New Di2 Satelite Shifters SW-7972

[vidman]

Looks interesting- http://www.bike-eu.com/news/4642/shiman ... ber%202010

[eigner]

darn. I just bought the other satellite shifter..

[madcow]

Eigner don't worry, this isn't like the satellite you got, this is the sprint shifter and the one you have is the climbing shifter. Yours is a 2 function with two buttons this is a single function. They really do have very different purposes, while you could make these work on the tops the climbing shifter is a more ergonomic solution for tops and while they can be mounted in different places, the spot below the hood is really where it was designed for and is the ideal location. However it is possible with just a little effort to use both the sprinter and climbing shifters.

[Johnny Rad]

Button overload! I can see buttons sprouting up all over the place now ... shifter, below hood, on bar top, bar ends, bar bend behind the hoods, etc. Too much! Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

If one can hit the shifters from the drops, how beneficial is the sprinter's button?

[For full disclosure, I still want Di2.]

[justkeepedaling]

A lot, just pulling a finger off for a quick shift when in a sprint takes a bit of energy due to trying to coordinate the finger shift, the hand rotation, and the pedaling timing. A reason for SRAM's setup. This is much the same, just electronic I personally would love to have both the climbing and the sprinting setups. Sure, a ton of buttons, but not having to move hands when in a certain position saves energy and doesn't affect aero.

[Geoff]

Thanks for the link! That is really interesting.

[morrisond]

http://bike.shimano.com/publish/content ... llite.html

They look nice and compact. It could be a great/cheap way to use a Di2 RD, if you only want to use a single ring up front! 46 - 11/32 using a Sram XX cassette - 185 grams

Do you need the Front levers to use these or can you plug them right into the RD?

Now for the Weenie question. Who makes the lightest brake only levers?

[xcfisher]

Ya... pretty sure you need the STI levers. Same with the other remote shifter (for the bar tops) You can't use it solely. Shimano is a little too quick for that

[Ypsylon]

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=79926

Fairwheelbikes and a few otheres have proven that you can use di2 without the Shimano shiftlevers.

Some examples can be found in their shop gallery:

http://fairwheelbikes.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=49

Then there's of course Pritchet74's Shimagnolo project:

http://fairwheelbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7391

[mrowkoob]

Funny with that button mounted the levers looks almost like campagnolo 10 speed. Just move the extra button up a cm or so and voila...

[Wester-Ross]

@morrisond

The satellite buttons plug into another port in the STI lever. That in turn routes it down to the FD/RD.

Therefore you need the right hand (rear) STI shifter. You also need the FD, because this houses the CPU for the whole system.

I would hope that rear shifting will still work without a front STI lever. If I get the time and inclination over the weekend I'll unplug my front lever and see if the rear shifting still works.

[madcow]

Wester, I'll save you the trouble and tell you yes it will work. You don't need the front shifter, or the rear shifter, or even the front derailleur.

Surprisingly the group will operate without any cpu what so ever. I've built 1x10 Di2 mtb's that worked just fine without the front derailleur or either of the stock shifters. I've also done a couple that don't use the stock front wire kit, so you don't need the junction box with the led lights either. You may loose some functionality like the ability to reprogram your buttons but the function all remains.

It wouldn't be hard to run a Di2 group with just a rear derailleur and these two buttons to control it, the only thing is it wouldn't be plug and play as the plugs don't match so you have to cut and splice, but functionally there is no problem with it.

[Geoff]

Madcow rules...

[morrisond]

So at minimum, you need the SW-7972's, RD, Rear wire Kit and Battery?

What would you use to connect the SW-7972's down to the bottom bracket area? Would it make sense to buy the internal wire kit and splice into that?

I don't want that little control box.

[Ypsylon]

Wouldn't you need (to at least borrow) one for initial setup?