During day three of Interbike 2014, I had a few moments to play with the Shimano XTR Di2 system. The system is officially known as Shimano XTR Di2 M9050, and continues the trend of Shimano’s naming standards. Simply put, the system is mind blowing! The shifter buttons offer the same tactile feedback you expect with the equivalent mechanical shifter, but with zero delay from button push, to derailleur actuation.
I didn’t try out the synchro mode of the system. Rather, I pushed the rear derailleur through it’s regular incremental steps, one click of the shifter after the other. The derailleur shifted as fast as I could push the buttons, or at a determined speed (customizable multi-shift) if I held down a shifter button. The front derailleur functioned flawlessly as expected.
If you can swing the funds for the system on a new MTB, buy it! If I ever purchase an MTB in the future, Shimano’s XTR Di2 system will be on it, no questions asked. Shimano XTR Di2 is simply the best shifting available, period. Haters will always despise electronic shifting, but there is no denying electronic shifting is in the future of cycling.
Finally, I cannot confirm for certain, but the derailleurs should work perfectly with the Di2 road shifters too. Can you say Monster cross bike with mega low gearing options!!!
Below you will find two short sample (phone camera) videos I shot of the system in action, as well as a bunch of still photos. Enjoy!
Shimano XTR Di2 M9050 Video 1
Shimano XTR Di2 M9050 Video 2
Photos
