Another win for older tech?
It’s exactly as (un)secure as I expected. It’s a wireless device made by bike part manufactures… can’t expect better, realistically.
Still, I wouldn’t recommend someone against buying one because of this. The threat model for cyclists is getting maimed by vehicles or psychopaths laying booby traps out there. Hackers messing with my gear shifting is the least of my worries.
Maybe I’m missing something, but I have never understood the appeal of electronic shifting.
It sounds awesome to me if it’s perfected and batteries can get smaller with longer charge.
No. More. Cables. Less stuff and the moving parts of the shifters, etc. Great idea to me, even if it’s still got issues. If I was rich I’d definitely try a build out with these.
Less stuff and the moving parts of the shifters, etc.
Would be more stuff and moving parts. Now you’ve got little electric motors/servos involved, batteries, etc. I’d be pretty surprised if it saves any weight.
Are you asking about electronic, or wireless shifting? Because electronic wired shifting is also a thing, and adds some advantages, while wireless adds more advantages on top of that.
I’ve never used either, but from people who have, I’ve heard that the shifting is a lot smoother on electronic shifting than mechanical. Whether smoother shifting is actually worth the price seems to be the debate most people have.
As for wireless, the advantages there become a little clearer and easier to explain. You can put the shifters wherever you want for maximum convenience. In the drops if you spend a lot of time sprinting. At the ends of your aero bars if you’re a triathlete or time trialist. You can even have multiple shifters at multiple positions. Plus, yeah, the stuff @Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world says about removing cables.
As I said though, this is all by reputation. I’ve only ever used mechanical.
I meant both wired and wireless. I hear that the shifting is faster and smoother than cables, but my cable shifting feels perfectly acceptable as it is. I can’t imagine a slight improvement there is worth the hassle of dealing with batteries dying, servos wearing out or getting shorted by liquid ingress, or the security issues of wireless that the article mentions.
But then, maybe I’m just a Luddite.
