Exclusive First Look: Shimano Electronic Dura-Ace

Over at Wired.com, Eric Hagerman has the world's first official photographs and look at Shimano's electronic bike shifters.

We seen prototypes for ages, but this is the first official announcement from the Japanese component giant concerning the group, which will be available in January 2009. Check it out!

But if the existence of electronic shifting comes as no surprise, its weigh-in
certainly should. During a recent telephone interview, an industry insider who
spoke on condition of anonymity stopped cold amid a why-do-we-need-this
diatribe, upon learning that Di2 weighs less than Shimano's current generation
of parts. According to the company, Di2 will be 67 grams lighter than the
current Dura-Ace 7800 and only 68 grams heavier than Dura-Ace 7900, the snazzy
forthcoming 2009 suite of parts. "I'll be going to hell," said the source, who
then fell silent -- no doubt converting grams to ounces to fractions of a pound
to the limitless advantages of such weight savings. That's at least an extra
Clif Bar.Shimano plans to offer the electronic setup as an upgrade option within
the 7900 group -- which is preselling for $2,600 -- so parts such as the
two-tone cranks and brakes will be the same. (No word yet on the additional cost
for electric; it could be double.) Di2 consists of two brake-and-shift levers,
two derailleurs whose springs have been replaced by servo-motors, a 7.4-volt
lithium-ion battery pack, and the wiring harness that connects everything.