[Closed] Anyone fitted XT Di2 ? How easy to fit to Cotic Bfe 26er

Wouldn’t a cheaper option be getting a 1*12 or 1*11 mechanical group set? I have Di2 XT set as 2*11 for my race mtb hardtail and I have the battery in the seat tube and the junction box in the steerer tube. I think your problem is going to be getting the cables inside the frame to the battery.

Wouldn’t a cheaper option be getting a 1*12 or 1*11 mechanical group set?

How's that gonna work with not being able to shift with his right thumb?

I’ve mangled my right hand and will be a while before I change use thumb shifters

I have a di2 set-up on a Medium Cotic Solaris.

I have the battery in the headtube using a battery grip and a bung at the bottom made from an old grip with a hole in the end. There is then a wire going to the display/control box on the bars. Then one lead to the shifter and one long lead following the gear cable routing down to the rear mech. I run it as 1x11 so no need for an extra junction box to run two shifters.

Works very well and about as neat as I could manage without routing cables internally.

I have a di2 set-up on a Medium Cotic Solaris.

I have the battery in the headtube using a battery grip and a bung at the bottom made from an old grip with a hole in the end. There is then a wire going to the display/control box on the bars. Then one lead to the shifter and one long lead following the gear cable routing down to the rear mech. I run it as 1×11 so no need for an extra junction box to run two shifters.

Works very well and about as neat as I could manage without routing cables internally.

thanks

for some reason it never twigged the junction box was only for the 2x11 setup. If that's the case, then the junction box would heave to be externally mounted, unlkess it can be sited in the bottom bracket ? Unsure how I get the cables to run neatly from there though.

The display on the handlebars acts as the junction box - no need for another one if you're only using one shifter.

How about an 11 speed gripshift mounted on the left and run 1x11? Would be cheap and simple to set up.

How about an 11 speed gripshift mounted on the left and run 1×11? Would be cheap and simple to set up.

have considered this and played about with the shimano slx shifters - but I cannot get them into a decent position without fouling the brake lever.

If anyone has done this and has a picture of how they've done it - then I would be very grateful, as interested in electronic shifting as I am, there are other things I'd rather spend the money on.

As the Cotic has a 2x10 setup, so I'd have to replace the entire drive-train for di2. Not cheap.

Right hand grip shifter on the left side?

I'd love to see that set up...

Cheers!
I.

Would an old style thumb shifter work on the left?

I have a left hand shifter I should probably get around to selling. PM me if interested.

Right hand grip shifter on the left side?

I came here to post this suggestion as well.

We had a Di2 setup on a Pace hardtail. There was a lot of wiring. You can get Shimano stick-on wiring sleeves that can stick under the downtube. Our battery was in the fork steerer, with the display on the bars and a junction box (SM-JC40) bolted to the BB shell. It was about as pretty as you could make it I guess, but there's a lot of wire-sticking to do. Obviously SRAM's new AXS setup would work wonderfully in that situation, but it's not out yet...

Di2 is wonderful kit, but I wouldn't want a load of exposed (fragile!) wires on the outside of a steel MTB frame myself. On a carbon frame with internal routing, it makes a lot more sense. Anyway... It's perfectly doable though, you just need to be inventive and not mind too much about having all the wiring external.

Personally, if the problem is just your right hand, then get a SRAM GX Eagle setup and just swap the trigger shifter out for a Gripshift, and mount it on the left hand side rather than the right. It'll work fine with just about any brake levers on the market, it's loads cheaper than Di2, you'll get 500% range etc... And when you're right hand is better, you can either swap the gripshift over to the right, or just replace it with a proper trigger shifter again.

It's a hefty steel frame, just drill some holes and have internal wiring 🙂

Di2 is wonderful kit, but I wouldn’t want a load of exposed (fragile!) wires on the outside of a steel MTB frame myself. On a carbon frame with internal routing, it makes a lot more sense. Anyway… It’s perfectly doable though, you just need to be inventive and not mind too much about having all the wiring external.

Personally, if the problem is just your right hand, then get a SRAM GX Eagle setup and just swap the trigger shifter out for a Gripshift, and mount it on the left hand side rather than the right. It’ll work fine with just about any brake levers on the market, it’s loads cheaper than Di2, you’ll get 500% range etc… And when you’re right hand is better, you can either swap the gripshift over to the right, or just replace it with a proper trigger shifter again.

cheers - will take a look at the sram kit, the info I've seen on the sram grip shift is that the brake lever is then shifted right inside on the bars. No idea if this is true or avoidable.

What I'm trying to avoid is spending money on kit that won't work. I was hoping to keep the Cotic as a 2x config, but that's not looking too good right now. Without spending circa 700-800 on electronic shifters.

My sram gear shiters on the Cannondale jekyll are sublime.

It’s a hefty steel frame, just drill some holes and have internal wiring 🙂

funnily enough this was my first thought ! Couple of holes, with grommets round the wiring.

If I drill holes in the frame, next time I ride the Cotic will I die in a fireball of epic proportions ?

The tube wall thickness in some areas on a Cotic frame is less than 1mm thick; When I rang Cotic about the best way to re-paint a frame and was talking about a local place that sand blasted frames, they said to be very careful as a hamfisted sandblaster could go through the thin wall like a hot knife through butter. So if you're going to drill holes in the frame probably best to talk to Cotic first to understand where the best place to drill the holes would be.

Its a shame you can't cut down the Di2 cables and re-fit connectors. You could run the cable through a large enough hydraulic brake hose and route externally along the normal brake cable runs.

we have successfully cut and soldered Di2 cable to get around difficult B&B routing so the outer sleeve idea could work