I’ve raged against the machine about batteries in the past on this blog, and my new bike purchase is doing nothing to calm my crotchetiness, no question about that. First, because I now have Sram Red wireless, I suddenly have 4 batteries on my bike:
Two of each of these (the little ones are in the shifters). Of course this means I need a charger for two of them and extras for the other, just in case. Apart from these two bits of lithium, I am about to go on a tour to the Cévennes with some old friends/clients from California. All of these riders have Di2 rental bikes, so of course I have to have at least one Shimano charger on hand.
And this is only the bike – these days nobody takes a pee without having their phone with them, so I have my charging cable for that, not to mention a different one for my Garmin. At least my tablet has the same cable as the phone. That goodness for small mercies.
When I was young it was popular to think that technology would make our lives easier. Quaint, huh?
The Vicious Cycle 
Right? It’s enough to make me go all Rivendell.
The elves knew how to live.
Oh THAT Rivendell…
Dear Curmudgeon, I know you and love you. Thanks for saying it! Now a simple bike ride is a complex effort to remember too many bits and bobs.
I’m glad you understand me, Eric!
I can only imagine what a professional guide needs to lug along with him to ensure all the other riders’ needs are cared for!
Probably not as much as you might imagine, but it’s increasing yearly.
The annoying thing is that the different cables are most probably a deliberate commercial decision to make it hard for you to change brands.
That is certainly annoying, agreed.
Really, is it that tough? I just charge my SRAM derailleur batteries every 1000km (two weeks) and swap the CR2032’s once a year. I also carry an extra derailleur battery, they’re so small. In a pinch though, you could just swap the front and back batteries, because the rear gets so much more use than the front. This assumes you ignore all the low battery warnings your bike computer flashes at you. So, in my mind, the squeeze is certainly worth the juice for the convenience of wireless electronic shifting. I’m not going back to the pain of weekly or daily fine adjusting the cable derailleurs.
As for the other stuff. Charging a phone is part of daily life, as is charging my Garmin and Lezyne rear light, as I use them all every day. And the Garmin and Lezyne use the same USB-C cord for convenience.
Show me some that pines for the “Good Old Days” and I’ll show you someone with a short memory. Also, I heard this quote a while back that I live by, especially now that I’m 69. “Young people look to the future, while Old people look to the past”. I’m staying young, at least in heart.
We all pick our fights with modernity, I think. Some people will have nothing to do with social media, for example; drawing a line in the sand right there. Others may say that you’d be stuck in the past for not going there.
And since we essentially have electric bikes these days, I suppose it’s not a big step forward to everyone having an electric car. Anyone who thinks fossil fuels are going to see us into the future could be labeled as pining for the good old days, too.
In any event, other than the fact that I need to keep an eye on my little lights, I’m liking the new Sram Red…resistance is futile when it comes to electronic shifting.