AutoBleedr; Technological Momentum of Shimano’s Di2 in the Bicycle Industry 6 views

My technical project connected to my STS research project by their shared interest in how the innovation of today could create social and technical dependencies for future engineers, regarding the application of mechatronics to the field of bicycle maintenance. As my project would be an early foray into automatic bicycle maintenance, it was important to examine how the design choices we made could affect choices down the line. To understand this, my STS research paper examines the technical momentum exhibited by another mechatronic device that has become prevalent in the bicycle industry, Shimano’s Di2 automatic gear shifting device. So, while my technical project and my STS research project approach the subject at different angles, they both share a focus on mechatronics, the former being an attempt at applying it and the latter examining the possible repercussions of doing so. Mechatronics has been increasingly applied across all industries and levels of society, from large-scale assembly to home vacuum cleaners. However, mechatronics in bicycle maintenance remains a largely unexplored field. My technical research project aimed to change this by creating a mechatronic device that automated hydraulic bicycle brake bleeding. In particular, the device incorporated several different mechanical actuators that were controlled by an embedded microcontroller. The microcontroller was programmed to activate the actuators in the correct sequence and duration to perform a hydraulic brake bleed. The end goal was to produce an example of what mechatronics in bicycle maintenance could look like and provide a basis for designing and manufacturing a commercialized version of the device. The application of automation piqued my interest as a sociotechnical issue because it would affect the careers of individuals who specialize in bike maintenance. However, the replacement of human workers by automation has been thoroughly explored in prior research and discourse. For my STS research project, I opted to use Thomas Hughes’s framework of technological momentum to analyze how our early attempts with automating bicycle maintenance could affect future innovation down the line. Specifically, I examined another mechatronic bicycle device, Shimano’s Di2. Although it is not a bicycle maintenance device per se, its widespread adoption in the high-end bicycle community made it an ideal candidate for analysis. My paper explores how the automation of gear shifting has affected the bicycle mechanics profession, the commercial market of cyclists, and constrained the design of new products. It reminds engineers how the technological decisions of today can have a significant impact on future choices, whether intended or not, and we must be mindful of this. Working on my STS research project alongside my technical project enriched the value of both. My technical project provided me with the opportunity to apply and learn new skills to engineer a novel innovation, while my STS research project allowed me to grasp the possible consequences that my device had and remain mindful of the technical decisions I made. Overall, the complementary nature of the two projects motivated me to become more involved with them, improving my experience with both.

BS (Bachelor of Science)

Bicycle Maintenance; Technological momentum; Shimano Di2; Mechatronics

School of Engineering and Applied Science Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Computer Engineering Technical Advisor: Caroline Crockett STS Advisor: Benjamin Laugelli Technical Team Members: Landon Campbell, Binh Huynh, Thomas Keyes, Paul Wiskow

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2026-05-08