Ultegra Di2, mechanical DA or mechanical Record

I have a Canyon with 1st gen Ui2 and regret going to electronic. As amazing as it is, it does go wrong. Also the compatibility is an issue if you are thinking long term, not so much with mechanical. Canyon frames are either electronic or mechanical, in my opinion a massive failing. So decide carefully!

On the DA and Record chainrings and cassettes, at replacement time, the ones from the lesser gruppo's fit and no one will will know. You have the choice.

I don't know what your future plans are, but would you rather buy a a used bike with a top line mechanical set up, or with a complex electronic one. This is mute if you don't keep trading up of course.

always thought campag thumb button would be in the way but after 2 years
with it I've yet to find myself thinking ... "damn that button's in the way" ... and
unlike shimano ergo levers are actually serviceable !

I'd like to try eps but that's a ways of

tried the di2 and found the hoods just didn't fit my hands.

Can I throw a spanner in the works and suggest SRAM? Either the Red SLX, or the Force SL (which is quite a bit cheaper, and you could upgrade to some nice deep section carbon wheels with the difference). Not much weight difference between the Canyon SLX and the SL, nor between the Red and Force groupset.

So are you keeping your current Shimano 105 equipped bike? If so then staying with Shimano makes sense.

I have UDi2 and would urge you to go for it. Not only is it slightly cheaper (although at that total spend that's not a huge factor) but it is so much nicer to own than mechanical. Maintenance is minimal, ease of use is maximal!

DA components (cassette/ chainrings) will be more expensive to replace, i would imagine the Record will fall in to higher replacement costs too. Ok, so the electronic parts of UDi2 cost more to replace but as long as you are not breaking shifters or mech's regularly this should not be on the horizon.

One other thing... Is the UDi2 frame ONLY electronic compliant? If so you are buying in to electronic for life, there is no back out plan to mechanical.

Pick your poison as they say.

Ultegra di2 for me

Have tried DA mechanical and record mechanical and didnt like the record at all, thumb shifters got in my way and the levers felt too small (large hands)

Plus i feel campag is way overpriced, i know it has the history and is nice to look at but when it comes to value for money, shimano wins hands down for me

mechanical DA was better, bigger hoods, no stupid thumb shifters which also look crap imho but once i tried di2 there was no going back

Now run Ultegra di2 and dura ace di2 on two bikes and the 3rd will be dura ace di2 as well

Ultegra di2 has good sized hoods for big hands, the ability to shift easily under braking, the ability to shift across the whole cassette by just holding the button down for 2 secs, front mech has the auto trim feature so no more microshifts due to chain rub

Once set up there is no gear adjustment needed its just fit and forget

Only you can decide so personally id try and have a ride on bikes fitted with those groupsets and see which you prefer

Record. Switched from Shimano to Campagnolo recently, and - while I do realise people have different experiences there - I'm very much enjoying the Ergo levers. They fit my hands much better, I actually like the thumb shifter, and none of that shifting-via-brake-lever nonsense.

To be fair, give both a try - then choose Campag.

Mechanical DA gets my vote

Record all day if they're the same money.

Shimano have proven time and again that they don't support much more than a 36 month life cycle.

You do need to try it though, as you're right, it's tea and coffee.

My friend's Record stuff is still working well and he bought it thirty years ago. Just saying.

Dura ace....I can't get on with the campag thumb shifter thingy and I'm not fussed over Di2..

Mechanical DA; like your 105 but better and eminently fixable, interchangeable and serviceable.

Have you ever tried Campy? Probably best to give it a go if you can. I'd choose Record every time out of the 3, personally.

Aesthetics, heritage, longevity, durability, ease of maintenance, even ease of use… the Di2 kit is lovely to use, but surely you'd be mad to choose it over Record?