Ultegra Di2 6770 Installation

Armed with the instructions that accompanied the various components, the tech documents from Shimano mentioned in my last post and this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HdFmgAqv0g the installation was easy and went very smoothly. There is not really much to add to this but the following may be helpful.

Brifters

I have small hands and am quite happy with the size of the Ultegra Di2 6770 brifters (right, Ultegra 6700 left).

The transition from the brifters to the handlebar is noticeably different and I found I needed to re-position them after my first ride. If there is ever a time to do a test ride without installing handlebar tape, this is it. As mentioned in the instructions, the wire can be connected to either terminal. Reading through the instructions is actually useful in this case to avoid that moment of doubt. The extra terminal is for those who want the optional "satellite switch" or the PC connector (SM­PCE1)­.

Shimano made an effort to make the installation that much easier. The terminal rotates outwards to facilitate the connection.

As mentioned in the instructions, you can wrap the wires around the base of the brifter to take up any unneeded length in the SM­EW67­A­E (sorry, no picture). I needed to do so as I have smallish handlebars. It all covers up rather nicely with bar tape.

External vs. Internal Wiring

Before deciding to take the plunge and do this upgrade, I read endless posts about how ugly the wiring was.My frame is not Di2 ready and has (partial) internal cabling for the rear brake only. As the warranty on my frame has already expired (Lapierre mysteriously offers a one year warranty on its frames in Japan versus the 5 years it offers in other countries), I considered drilling holes to do the wiring internally. The wiring for internal or external is the same, the rear junction only is different and sold individually if you were ever inclined to change your setup SM­JC41* (built­in type)/SM­JC40* (external type). After completing the wiring externally, I really can't see why so many people are complaining about the appearance.

I suppose it helps if your frame is black. The wire covers are quite flexible and adequately sticky (they have not budged after about 1000 km of riding in the 40 C degree hell that is Osaka's summer). Washing down the frame as suggested before installation as suggested is definitely a good idea.

Wrapping the excess wiring under the BB is a pain but the wiring is very flexible. I am not saying this is the best wiring job ever but it is very secure and who is ever going to see it?

The wiring is considerably smaller than cable housing so again, what is the big deal?

The battery was my biggest worry, as in where to put it. It is much smaller than I expected but it requires a little space to remove. I have seen it installed under the bottom bracket on some Di2 ready frames (which seems like a great place for the battery to get as much water as possible).  I have also seen it installed on the left chainstay.

Sorry, Don't remember where I found this picture to give credit. I also have a Garmin cadence/speed sensor in the same position. This bike may have eyelets to screw in the short battery mount (SM­BMR1­S). The battery mounts are a little pricey. I tried setting it up this way with zip ties. The zip ties would interfere with mounting the battery in the short battery mount however. Water seems like less of a problem but it might get knocked around a bit (?). So despite the space problem, I mounted the battery with the long water bottle type mount.

Not a lot of space but I have only removed the battery once so far for recharging. I had to use the bottle cage adapter ­(SM­BA01) to move the water bottle cage on the seat tube up about 10 cm.

This results in a tight fit for the water bottle on the seat tube but it works. These Polar insulated water bottles are pretty big but I find I need them in summer. All of this just means that if you have a bike with similar geometry that is on the small size, where you choose to mount the battery might require some forethought and some measurements but it is doable.

How big are the derailleurs? How do they look?

Yeah, they are bigger. Looks, of course, are very subjective. They are very nicely finished, they look like high quality components. Personally I do not care about the weight difference, at least in this case.

Installing them, following the instructions, was a breeze. The support bolt for the FD is difficult to find (see instructions) but aside from that no problem. Shimano's instructions indicate moving the RD to the 5th cog on the cassette and aligning the RD from that cog for the initial adjustment. I found that when I did that, the FD would not shift onto the largest cog. I set my RD by starting from the 4th cog and everything worked perfectly. Now that I have lived with this upgrade for a while, was it worth it?