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Ultegra Di2 FR repairability?

3K views 29 replies 13 participants last post by  professionalsql 
#1 · (Edited)
Ultegra Di2 FD repairability?

I have a 6770 based GF01 (first west of the Mississippi!) that is approaching 3 years old, and probably has between 5k and 6k miles on it. When I first went to pull it out for the new season, I found it to be dead to the world - no response and no lights with two fully charged batteries used to check. After reseating all the cables a time or two, and checking the operation of various pieces with the control unit/power from my TT bike, I diagnosed the issue to be rear of the A junction. More work has taken it to being in the front derailleur. With a good battery, all other parts of the bike are now responsive. The FD, however, does not respond - even when it's plugged into the other bike's Di. What's more, if I leave a battery on the ailing bike, it will suck it dry (implying a short).

Question: Is anything serviceable in the electronics of the FD on the Di units? I'm seriously considering just upgrading to 6870 (yes, I know that means I have to do the rear too given last year's firmware updates), but I don't want to do it if this unit is reasonably repairable.

Thoughts? Inputs?

TIA!
 
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#4 ·
Not to be mean (and y'all know what it means when a sentence starts out with "Not to ..." :D ), but I'll be really interested to see how this electronic stuff holds up in the long run. This is the one question that we really have no data on: What happens to this fancy electronic stuff after 3 years? How about 5 years? 10 years?

Alright, I can't help myself: Mechanical derailleurs will be just fine typically over any amount of time you'd even care to use them. I have a 30-year-old set of Campy derailleurs on my steel bike that shifts exactly the same it did when it was new.
 
#5 ·
I've been very satisfied with it, and it's the first failure of any kind that I've personally heard of in my immediate sphere (I'm sure in searching the web, I could find others). There are a decent chunk of miles - albeit a lot less in time and miles than I would have expected - and many of those miles were wet.

As to the LBS, they gave me the base diagnostics to use. I haven't called them back on it yet now that I have it generally identified as yet, as I'm looking to do the repair myself if I can. In looking at the unit, there doesn't appear to be a service opening.
 
#6 ·
FWIW: The first thing I might try is inspecting and blowing out the connectors with electronic contact cleaner. If that didn't work, LBS might be able to run a diagnostic on it and isolate the issue. If they say a new FD is required, I'd see what I could do about opening and cleaning/drying out the existing one first.
 
#10 ·
Of course this is the internet, so one anecdotal bad experience out ways thousands of people with no issues. Go figure.
+1 on that.

As I said, I've been very happy. Even in the highest quality products have those particular instances where something happens. I've had more issues with cables slipping or other similar issues on mechanical than I have with any issue with Di (this is literally the only Di issue I've had across both bikes I have with it). It's also worth noting that my Di has never left me stranded through some sometimes horrific weather, a lot of miles, and a lot of climbing.

I'll update once I finalize what I'm doing next and see the outcome.
 
#17 ·
I just saw a lady somewhere in her 90's riding a city style bike with a basket just yesterday. It had internal gears and she was wearing one of those large gardening hats. The thing that was amazing is she was moving along pretty fair on that bike. She kind of was leaning into it in an athletic posture, her seat appeared to be at a good height. GrandMa was truckin.

I rode my last bike for about 30 years. An 82 Allez with campy components. My current bike is 2 years old. It's mechanical and all but I have no beef with Di2. I rode the 82 Allez in the 1983 Tierra Bella Century. I rode the 100mi course. Now in 2015 I am riding my Lighthouse in the Tierra Bella and I am doing the 100K course.
 
#23 ·
OK, promised follow up....

For reasons unknown, the receiving e-tube connector on the 6770 refuses to lock the wire in. If the connection is forced in then you can get it to work, but it's not a manageable scenario. The nutshell: "It's dead Jim". They no longer make the 6770, and will not extend the warranty on it (it's about 6 months out). It appears to just be a freak kind of thing. The only bad blood I have coming out of it is that, given the oddity of it, I find myself more annoyed at them not still honoring it under warranty than I normally would be (I'm usually "If it's out, that's how it is" kinda guy).

For for moment, it's staying out of commission. I'll wind up putting a 6870 on it (not paying $270 for an older tech model) and seeing how it works given that the firmware on the rear has never been updated. Based on whether that works out of the box or not, I'll swap the rear out for 6870 also sometime soon, but not immediately. I already have 11 speed compatible wheels, so the only other change outs will be the chain, cassette, and likely the crankset (which I'll likely jump to a 52/36).
 
#24 ·
I just sold my first-gen Ultegra Di2 bike and reading this thread makes me happier that I decided to go back to Mechanical Ultegra. The system is amazing, but if anything breaks it sounds like an expensive fix because the components aren't readily available or swappable from other groupsets.
 
#25 ·
The failure of my unit isn't really a guide other than being a discussion starter. Di2 has proven to be very reliable. Even the best products have their off failures. During the roughly 4500'ish miles that went onto that bike, it was completely maintenance free in terms of any of the Di specific items (I replaced a BB, and a cassette, but those are not Di related). Not a single adjustment required, no cable changes, etc.. Should it still be running today? Yes. Given the somewhat freaky nature of the fail and it almost certainly being a defect in workmanship, do I think Shimano should have stepped up and said "Yeah, you're 6 months out of warranty, but we got this", yeah. My negative impressions of this are more on Shimano than on Di specifically. Even there, I would classify it as "disappointed" as opposed to mad at them.
All that said, it's a to each his own thing. I will probably never have another mechanical. The zero adjustment and, most of all, easy shifting even on hills (and I live in hill country) makes it a relative no brainer for me. For others, the dollars aren't going to be worth it, or they simply want the extra sense of control. Whatever the reason, it's a to each his own thing.

There's another section left to this book - the 6870 upgrade. I'll do that very soonish. I'll likely put a 6870 FD in the mix and see if it will operate out of the box (I've never updated the firmware on my RD). If it does, I may run that way a bit. If not, I'll add the RD and also swap out at least the cassette and chain.
 
#27 ·
I find it interesting that even my LBS mechanics won't buy electronic derailleurs and they get discounted prices!

4,500 miles is nothing, and does not by any remote means is a definitive judge for reliability, I have the Shimano 105 group (Ultegra rear derailleur) that I now have 6,800 miles on and no problems either, but in my mind 7,000 miles is nothing, and damm right there shouldn't be any problems! I have over 160,000 miles on a Suntour Superbe group and never had an issue other than minor adjustments. I hate to sound goofy, but I normally do to most of you anyways, but if a groupset can't last 100,000 miles then it's junk from the beginning, there is no reason why something as simple as bike mechanicals can't last more than 100,000 miles, the reason that exist for not doing so (other than poor care) is because the manufactures don't want them to last that long! It's as plain and simple as that.
 
#30 ·
Sorry for a little thread necromancy here, but I wanted to address this specific post...

The battery had never been updated, but the FD and RD did not work together. Indeed, once I got 6870 at both ends, they still didn't work together until I had matching firmware. It's plausible (I simply don't know), that if I had flashed the 6770 rear to match t he 6870 front, but left the battery alone, I would have been ok. At this point, they are all flashed up to the latest (with the FD/RD being 6870, and the rest from the 6770 build), and it all works great.
 
#29 ·
Thank you, thank you very much, I aim to please.

Besides, I didn't morph it into a debate between mechanical vs electronics, the issue taken was a using 4,500 miles as a definitive mark of reliability regardless if mechanical or electronic, that was the issue, not mechanical vs electronic; but I was also checking the timer to see which of you would fail to comprehend to read the fastest...and guess what? You win!
 
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