Electronics and fluids: The inevitable future of cycling?

Bicycles, just like any other rapidly expanding sector of technology, will continue take a continual turn toward the ever more "exotic" and "enhanced" tech in the name of "progress".  Most of such supposed refinements come, of course, at the cost of money (go figure), additional high frequency labor and hyper specialized tuning/installation methods.  Hydraulic brakes and electronics have been making their way into the professional cycling stable (road, mountain and cyclocross) for a hand full of years now and are certainly here to stay.  They certainly have their place within the racing groups and exhibit great merit for myriad reason. This is all fine for those who have healthy finances or high dollar companies sponsoring a team with ever replenishing product and mechanics; but for us (and by us I mean everyone) weekend riders and commuters now find ourselves facing an increase in outward pressure from the bicycle industry at large to make that same transition into hydraulics and electronics, regardless of whether we want them or not.  The real question here pertains to whether or not we truly benefit from the gains had by diving into the hydraulic and electronic world.

Analogue is dead, or is it?

Big box bicycle brands are exceptionally phenomenal at selling us new things that enhance our rides in myriad ways for the pleasure of our cycling experience.  Hydraulic disc brakes stop you faster, are lighter, modulate better and seem oh so pro.  Electronic shifting shifts more accurately, weighs less, and can even automatically trim for miss shifts and cross chain scenarios on 2/3x front chain ring setups.  All of the aforementioned is indeed true, and as I hold no posture of desire to argue the contrary, I do indeed have a few words about these topics that might be thought provoking to whom it may concern.

Wireless, electronic, hydraulic disc brakes.... the best of both worlds.  We
will all see a refined version of this sooner than not.

Hydraulics

Hydraulic disc brakes started to appear on the mountain bike scene in the early 00's.  Hays, Magura and Avid made the first commercial offerings and were soon to be followed by others such as Shimano and even eventually, yes, Campagnolo!?  The hydro disc brake setup was, like most new tech rushed to the market, expensive and full of immediate bugs.  Brake line failure, cooked rotors, leaky pistons ect.  Most of these kinks were worked out to a reasonable(?) fashion and soon hydros were being outfitted on even the most entry level mountain bikes by the mid 2010's.  Be it the super high end or bottom of the barrel stock kit, hydro's graced the lines of virtually any "respectable" or "serious" mountain bike from the ranks of cross country to downhill.

 The early (and perhaps most) Hayes brakes were plagued with failure rates early in the decade.  Other companies took stabs at the product but suffered from many of the same issues. Fast forward fifteen years an we see the Sram subsidiary Avid for example being notorious for successive failure after failure with first their Elixir line and then eventually their Guide brake systems.  From over heating cylinders to leaky pistons and blown o-rings; like most hydro disc brakes the feel and stopping power was exceptional up until the point at which they failed, as they usually did at a rather accelerated rate.  Even the highest end brake systems today have, and eventually will exceed a very narrow service life window (we are talking a few years at best here if lucky).

this is what the inside of your hydraulic looks like.
tight ports, hot pads, DOT fluid.  What could go wrong?

Assuming that the hydraulic brake system gives its users no problems up until the point at which brake bleeding is required, a special bleed kit that is typically manufactured by fill-in-the-blank bike brand and required with a very specific hydraulic fluid (dot 5.something usually or mineral oil).  There are many of these oils that are each specific and integral to every different braking equation. 

 What i am getting at here is that in most circumstances, a new bleed kit, with a new type of fluid is required for each brake system from each brand.  That means that you will not be re using your tools (yes a bleed kit is a tool and just as costly as many) for the Avid Juicys you had last season in replacement of the new Shimano Slx kit you just picked up.

  New brakes, new fluids, new tools, more brand marriage and more planned obsolescence is what I see here.  If I may, nearly every hydraulic brake system I have come across is by my standard a disposable component.  Designed to work well for a few seasons; engineered to lack backwards compatibility, heavily proprietary by design and lacking in basic serviceability for DIY tinkerers and home mechanics.

Electronic Shifting

Shifting into a gear used to be a relatively simply exercise.  Push or pull a lever: move respective shift cable: actuate derailleur and engage a newly selected gear while pedaling (exclude internally geared hubs).   This in essence sums up the act of shifting and accounted for all gear shifts made for the last century (excluding the notoriously pathetic attempts from Suntour and Mavic in the 90's).  As of 2009 the pro Peleton has and will continue to primarily use electronic shifting in road racing.  Fast forward 8 years and we see the biggest competitors offering electronic shifting in their 2rd and even 3rd tier group sets (Shimano Ultegra, Sram Rival and Campagnolo Chorus).  What this means is that more and more mid level bikes, and eventually entry level, will for better or worse boast all the merits of electronic shifting.

your mind will be absolutely blown by the performance gains .. just sayin

As I also stated earlier, electronic shifting does a lot of things well, but at a hell of a price.  This new form of gear shifting operates in principle utilizing a lever actuated micro-switch which in tern signals the servo motorized derailleur, via wire or wireless signal, to shift a gear.  This sounds amazing and super simple but is effectively a logistical nightmare for those of us who care to look beyond the surface.  The first and most fundamental issue with the electronic varietals comes with the fact that these electronics have no manual override whatsoever.  If and or when your battery dies, your derailleur gets bent, a cable gets snagged or you simply cant get a relay, there is no way to engage back into manual gear shifting.  At this stage it either works or it doesn't; simply put. 

 The second huge issue is the inability to install and tune these new shifting packages with relative ease. As many of you know I am a huge proponent of simple fixes and home-mechanic friendly serviceability.  I look for simple solutions to big problems and often find none in the name of marketed convenience.  Electronic shifting is no different when it comes to installation and tuning as blindly routing wiring through a frame is an absolute nightmare.  Save for wireless setups the whole system depends on numerous wires and connectors, which if disconnected take a good chunk of time to diagnose and correct.  The electronic system is also wedded to the number of gears in your drive train in a very deliberate fashion.  If you buy the new Ultegra Di2 11 speed setup it will not be compatible with the new 12 speed system whenever it comes along (lets face it Shimano will bite eventually).  Open source software has never been a feature of these new shifting systems and entirely lacks the ability to create desired gear shift increments.  How nice it would be if the big players gave you the option of selecting different spacing intervals for shifting indexed gears ranging from 7 to 11 speeds or more for past, present, and future compatibility.  How about the ability to hold the micro switch down for a continuous friction option if your latest cassette was giving you poor shifting before a big ride and you needed to switch it out with an old cassette you had from a different brand or shifting era.  No way.

Again what it comes down to here is that we are being sold products that do not offer practical serviceability, long life expectancy and backwards/cross compatibility.  We are being sold a life long relationship (or so they hope) when we buy into the big brand notion of the ultra specified, homogenized systems.  We abandon our ability to repair on the fly or at all in the name of a little bit of shaved weight, an ever so quicker shift or slightly better brake feel.  When buying into the big-bike cult consumer trap we abandon our creative freedom with bike builds, our ability to change up individual components, and the option to keep old rigs up and running indefinitely.  Are hydros for you?  Whether the answer is yes or no, only you can be the judge here.