Integrated Di2: TT version

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jever98
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Location: Seattle

by jever98

After having had a lot of fun building my Di2 road bike (viewtopic.php?f=10&t=79891), next comes the Di2 TT bike.

Velocite's TT frame still being under development I am using an open source frame for this year, as used by Ritte, Museeuw, Planet X, etc. It's actually a design by Lewis Mathiske, who also (more recently) designed the Velocite Helios Aero.

Building a new Di2 bike it wasn't enough to just put the battery inside the seat tube anymore. Been there, done that, with the help of coloclimbers and others. A friend of mine and I didn't like the Shimano Di2 TT levers and bar end shifters, so we decided to go our own way. The "buttons of choice" at the moment seem to be the Cateye remote buttons that were made for a Cateye wireless computer: small, low profile, and water proof.

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The tricky part is how to place these buttons on bar end shifters. Most normal bar end shifters are not very well suited to this, because you need to stick the buttons on them, which makes them prone to coming off. So after much looking around, we found 3T aero bar levers, which have one important advantage: they are clamped onto the bar by sliding them on. The idea was to drill holes in the levers to make space for the buttons. Actually this is a pretty tough job, considering there is not much material to play around with and the things are round. Luckily, a friend of a friend works as the house mechanic in a big company nearby, and he is a bike head. He did a pretty stellar job:

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When I checked my Syntace bar, I found that they had kindly used a non-standard diameter! It was not possible to slide the levers over the bar ends. So the same friend worked some serious magic on the lathe and came up with a very sweet way to attach the buttons and lever to the bar:

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The setup actually works out about 20g lighter than the 120g that are given for the Shimano bar end shifters (per pair):
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That should save me at least 0.002s on an Ironman!! ;-P

To be continued...
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wboyle3
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by wboyle3

This has to be one of the coolest things ever. I absolutely love the Di2 TT system. So smooth.

by Weenie


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eigner
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Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:36 am
Location: Denmark

by eigner

Id love to have the know-how to make those kind of DI2 modifications my self. Very cool stuff!
Current: Colnago CX Zero Di2 Disc, Cannondale F29 carbon3
Previous: Scott Plasma 3 premium, Parlee Z3SL, Parlee Z4, Argon18 E112, TREK TTX7.0, S-Works Transition, Pinarello F4:13

Geoff
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by Geoff

Ok, that's cool...

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devinci
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by devinci

once again a promising thread by jever98

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coloclimber
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by coloclimber

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
-Deacon Doctor Colorado Slim

chops
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Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:13 am

by chops

Brilliant. You going to have shifting on the extensions?

jever98
Posts: 1172
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:02 pm
Location: Seattle

by jever98

Thanks guys! Yes, there is bar-end shifting. The friend made some very nice housings for the cateye buttons here, too:

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The nice thing is that the button holders are just slotted in and hold well enough that you don't need to glue them or anything. With some force they can be rotated so you can choose your preferred button position.

This afternoon I am meeting another friend to wire up the buttons (customization by getting help :-). So hopefully some more pictures tonight.

An unfortunate thing is that the frame painter stood me up. He was meant to finish the frame till yesterday and all of a sudden asked for another 2 weeks, which I don't have, since my races are soon. So I took the frame back and will do some home made spray painting. The decal stickers were made already, so I am doing stuff myself. Here is the first thing I painted, on the seat post, to be on the safe side (a little motto):
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Geoff
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by Geoff

Nice!

jever98
Posts: 1172
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:02 pm
Location: Seattle

by jever98

Little update: worked on wiring up the handlebar on Friday but didn't quite finish. Since the frame painter stood me up I ended up putting on some very simple decals myself and continued to build: drilled the frame and put the cables in. Tested the setup with my road handlebars.

Continued to put bits on: white ISM saddle, black Simkin egg brakes, front and rear derailleur, Speedfil drinking system (for Ironman racing). The stem is a placeholder and will likely be replaced by a 100mm Easton EC90 at 0 degrees. The wheels will be Velocite Noirs, 50 or 90 front, 90 rear, and a Hed Disc for flat races. Cranks Rotor 3D+ with Power2Max power meter.

Question is: should I put white bar tape (boring, gets dirty), Fizik silver (kind of matches decals), or Cinelli gold (bling bling). Tending to the gold right now.

Handlebar should be finished by Tuesday, hopefully.

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Geoff
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Location: Canada

by Geoff

I have the silver Fizik tape on a couple of ag2r bikes in my collection. It looks cool, but is quite thin, if that matters to you...

Did you drill the steerer tube?

jever98
Posts: 1172
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:02 pm
Location: Seattle

by jever98

Thanks for the advice. I drilled the top tube (see last picture).
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LarsEjaas
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Location: Aarhus, Denmark

by LarsEjaas

Your build looks very promissing!

I got one of these frames, and absolutely love it - I hope you will be equally fond of yours 8)

I must admit I got a bit of envy on your build -DI2: I had to keep cost down and went with SRAM Force instead :cry:

jever98
Posts: 1172
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:02 pm
Location: Seattle

by jever98

The preliminary build is finished. I am very happy with it I must say :-). The only thing I messed up is that I damaged one of the cables during installation - one of the 8 buttons currently doesnt work. Oh well, need to fix it.

the following is still to be done:
- Handlebar tape of course (torn between black, white, silver, gold)
- Other stem: most likely EA90 0 deg
- Sand spacers to make matte
- Most likely lower the front a bit
- arrange cables around handlebar
- Finalize bottle setup
- Attach behind-the-saddle bottlecage holder
- Add ANT+ speed sensor.

Wheels will be:
38, 50, or 90mm Velocite Noir in front
90mm Noir or Hed disc at back.

PS: saddle looks more slanted than it really is.

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by Weenie


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hansonator69
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

by hansonator69

Looking good! :)
Slam your stem.

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