But if we have to qualify and exonerate every potential criticism of new technologies through the sometimes unavoidable missteps of our current circumstance, we’ll never make anything better. I’m not proposing an unimpeachable solution to the moral and material ailments of our society—I’m 29 years old, I don’t know anything. I’m questioning the unnecessary complication of an activity that has meaningfully improved my life through the inherently revolutionary nature of its existence.

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Of course, the demand for derailleur batteries or even e-bike batteries is fractional in relation to that of a car. But I often look at bikes and their increasing electrification and wonder, “Why? Why would you make something so incredibly efficient less so?” Cycling, above all else, is an accessible means of transportation and engagement for those at the impoverished end of our global society. Does a wholesale, or even partial, shift toward electronic shifting continue the bicycle’s legacy of being an endlessly repurposable tool for the greater good? Or, like much these days, does it obfuscate and gatekeep certain aspects of its design in an increasingly disparate class system? Shifter batteries may not sit at the top end of lithium-ion demand, but they signal a trickle-down effect. A wholesale or even partial electrification of bicycles would serve to normalize the addition of unnecessary, complex, ultimately consumable technology that only worsens the climate crisis.

We’ve already started to see instances where electronic elements being so baked into the nature of the bike render it null and void when support is no longer available.

How long before the oldest components that make up the electronic shifting ecosystem are simply no longer supported? What happens to those derailleurs when that becomes a reality? What happens when the thousands upon thousands of tiny electric motors, gears, and increasingly complex systems no longer sit at the bleeding edge of this supposed innovation? Because, mind you, this is all to accomplish something we already have. Friction aside, mechanically indexed shifting is an entirely viable mode of operation.

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Undoubtedly, the pros of friction, such as accessibility, ease of setup, and cross-compatibility, falter when the end customer values performance. It’s necessary to shift quickly and reliably in high-pressure situations when racing or even just on technical sections off-road. But that’s an experience we already have with mechanically indexed shifting. It doesn’t necessitate motors, an app, or expensive and ultimately consumable lithium-ion batteries. It’s a tradeoff—especially when considering the big picture—so negligible it feels absurd to even consider the alternative we seem to be careening toward.

In addition to the points above, there are several potential manufacturing issues well above my pay grade regarding the standard companies like SRAM are suddenly asking of mass production facilities. As detailed by YouTuber Peak Torque, the novelty of something like standing on their new “unbendable” rear derailleur may have adverse consequences on carbon bikes, wheels, and the entirety of modern bicycle manufacturing.

Having spoken to a number of people in the industry, from frame builders to engineers and the like, I think it’s fair to say their considerations and limitations are often ignored in the creation of these new standards and products. Moreover, it seems like the goalposts are constantly being shifted for the sake of staying ahead of the curve. If you’re always creating something new and hold the power and influence of a large market share to force most of the industry to follow, are you truly innovating?

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Cynicism aside, it seems there is an extreme, largely undiscussed price associated with electronic shifting. And, for what? With such little upside in the way of so much associated cost for both the environment and the consumer, I fail to understand what the justifiable upside for anyone without a hyper-specific need really is. And while detractors will often say high-priced, premium bike components aren’t for everyone, the rising inflation of bikes and their related components is, in part, driven by normalizing an ever-soaring price ceiling. When $15,000 becomes the typical cost for a “top of the line” offering from bike manufacturers, it affects what the entire market is able and willing to sell their wares for. Without turning this into an article about post-modern economics, we’re far past a purely materially defined equation when it comes to setting the price for goods and services.

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While their analog counterparts are not without their own drawbacks regarding manufacturing impacts, the longevity, existing stock, and proven nature of mechanical shifting make them an undeniably better product. When contrasting what existent drivetrains and non-electrified bicycle technology allows riders to accomplish, it seems electrifying the same technology does little, if anything, to meaningfully improve or expand the capabilities of even the most performance-minded individuals. I was fully prepared to be proven wrong by the arrival of electronic shifting at my door. But, after an earnest attempt at seeing the upside, I won’t be making the shift any time soon.

What do you think? Are the effects of electrifying bicycle drivetrains overblown? Or is the increasing electrification of bikes something you’re worried about? Let us know in the conversation below…

Further Reading

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