We're back, at least for one new post! (currently we're on like annual post schedule haha)
So, like most of the world, 2020 was a wash in events. (obviously, very minor complaint in the grand scope of things) For me personally that meant no velodrome travel for sure, and in the "used bike boom" I ended up selling my Fuji Track Elite. 2021 is looking like there will be at least some form of return to "normalcy" for racing, but I'm still not convinced much travel will be happening. So in my mind the most likely return to some local'ish racing is time trialling. The only problem with that... all my dang time trial bikes were sitting in some form or another of neglect and/or disarray. In all fairness, so am I, so everything is going to be a slow build :)
My Speed Concept sat there in the corner of the garage, a thin layer of dust coating it... it's old plasti dip ruined and peeling in multiple places. Alright then... let's get started.
I'll spare you the full breakdown, but I stripped the old dip, roughly blocked the entire frame (120grit) and oh yeah, cut the stupid duotrap mess out of the chainstay, then layed up some carbon the make it less annoying when trying to fit a disc wheel. Using Spray.bike carbon primer and paint, we were able to shoot some new life back into the tired old Gen1 7 series SC.
Step 1 - Set up a non-embarrassing fit.
Honestly that was my first sit down on the bike after just guessing some measurements. Screw trying to meet any regulations, I just want to go fast, so I set it up similarly to my old triathlon position from my first trip to A2 (a decade ago lol) albeit I'm considerably less flexible (and considerably more brittle) than I was back then.
Step 2 - deciding on a build
Look, I've been wanting to build a Di2 setup for years, for a bike and tech nerd it's always appealed to me. But I'm also a cheapskate (it's why I always end up using like 7800 I've had for 10 years) so it's always been like "yeah, I'm going di2" - 2 minutes of looking on online swap meet later - "ehh, back to mechanical." But this time was different. I had a mission. And that mission was... I really didn't want to re-cable the rear derailleur on the speed concept again. :)
So then I thought... alright, lets do this as cheap as possible. How cheap can I get this bike shifting.
I thought $500 would be a challenging, yet attainable number. So that's where I started.
Budget - $500
I did some consulting with some folks that actually knew something about di2 (and Slowtwitch where some folks showed off some truly brilliant hacks that I'll be borrowing in the future) and after checking and re-checking some compatibility charts, I figured I could get by with just 6 pieces.
- Shifters
- Junction A
- Battery
- Battery Charger
- Rear Derailleur
- Cables (I'm counting them as one damnit)
Going into it I knew the hardest bits to obtain at discount would be the battery and the charger. These are things EVERYONE needs pretty much regardless of what kind of build you are going for, so there is very little reason for them to ever sell at discount. I briefly considered building my own battery (and charger for that matter, as I have most of the necessary stuff to make one in my garage) but after consulting with some folks smarter than me, I came to the conclusion that at least to begin with it would be wise to not cause myself any more headaches than necessary.
So I put out the call for some gently (or not so gently) used components. My friend Emil had an extra junction A, and we were able to trade around on some wrench work I do for him. I don't know what you'd consider that in terms of dollar amount... but since they are my rules (I'm like the Iron Cowboy with my rules) I'm counting it as $0 and you can't stop me.
Another friend (Thanks Rudy - shoutouts galore!) had built a fair number of setups for folks in the past and had some extra parts in his box. OG (from Beginnertriathlete!) discount code engaged, and $125 later, I had secured a battery (the older internal style) and a rear derailleur (6870) as well as some random cables. So far, we're off to a good start. The rear derailleur was the thing I was most concerned with budget wise, as ideally I'd have wanted a long cage shadow/xt (as I only have a 1x setup I'll need a large'ish rear sprocket to bail out on) but as most of them are easily $250+ it just wouldn't have worked for the budget. We'll talk more about the RD later.
So now I needed a charger and shifters... and off to ebay we go after not finding anything that would work was cheap enough on Online Swap Meet / forums.
I found an open box single tt shifter floating around on ebay, after sending an offer that was accepted ($70 after shipping/tax) I was down to the charger.
I bid on a few that were just auction style, but most of them ended up bringing either as much, or in one case...more... than a buy it now nib. I feel like if I had held out I could have found a used one a little below the $100 mark, but I had saved enough on the JuncA/rear derailleur/battery combo (thanks again Rudy and Emil!) that I just bit the bullet and bought a new one. After shipping/tax - $130
That brings the total to
- Shifter (came with it's own cable) - $70
- Junction A - free'ish
- Battery - $60
- Battery Charger - $130
- Rear Derailleur - $60
- Cables - $5
Total so far - $325
(obviously I just broke up the Batt/RD/cables - as they all came together, you can split it as you like)
In theory, that should shift right there with no other money spent. It's likely since I'm foregoing a junction B, that I may need to purchase a longer cable to run from A to the RD, but I'm waiting to get everything in hand before I buy that.
Also, something will have to change on the rear derailleur. My plan is to buy a cheap OSPW (token/digirit/KCNC/etc) that will allow for at least a 32t max on the rear. A 36t would be nice, but I can always go down a little in chainring size if I have to on hillier courses.
So can you build a sub... $400 di2 tt setup? To quote the Beatles "with a little help from my friends" (and some bargain shopping, and obviously some concessions) it seems like the answer is yes.
In the next episode (hopefully before 2022) I'll have everything in hand and we'll see if it actually works :)
Thanks for checking in and reading. I would blame it on 2020 but obviously this has been an on/off (mostly off) project well before that. I'm considering moving to a video format in the future, but I really have a voice and face for text based communication so we'll see.
