Cannondale Super Six Hi-Mod Disc

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seahuston
Posts: 161
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:49 pm
Location: San Francisco

by seahuston

Hey all, long time since I shared any of my bikes but I just picked this thing up and I absolutely love it!!

I've been on a 2008 Cannondale System Six with Di2 for the past 4 years, absolutely loved the bike. Every time I looked into upgrading I realized that nothing really offered a significant upgrade (in my opinion) to the System Six. But I'd been eyeing discs for a while since I do a lot of descending and road bike singletracking. Most of my rides work out to ~100' of climbing per mile and I'd never found carbon wheels that I loved the braking on.

I'd had my eye on a SuperSix for a while and finally my local shop got the 2018 colors on sale! I jumped on the System Six Evo Hi-Mod Dura Ace Disc with the intention of swapping over to Ultegra Di2 since it's about an even swap.

Here's the bike after swapping over and building with the new 6870 groupset. I absolutely love the bike, the handling has everything thing I loved about the SystemSix with a little quicker line change (but not twitchy) and the comfort is a huge upgrade. Not quite the huge front end stiffness of the SuperSix but it's plenty stiff.

Weight is 7.8kg which is a little more portly than I hoped but that's disc&di2 for ya.

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I know it's a hotly contested topic but I do feel more confident with the disc brakes, not quite as much initial bite but more power once you grab a fist of them.

One negative/general comment on the bike is that the front/rear ride stiffness is a little unbalanced. A crack or bump in the road is definitely more severe up front than in the back. I've been careful to match pressure in the tires. I'm sure the Pro Vibe Bars and Thomson stem don't help with this and I think that 25.4 Save post helps in the back a lot. Not really a complaint but others might find the feedback interesting.

A couple notes about converting the mechanical frame to Di2:
-You need a new rear derailleur hanger. I was able to drill/file the mechanical one so I could ride while I waited for shipping
-The seatpost doesn't have the battery interface. I wrapped the battery in bar tape and it's a very tight friction fit.
-You'll need some grommets to fill the screw holes for the cable stops



Also, some notes about routing the Di2 internally with the RS910 Junction A.
-I milled a slot in the ends of the bars, along the flats. I couldn't bring myself to put a hole any higher up without being worried about things breaking down the line
-Because I wanted the climbers switch on the right side and the wire to the derailleurs to follow my rear brake I needed to use a Junction B in the bar for an extra port.
-I ran a 1400mm e-tube wire from the right side junction box to the left side junction box inside the bar. A 1200mm may have worked but that's what I had.
-Wiring diagram below
-The wireless transmitter is located in the seat tube, in line with the battery connection.
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A couple weight weenie notes:
-The mechanical cable stops/guides weigh ~13g
-Cannondale uses some super heavy bar end plugs, 30g for the pair!
-The seatpost is really long, 400mm. Most people will be able to remove a small amount of weight here by cutting it


Future upgrades:
-Cutting steering tube and seatpost
-BBInfinite or WheelsMFG 24mm bottom bracket
-New rear skewer, potentially a DT Swiss thru bolt?
-New frame pump, current one rattles all over the place
-New stem, TBD. Mostly a shallow aesthetic motivation :)
-Tubeless tires once the current ones wear out
-New bottle cages, again mostly a shallow motivation
Last edited by seahuston on Fri Sep 14, 2018 3:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

by Weenie


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vaughty
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue May 30, 2017 9:03 pm

by vaughty

Which bottom bracket did you use with the Shimano cranks?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk


seahuston
Posts: 161
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:49 pm
Location: San Francisco

by seahuston

I used the stock PF30a BB cups with the wheels manufacturing BB30a->24mm adapters. They seem fine, I'm planning to replace with either wheels mfg threaded BB or BBinfinite one piece once I have the motivation or the bearings wear out.

seahuston
Posts: 161
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:49 pm
Location: San Francisco

by seahuston

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Some updates:
Swapped Thomson Stem for Bontrager XXX stem, -23g
Swapped Rear QR to 40g one I had in the parts bin, -20g
Cut steerer and seatpost: -44g
Added Lezyne pump bracket: +13g

Image


Future work:
Tubeless tires
Carbon cages
Bolt front axle
Carbon bars (on the hunt for the perfect bar)

After this I don't really see any major weight savings without big outlay or major changes like getting rid of power meter.

Image
Last edited by seahuston on Fri Sep 14, 2018 3:40 pm, edited 3 times in total.

RJL
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:43 am

by RJL

Interesting progress so far! Unfortunately your latest images aren't loading for me.

Gary71
Posts: 267
Joined: Wed Aug 21, 2013 5:25 am
Location: Brisbane Australia

by Gary71

yes - can't see a thing from your last photos.

Did you get a chance to weigh the front fork (actual) weight?

seahuston
Posts: 161
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:49 pm
Location: San Francisco

by seahuston

I *think* I fixed the pictures for now.

I didn't get a chance to weigh the fork, much too lazy to take off the caliper and hose

seahuston
Posts: 161
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:49 pm
Location: San Francisco

by seahuston

Quick Update:

Swapped cages for bontrager RXL cages -39g
Swapped front QR axle for Sram Maxle -24g

I wish I'd researched the axle options a bit more. The maxle weights 32g which seems a little high

Bike is now at 16.8lbs / 7.62kg.

Future upgrade plans:
change to Ritchey Carbon Streem Bars (~60g).
Change to tubeless, tires TBD (~150g).
I've still got the stock hollowgram crank, that would drop around 300g but I'd loose power meter. I'll probably sell it

Dissapointingly the BB has already started to creak. Wheels MFG has an angular contact thread together solution coming in October that I'll wait for.

hannawald
Posts: 1706
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2016 7:28 pm
Location: Czech Republic

by hannawald

You can not fit plastic battery holder into your seatpost? I don't know what kind of bar tape you used but it may grab water and mud, it will be pretty stinky when you open it:)

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



MichaelK
Posts: 452
Joined: Wed Jul 04, 2018 4:50 pm
Location: London, UK

by MichaelK

seahuston wrote:
Wed Aug 29, 2018 1:09 am
A couple notes about converting the mechanical frame to Di2:
-You need a new rear derailleur hanger. I was able to drill/file the mechanical one so I could ride while I waited for shipping
The Di2 specific mech hanger weighs 2 grams less than the mechanical one FYI :lol:
hannawald wrote:
Wed Sep 26, 2018 6:22 am
You can not fit plastic battery holder into your seatpost? I don't know what kind of bar tape you used but it may grab water and mud, it will be pretty stinky when you open it:)
I've never had an issue with either bar tape, foam padding or electrical tape. Pretty sure they're lighter than any plastic holder solution out there.

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