As a reminder I'm going with the Quantum's. I can finally start routing.
This is the part where a professional mechanic could have the bike done in 2 hours. This timeframe takes into account nice lunch breaks and fielding multiple customer phone calls.
But being at best an amateur hobbyist, I instead consume 2 hours simply trying to get a chain sized, getting lost on my way to the McDonald’s, and stuck on hold with the pro mechanic to see if he has any suggestions for resolving both of these problems.
Anyway, it’s time to get cereal.
Shifters mounted, then plug in the EPS cables that were pre-routed through the bars earlier.
The next photo captures one neat thing that EPS does differently from Di2.
EPS has nooks built into the shifter body.
These nooks "politely" insist the builder to route the EPS cable in a manner that relaxes cable tension.
Not a bad touch.
You hear about some people (maybe 1 in every several-thousands?) having Di2 shifters stop working after a rough bump, crash, or deep turn of the handlebar. The root cause being that the Di2 cable unplugged at the shifters due to way too much E-Tube cable tension. Put another way, it was built wrong. Perhaps a rough first day for a new mechanic. Hey, that's me every day!
The polite reminder is buried somewhere in Shimano's Di2 installation guide.
Anyway, it's interesting seeing how different brands handle the same problem.
Speaking of
different ways to handle the same problem, check out Campy's
near-identical solution to Shimano's bar-end interface.
Always eating my own words. Part of a cyclist’s balanced diet.
Now is a good time to mention: I was able to reach the interface bar mount without using the 9g extension cable. Everything was just long enough with enough cable slack to be okay. That said, it was cutting it so close that even going 2cm wider on the bars would have posed a problem.
This has one drawback. The EPS battery had to be jammed deep into the seat tube to give the interface cable enough reach.
The placement of the battery itself isn’t a problem with Di2, but EPS has a magnetically operated switch for disabling the battery or resetting the unit. Initially, I wanted to align this on/off switch at a sensible area on the seat tube or seat post.
However, this would require using the extension cable.
And the real reason I wanted to avoid using it wasn’t the weight, but because it was cumbersome to stuff the super long ext. cable into the handlebar. Tried it — it was weird. The obvious drawback to a one-size-fits all cable approach.
As a result, the battery on/off switch landed in a funky spot. It’s not terrible and I’m happy with the trade off. More on this later — need the whole build to come together first.
One thing that's nice is Campy's interface sticks right into the bar end inner itself, held in place by foam pads. This way, the interface doesn't cause unnecessary bulk as with Shimano's solution which wraps its plastic housing around the outer bar.
An easy hack for Di2 now that I’ve seen this. Having things flush is nice...
Bulky.
Yeah, okay, next.
Plopping on the FD. Color coded cables.
Nice.
Off to snip brake cables.
Brake Outers (cut): 52g
Brake Inners (pre-cut): 32g
I ended up cutting 10g from the 32g inners.
Total brake lines:
74g
By the way, Campagnolo inner cables are super slick.
It's fun gliding these through your fingers. Also great for flossing your teeth in a pinch. Approved by 9/10 dentists.
No peach fuzz on these cables, baby!
Basso's frame requires cutting two pieces of cable outers for routing the rear brakes, and running the bare inner through the internals of the top tube.
For my build, there is audible cable noise when pulling on the rear brakes. It's not bad by any means -- but it's definitely there. It's not a cable rattle or scratching problem, and more like a deeper toned "swoosh" sound.
Something about this frame and its cable entry/exit design amplifies the sound of the cable movement within the top tube for all to hear and enjoy. I'm sure it won't be noticeable when riding, but very apparent on the bench.
My LBS actually warned me about this a long time ago, that this is the one flaw about the Diamante frame. Yet, I still took the plunge because I like how the frame looks.
Also, who knows -- maybe it’s a setup mistake on my part (and the previously mentioned LBS’s). Thought perhaps ferrules are needed, but the routing points don't have room for them. The cable tension is tight, which is enforced by Campagnolo's direct mount calipers whose setup doesn't forgive any amount of slack.
Nonetheless, there's only one good way to look at it.
I’ll be playing you the song of Basso’s people every time I pull on the rear brake.
Woo-hoo. Nice.
)
