Pro Vibe stem and handlebars

[cho00010]

Is anyone running the updated Vibe handlebars and stem? If so, did you happen to take images of the set up? I have two questions that I can't seem to find the answers to anywhere. Firstly, are they only compatible with the bar end junction box, or is there scope to place an older style junction box within the stem itself?

Secondly, how did you route the tube wire to junction B? I can't see anyway of a cable being routed internally around the headset (at least not on my bike). I have spent a good few hours looking through forum posts looking for images of this set up. I basically don't want to order the parts to find they're not suitable with my older bike and di2.

Cheers!

[djwalker]

I have the Pro Vibe bars but not the stem. However, I have seen the Stem. What I can say is that the bar has a hole on the back side facing the stem. So, you can fairly easily (since the wires and cables are a bit of a pain to route) route one or two Di2 wires into the body of the stem. There is no way that brake cables could go that way since the hole is too small. The stem has a notch in the clamp that allows the wires to come out the bottom of the clamp. This gives you a number of wiring options: 1) (I used this) Bar end junction and route Di2 wire along side rear brake cable and into frame. With a bit of shrink tube this gives a very neat setup. 2) Bar end junction and route Di2 cable into stem and out notch in the bottom. You still have to get the wire into the frame some how and it is now separate from the brake cable so you have two cables to neaten up. 3) Route two Di2 wires out notch in stem and to old-style junction box under stem. This would be a fairly neat setup. 4) Route two wires into stem and put junction box inside stem and the wire to the frame out the notch. This would work but would require removing the bars for charging, changing modes, etc. A serious pain. 5) Any version of the above that has the wire in the frame going through the head tube internally. You need some method of getting the wire past the bearings. A couple of frames have a flattened steerer tube. Otherwise you need holes in the steerer somewhere. This whole scenario has not been worked out in the industry.

My personal feeling is that option 1) with a bar end junction and routing the wire along the rear brake cable gives the neatest overall routing and the easiest access to the junction box. Using a goofy routing like putting the junction inside the stem to avoid buying the bar end junction sounds like a bad tradeoff to me.