Di2/11sp upgrade advice

[dominicj]

This is kind of following on from my other thread here about upgrading 6770 to 11 speed but kind of not so new post: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=67538

I tore an abdominal muscle while snowboarding about a month ago so I'm off cycling for 6 weeks or so and figured it was the best time to build, replace, upgrade, etc my weekend ride. I've just recently got my hands on an Avanti Corsa DR frameset which I am in the process of building up. I had finished the build with 6700 shifting and 9000 chainset and brakeset but then I had a good offer to sell a full 6700 groupset so I pulled the FD and cassette off the bike. So I now have some brand new shifters and an older RD on it and I'm trying to decide what to do. I've decided that my ultimate goal is to get to an electronic 11 speed setup and I've identified four options to get there. I've been trying to get my head around which will work best and I figured I'd put it out to the forum and see if there is an obvious issue or benefit to any of them that I'm missing. To make it even more complicated, I want dual shifting options with standard and TT shifters.

Option 1: 6800 now and then upgrade shifting to 6870 when it drops in Jan(ish). This would involve buying a full 6800 gruppo and selling off the crank and brakes now and then replacing shifters, RD and FD in Jan along with all new wiring. I'd also have to upgrade wheels now as my Bracciano's are the old version and won't support 11sp. This gives me 11sp in the short term and electronic 11sp in six months.

Option 2: 6770 now and then upgrade RD to 6870 in Jan. This would involve buying a full 6770 gruppo and selling off the brakeset. Then in Jan I'd buy the new 6870 RD and a new cassette and upgrade wheels. This gives me electronic now and 11sp in Jan.

Option 3: Assuming that you can convert 6770 to 11sp by installing a 9070 RD (see post above) then I could just go all out and buy 6770 gruppo and upgrade RD to 9070 along with wheels now. This gives me both now.

Option 4: Complete the build in 6700 and just wait the 6 months until 6870 is released. This gives me neither now.

Basically I figure that minimising equipment that is purchased now and then sold off after 6 months use seems the most sensible which would point to 3 but that option is the most expensive which kind of evens it out. Option 2 looks promising but then I'd end up with 6770 instead of 6870, although only for the shifters, FD and wiring. Option 4 seems good, especially given that it looks like I'd be able to order the wiring the way I need it to run TT shifters, rather than having to replace the default 6770 wiring harness; but I'm impatient and want to do something now!

On a slightly unrelated note, starbike.com appears to be taking pre-order on 6870 already (http://www.starbike.com/en/shimano-ulte ... e-routing/). Does this mean that the release on this will be sooner than expected or are they just REALLY keen?

[Duck!]

My understanding is that you need to replace both derailleurs when converting to 11-sp, so you might as well just get what is certain to work (9070 or wait for 6870).

Onto the TT shifters; there are a couple of options: The SW-9071 switches only operate the rear derailleur, in the same way the sprint shifters do - one side shifts one way, the other shifts the other way. SW-R671 provide full front and rear shifting.

[Arlberg]

On this subject, does anyone know if the new 6800/6880 Ultegra is exactly the same grey colour as the old 6700/6770 Ultegra? If it is the parts could be mixed and matched.

[Duck!]

It's not exactly the same colour, but pretty close.

[Arlberg]

Thanks! I want to put my 6700 left hand crankarm with Stages Powermeter on the new 6800 crank and not notice it doesn't match.

[HAKS]

Thanks! I want to put my 6700 left hand crankarm with Stages Powermeter on the new 6800 crank and not notice it doesn't match.

The only thing one would notice (by paying very close attention to it) is the different shaping on the new vs old crankset.

[jacks1071]

Do you realise you all you need is a new freehub to make your Pro-Lite Bracciano wheels 11sp Shimano compatible?

[dominicj]

Yup, by upgrade I mean either replace with new Bracc's and move my old ones to the commuter, or replace the freehub. Kind of sucks spending $80 upgrading a $400 wheelset though...

[jasonc]

Yup, by upgrade I mean either replace with new Bracc's and move my old ones to the commuter, or replace the freehub. Kind of sucks spending $80 upgrading a $400 wheelset though...

for 480 you could have 2 compatible wheelsets (Deon will like that one)

[jacks1071]

Yup, by upgrade I mean either replace with new Bracc's and move my old ones to the commuter, or replace the freehub. Kind of sucks spending $80 upgrading a $400 wheelset though...

for 480 you could have 2 compatible wheelsets (Deon will like that one)

I like the way you think

You could also take the freehub to a machine shop and have 1.8mm turned off the inner lip but I think you'd be unlikely to get that done for less than the cost of a freehub unless you know someone with the gear.

[jasonc]

You could also take the freehub to a machine shop and have 1.8mm turned off the inner lip but I think you'd be unlikely to get that done for less than the cost of a freehub unless you know someone with the gear.

or:
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=64510

[rjk]

i was just on starbike and they are advertising the 6870 full groupset both long and short cage derailluers 1320 euros

[dominicj]

i was just on starbike and they are advertising the 6870 full groupset both long and short cage derailluers 1320 euros

They are but only pre-order. This was their response to my enquiry as to when it would actually be available to ship:

Hello Mr. Jonston,

we currently can't clearly say... sorry! We guess within the next 1-2 months. Preorders will be delivered prioritized.

---
Best regards,
Chris

www.starbike.com

[ACT SC600]

Getting to the hub side of things... And just thinking... Cold you change the free hub to campy... And Run a campy 11sp cassette (extremely close spacing).... Just a thought??

[Duck!]

Depends how close the spacings are to each other, but I have an inkling it'd get messy. Shimano uses even sprocket intervals, but for reasons known only to the Italians, Campag has different spacing at the ends than in the middle. (Ever noticed when you remove/install a cassette how the spacers have to go in a certain order? 'Cos they're not all the same.) It's probably close enough to be fudged into functionality, but I doubt it'd run smoothly in all gears.

[Xplora]

Probably improves cross chaining on the campy cassette? But they definitely don't go together lol

[ACT SC600]

here is a few articles....

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/09/ ... eed_301392

http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/12/12/int ... ur-wheels/