[-dustin]

Super cheesy title, sorry.

Frame/ Fork: DeRosa Idol*
Headset: Record
Wheels: Fulcrum Racing Zero 2-way
Everything else: D/A Di2

First time for me to wire up a Di2 kit. We'll see how it goes.

*Frame is stupid, in my opinion, but it's the boss' bike. I'm done with posh Italian manufacturers. Not worth my time or customers' money. C'est la vie...we're supposedly a DeRosa dealer now. First one was sent back right out of the box (warranty for some reason).

Anywho, should be interesting.

 

[CBJ]

If I was making a commitment to Di2 I would also make a commitment to a bike that had it fully integrated. Posh and bikes should not go together.

 

[James]

Fugly front derailleur mount, yuck. Braze-on FTW!
Italian frame.
Japanese parts (electronic to boot!).
Italian wheels.

Hmm...

 

[moff_quigley]

Italian frame.
Japanese parts (electronic to boot!).
Italian wheels.

Hmm...

My thoughts exactly. Needs Super Record.

 

[James]

My thoughts exactly. Needs Super Record.

Ding!

Please send that Di2 to me, I will make sure it goes on something less Italian.

 

[Tame Ape]

I'm waiting to see how the Di2 stacks up on the CX courses this year

 

[-dustin]

Fugly front derailleur mount, yuck. Braze-on FTW!

At least it's a SRAM Red FD mount, which I think is a better looking one. Also, a clamp keeps the FD from needing a bump stop on the frame (from Shimano, it's a piece of metal with a small piece of double-sided tape...not the most inspiring...).

Finished the install today. Wiring was a pain, as I was trying to keep it clean, which I think I did. Lots of pictures coming.

I wanted to put D/A wheels on, but the R0s matched. This bike is a show bike, pure and simple. Meant to get the latest out there so people can see it.

 

[maddog17]

i don't have a problem with Shimano on an Italian frame, but i wouldn't have bought the Idol, i would have gone with the Neo Primato. steel is the real deal.

 

[-dustin]

Me, too. But Plano is all about carbon and ti. Money and bling talk. Function follows form.

Actually, I wouldn't have purchased a DeRosa.

 

[-dustin]

ok...here we go....

first attempt at wiring the thingie that connects to the batter...not so hot.

after 3 or 4 attempts and way too much time trying to find pictures/ inspirations, I came up with this:

The piece has grooves on the underside. The wire that connects to "Junction A" up at the headtube is long, so the grooves allow you to basically route the wire between the bolted piece and the BB shell.

Fairly tidy. The battery mount (bolts under DT bottle cage) is as low as I can take it. I don't see how any frame will be able to support a ST bottle cage w/o Shimano's cage adapter.

This thing should come will every kit. Frame pictured is a 54...maybe 53.5.

I tried various routings for the FD wire and battery wire...decided on what you see. A few zip tires keeps everything from needlessly floating around.

This is "Junction A" at the headtube. 2 connectors attach to the shifters, and one attaches to the thing under the BB shell. Another zip tie keeps things clean.

Love the fact that Shimano thought to make the connector on "Junction A' clamp to the housing. Nice.

So there's one wire that feeds from the HT down to the BB. Shimano included some strips of whatever to cover it. Unlike electrical tape, these piece are molded. Nice. Used scotch tape to keep the shifter connector wires attached to the bars. No messy, gooey junk left behind like with e-tape.

The other rather exposed wire comes from the thing under the BB shell and connects to the RD. Black wire...white frame? No sir. Cinched wire to CS w/ zip tie, then wrapped zip tie in white e-tape.

Then covered wire in white e-tape.

You can see the wire passing through what would be a housing stop.

End result is what I consider to be a fairly clean install.

Wiring it up took forever. Adjusting it was very simple. 10mins, maybe.

Put disc rotor bolts into what would be DT housing stops. Need to get one of the bottle cage adapters for the ST bottle cage. I can totally understand why manufacturers are integrating a mounting point for the Di2 battery. I like the idea of mounting it under the DT (a la BH Connect).

Bike, as pictured, weighs in at 16.8lbs. Not the lightest by any means. Hopefully I'll get to ride it one day. Sticker price on the Di2 kit was about $4k. I can very, very easily see this stuff catching off if price comes down. Shifting up front is the best I've experienced, bar none. The rear is good, the front is phenomenal.

 

[James]

Nice job dude, very nice job. This just reinforces the fact that the bikes designed to run the Di2 stuff, all integrated routing. That's why I'm pretty pumped on the new Madone 6 Series, they really thought that stuff through.
The bike will turn heads, that's for damn sure. Well done.

 

[-dustin]

The Madone w/ integrated Ant+ Sport thing is badass. Very impressed with that forward thinking.

 

[James]

i don't have a problem with Shimano on an Italian frame, but i wouldn't have bought the Idol, i would have gone with the Neo Primato. steel is the real deal.

I don't either, as someone with a Colnago with Dura Ace. My old coworker used to HATE that, but he was an Italian snob. And I wasn't about to drop the coin on Campy...

 

[loco-gringo]

I don't either, as someone with a Colnago with Dura Ace. My old coworker used to HATE that, but he was an Italian snob. And I wasn't about to drop the coin on Campy...

But the sloppy shift levers are sooooo nice.



Looks nice, Dustin. I did like shifting the front at the Shimano event we went to.

I'm stumped by their release on it though. Nearly had a customer interested, but alas, he rides a 61 cm Roubaix and I couldn't get an XL wiring kit. Turns out they shipped them all early because they didn't have the normal length kits.

Sold his wife a Tarmac Pro SL Dura Ace instead.