Complete guide to electronic gears: your bike’s shifting, indexing and charging explained [Video]

With electronic gears now more affordable than ever and trickling down to third and fourth tier groupsets in the big brands’ ranges, even more riders have been won over by electronic in recent years… but what’s the advantage over mechanical gears, and how do they work? In this guide, we’ll cover all you need to know to get the best out of your electronic groupset, or help you decide if it’s time to make the switch if you’re still unsure. 

The surge in popularity of electronic gears is largely a result of their adoption in the pro peloton. Currently, all 18 men’s teams in the WorldTour peloton use electronic groupsets, and it’s been that way for almost a decade. 

Amongst these teams, 14 are riding Shimano Di2 groupsets, while the remaining four opt for SRAM Red eTap AXS. Another big groupset brand – and arguably the biggest in the 20th century – is Campagnolo, but the …