Feb. 6, 2019, 2:53 p.m. -  Andrew Major

I think the counter narrative is that Shimano is playing a long game and their long game is e-bikes. Their new 10t compatible driver is e-bike friendly, XD is not. Di2 (and Fox Live Valve) are hard wired which means the whole vehicle can run off a single battery/single charge point - motor, shifting, dropper, suspension, brakes, accessories. On its face wireless is really neat but how many individual batteries does the ‘rider of the future’ end up charging vs a cleanly run wiring harness - motor, shifter, derailleur, fork, shock, dropper, fork remote, shock remote, dropper remote. Look at where Di2 road has gone with the wiring harness hidden inside bar, stem, and frame and it’s easy to picture a clean MTB setup including suspension and dropper doing the same. I suppose it would be easy enough for SRAM to replace the derailleur battery with a plug if e-bikes do take over the high end market. Anyways, have to admit it’s a very clean looking adaptation of technology. Hope the new rear derailleur architecture trickles down to cable systems.