I have the idea of moving to electronic but the price of a new group set is more than I’m willing to spend. So I thought about used Di2 for my 7 series Speed Concept, but have no idea what to watch out for. Is there wear and tear on certain parts that typically need to be replaced, other than the battery? What would the life expectancy be for an electronic group set?
What do I need to know?
I would stick with mechanical shifting.
I have the idea of moving to electronic but the price of a new group set is more than I’m willing to spend. So I thought about used Di2 for my 7 series Speed Concept, but have no idea what to watch out for. Is there wear and tear on certain parts that typically need to be replaced, other than the battery? What would the life expectancy be for an electronic group set?
What do I need to know?
Watch for the rear derailleur pulleys. Could have easily gotten rough without the seller knowing. I ran one with rough pulleys for probably half a year, and it cost me placings.
Rough estimates of pair prices for used parts. Note that parts are getting scarce these days though.
-SW-R671, ~$120
-All wires needed, ~$125
-Internal battery, $75
-EW-90, $60
-JC-41, $25
-FD, $90
-RD, $165
Add $80 for SW-R671, $25 for wires, $75 for battery, $25 for EW-90, $5 for JC-41, $90 for FD, and $60 for RD, if buying new.
Go to bettershifting.com for background on any pieces. Used to be Di2center but there is a wealth of knowledge there. Also here is the pricing I got, most of them from here on Slowtwitch and some other random pieces here there.
$400 - FD 8050, RD 8050, ST–8050 (L&R), external junction A, internal Junction B, 5 wires (1200, 750, 650, 400 x 2, 300), battery BT-DN110 and charger SM-BCR2. I thought that was a pretty sweet deal. Everything was used but in decent shape. I ended up replacing the pulleys on the RD for not much.
On top of that then I ended up paying $92 for the bar end shifters off ebay, $50 for the wireless unit, $80 for the internal junction 8 and for $40 I got a bundle with another junction B, y splitter and a coupe cables. All in all I spent just under $700 and donated a few extra wires.
One other thing to note when you’re looking at everything is if you’re going internal vs external with the junction A and what your routing will be depending on and your final cable lengths also depend on in vs out.
I am selling my Di2 stuff as I just upgraded to 12s SRAM eTap AXS. The RD and FD are both Ultegra Di2. I have the brifters, junction boxes, battery, wires, and 1-button aero shifters. Also have 170mm Dura-Ace crankset with 52/36 chainrings.
Used about 10 times so in mint condition. Let me know if interested.
Where are you going to put the junction box?
You need to put it somewhere and all the photos I have seen online show it zip tied to the top tube/head tube. If you have the ‘high’ front end configuration things look OK as its hidden by the rise in the front end, but on the ‘low’ front end configure it looks like a real bodge. Getting the cabling correct will be essential and it doesn’t look like the most friendly configuration to rig up.The good news is that I believe all 7 series were made to accommodate electronic groupsets so I don’t think you will need to dremel the frame.
Where are you going to put the junction box?
You need to put it somewhere and all the photos I have seen online show it zip tied to the top tube/head tube. If you have the ‘high’ front end configuration things look OK as its hidden by the rise in the front end, but on the ‘low’ front end configure it looks like a real bodge. Getting the cabling correct will be essential and it doesn’t look like the most friendly configuration to rig up.The good news is that I believe all 7 series were made to accommodate electronic groupsets so I don’t think you will need to dremel the frame.
Yeah, if you go external with the junction A there is a small piece that ties into your spacers that I got that isn’t a horrible option; K-edge Di2 Junction Box Mount. Keeps it pretty close under the stem. I don’t have any good pictures of how it looks on my P3. If you can go internal with everything though I would suggest that. I bought all the pieces (internal junction A, y splitter, extra cable) to go internal but haven’t had the time to take the front apart yet to clean it up. Wish I did it the first go around.
Two things to keep in mind:
Dura Ace 7970 is not compatible with any other Di2 series. Do not buy a 7970 bike, as you’ll have a hard time finding replacement parts if something breaks.
Ultegra 6770 is 10-speed. You cannot* mix 10-speed derailleurs and 11 speed **derailleurs *on the same bike. If one 6770 derailleur breaks you’ll have to find another 6770 derailleur to replace that OR upgrade both derailleurs.
( technically you can, if you’re willing to downgrade firmware using slightly hacky methods :))
If you see any and I mean any hint of redneck engineering on the Di2 components walk away from the buy. People slap these on bike frames that don’t natively accept Di2 and use all sorts of creative solution to do it. Don’t buy someone else’s problems.