Di2 Wire tight across handlebars
 

Hi! I just got a new bike with Ultegra Di2. There's not much slack at all in the wire that runs from one hood to the other on the handlebars. Sliding a garmin mount under that wire makes the fit pretty tight. Is this anything to worry about (pressure on it/something popping out)?

If I wanted to fit a bike light on the handlebar there's zero room.

Thanks!

if the bar is alloy, just drill 2 holes and route it inside

I would be worried to some extent if it's so tight you with a Garmin under it, but at the same time, that's an area that shouldn't ever really move either on its own, though if there was an incident and your hoods moved it could pop out, I guess.

Do you have two wires running to an external junction box or is it internal? The two external wires would probably be about 55 bucks. Not sure about the internal. Up to you if it's worth it for the piece of mind. I'd probably leave it myself.

Thanks for the response! The junction box is in the bar end. The bike shop could not get a hold of the normal handlebars that this bike comes with (Giant TCR) so they used a Zipp aluminum bar. There is a wire running from one hood to the other and goes across the face plate of the stem (tightly).

With the garmin mount it is tight but reasonable. I installed a bike light mount over the wire since there's no way to get it under.

Does that type of wiring for Di2 seem normal? I'm going to call the bike shop when it opens to ask. Pictures of my bike online don't seem to have it that way.

What did the LBS you got it from say when you asked them?

Do not do this.

Mine is set up the same way. Next time the bike is in the shop and is due for new handlebar tape, I will ask them to put in a longer wire -- or, if there is slack under the tape, to let some of it out. (My bike has about 6500 miles on it, but I got a new headlight this year with a burly mount.)

In the meantime, you have options. If putting your light mount over the wire makes you nervous, move it over a bit so that it is over the tape - that will protect the wire.

Longer Di2 wire would be the easiest but I would go with drilling the bars and running a 1200 mm cable internally.

Check out this video by Rides of Japan

If the cable has no slack at the plugs, what will happen is when you bump the shifter off true--you'll unplug the Di2 cable from the brifter....and you'll no longer have a functioning shifter. If the shop knew what they were doing, there shgould be a little bit of swag of cable right behind the shifter clamp in a loop under the bar tape. If they didn't know what they were doing--the cable is taught all the way across--and will unplug when the shifter is bumped.

There are several ways to wire a cockpit, it depends on the parts you have.

If the under stem A junction, it's 4 holes, 2 at the stem, 2 at each shifter.

But why ?, just tape the E-Tune wire alongside the brake housings, it's under bar tape the entire time.

This would certainly be a "I'm really bored this winter" project.

Easy solution....

Sram eTap

Problem solved ;)

solved the wiring issue but now you have to deal with the constant chain drops

FAKE NEWS.

Sorry, not my experience after 5 years and 20,000 miles.

If your dropping the chain bring it to someone who knows how to setup a FD.

no need, switched to di2 got better shifting and braking

From Shimano mechanical.. sure.

The easy path is often the wrong one.

This is one of those times.

Not for me.

Seems the people that piss and moan about Sram don't have it.

It's called learning from your mistakes.

So give details.

What groupset?
What bike?
Who installed it?
How many miles?
How many years?

Rival
S1... how does that matter?
Colorado Multisport
Not many
Three, maybe, at most

I'm sure you have an excuse for it, but that's ok.

Well...

I put 12,000 miles on Rival 10 speed with no problem on a Trek Madone 4.6. 6000 miles in Rival CX1 on a Cannondale SuperX. 4500 miles on Red 22 on a Trek Emonda SLR and 26,000 miles on the same Emonda but with Red eTap.

I can count the number of chain drops on 1 hand.

Your sampling is minimal and I suggest it's "user" error. And you have no problem bad mouthing then entire product line. Sounds fair to me.

I had a shifter fall apart in my hand, which is slightly more memorable than a chain drop. The first thing you've said that's right, though, is that I have no problem bad-mouthing the entire product line. If Shimano can't get the new DA out in time for my new bike (either released or available) I'll probably just go Chorus. SRAM can piss up a rope.

Oh and two of my friends crashed at IMWisconsin because of the queued shifts issue. I'm sure that's just user error and small sample size, though. As it is for everyone else who has that issue.

I guess i'm just lucky since i've had no problems.... or i'm a better mechanic (which i'm not).
Why not just stick with Shimano? The extra gear can't be that much of a difference. So you'll go with Campy which isn't compatible with your other bikes.

GlennR is this another thread you are going to hijack that has absolutely nothing to do with the OP's question? You will then post ten times trying to prove how right you are, because your experience is what everyone else experiences and if they don't it's their fault. Give it a break, it has nothing to do with the question at hand. Maybe, you should read post #1 again and if you can solve that problem with the wire then add something useful. Your posts are tiresome and add nothing of value.

Sorry, just going with the flow.

When someone posts something as a fact with limited proof, I'll will point it out.

Remember, it takes 2.

Oh.. get a longer wire. It's that simple, after all this isn't rocket science.

I'm also waiting for a reply to post #5.
What did the LBS say, after all they built it.

The optimist says "the glass is half full"
The pessimist says "the glass is half empty"
Th engineer says "why is the glass so large?"

Ignoring the SRAM / Shimano arguments (just ride your bike, who cares what groupset people use), I'd like to add:

If the wire is only tight across the handlebars then that is fine. I mean.. I wouldn't want to ride around on a bike with a wire dangling quite a bit below the handlebar. If you're going to run a wire across from left to right, you better make sure it's tight and sticks as close to the handlebar as possible.

I would not run a wire across the handlebar myself, but that's up to you / LBS.

That said, there should definitely be excess wire / slack at the shift lever itself, or anywhere it plugs into another component. If there is not, you run the risk of accidentally unplugging wires if a shift lever moves or if you grab the bars (or that dangling wire).
At the levers it should look something like this:
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c5ec7f225e.jpg