I bought my wife a Bianchi Dama Via Nirone 7 for christmas, an eBay bargain. It's in great condition with 9 speed Sora groupset and she really likes the bike, with one minor issue. Her right hand is very weak, not very dexterous and slightly smaller than her left hand. If you didn't know you probably wouldn't notice but it's enough to make gripping and using the bulky Sora STI's an issue for her. We've been in to our local shop for a bike fit to get them in the optimum position but she's still struggling a little and it's clear she doesnt have full control. Here's the bike in question:
Not wanting her to be put off cycling before she's really started I've decided to upgrade the bike on the sly by fitting Di2. Whilst you can buy smaller versions of ultegra and 105 mechanically geared STI's they only seem to be available for hydraulic brakes so I figured Di2 STI's are probably the next best thing. Next challenge is to try and keep the spend small as I still don't know how much she intends to use the bike. I've decided to buy secondhand parts where possible to achieve this, and potentially push the boundaries of compatibility where possible.
My initial thought was to use 6770 Ultegra front and rear mechs with 6870 STI's - the 6870 STI's are marginally smaller than the older 6770's but still compatible with the 2x10 speed 6770 mechs. This would mean I could keep her current wheels by swapping the 9 speed cassette for a 10 speed. Unfortunately perousing old eBay ads suggests the 10-speed stuff commands a much higher price than the similar age 11-speed. In fact I couldn't find a used 6770 rear mech for much less than £170
Plan B was then sprung in to action and I have now secured STI's, rear mech and front mech
The STI's are Ultegra R6870, used but in pretty good condition with only a few scuffs on the bottom of the lever arms. Advertised as fully functional but only time will tell
I paid £75 for them.
Rear mech, again Ultegra R6870, slightly scuffed but again advertised as fully functional. I'll give it a clean when it arrives and then plug it in to one of the other bikes to check that it behaves itself I didn't have a lot of choice with this as the long cage mechs seem less common - I paid £70
Front mech completes this evenings purchases, Ultegra R6870 and in apparently excellent condition, even coming with the same k-edge chain catcher that I have fitted to my other Di2 equipped bikes
This one cost £69. Less cleaning up to do on this one, but it will still be plugged in to another bike and checked its functional and straight before I start the swap
I narrowly missed out on a jumble of used eTube wires and junction boxes earlier which was slightly dissappointing, it's amazing how the cost adds up when purchasing them new! Whether I go for the bar end junction box or the under-stem one depends entirely on what pops up on eBay over the next few weeks for the right price I presume everything will need to be externally routed but need to investigate the frame in a bit more detail to work that out before I go much further.
I also need to factor in the cost of a cheap 11 speed hub (and spokes if I can't find one with similar flange dimensions), cassette, battery and chain. Technically the chainset will need replacing too but I may try and modify the spacing on the existing one first. If I can strip it down and mill some material off the chainring mounting faces to bring the spacing down to 11-speed spec it'll save me the cost of a used Ultegra chainset, which seems to be about £80-100
Worth a pop anyway, I'll have to investigate how its constructed. It's residual value must be pretty low so it's not a major issue if I wreck it in the process
Anyway, this should keep me busy once the Brompton project has finished. Which reminds me, I should probably do some more work on the Brompton project soon
Not wanting her to be put off cycling before she's really started I've decided to upgrade the bike on the sly by fitting Di2. Whilst you can buy smaller versions of ultegra and 105 mechanically geared STI's they only seem to be available for hydraulic brakes so I figured Di2 STI's are probably the next best thing. Next challenge is to try and keep the spend small as I still don't know how much she intends to use the bike. I've decided to buy secondhand parts where possible to achieve this, and potentially push the boundaries of compatibility where possible.
My initial thought was to use 6770 Ultegra front and rear mechs with 6870 STI's - the 6870 STI's are marginally smaller than the older 6770's but still compatible with the 2x10 speed 6770 mechs. This would mean I could keep her current wheels by swapping the 9 speed cassette for a 10 speed. Unfortunately perousing old eBay ads suggests the 10-speed stuff commands a much higher price than the similar age 11-speed. In fact I couldn't find a used 6770 rear mech for much less than £170
Plan B was then sprung in to action and I have now secured STI's, rear mech and front mech
The STI's are Ultegra R6870, used but in pretty good condition with only a few scuffs on the bottom of the lever arms. Advertised as fully functional but only time will tell
I paid £75 for them.Rear mech, again Ultegra R6870, slightly scuffed but again advertised as fully functional. I'll give it a clean when it arrives and then plug it in to one of the other bikes to check that it behaves itself
I didn't have a lot of choice with this as the long cage mechs seem less common - I paid £70Front mech completes this evenings purchases, Ultegra R6870 and in apparently excellent condition, even coming with the same k-edge chain catcher that I have fitted to my other Di2 equipped bikes
This one cost £69. Less cleaning up to do on this one, but it will still be plugged in to another bike and checked its functional and straight before I start the swap I narrowly missed out on a jumble of used eTube wires and junction boxes earlier which was slightly dissappointing, it's amazing how the cost adds up when purchasing them new! Whether I go for the bar end junction box or the under-stem one depends entirely on what pops up on eBay over the next few weeks for the right price
I presume everything will need to be externally routed but need to investigate the frame in a bit more detail to work that out before I go much further.I also need to factor in the cost of a cheap 11 speed hub (and spokes if I can't find one with similar flange dimensions), cassette, battery and chain. Technically the chainset will need replacing too but I may try and modify the spacing on the existing one first. If I can strip it down and mill some material off the chainring mounting faces to bring the spacing down to 11-speed spec it'll save me the cost of a used Ultegra chainset, which seems to be about £80-100
Worth a pop anyway, I'll have to investigate how its constructed. It's residual value must be pretty low so it's not a major issue if I wreck it in the process Anyway, this should keep me busy once the Brompton project has finished. Which reminds me, I should probably do some more work on the Brompton project soon
I also cleaned up the shifters which were fairly grimey as you can see in the pictures in previous updates. They've also come up really well as you can see here - clean on the right and untouched on the left...
I managed to source a used Shimano 34.9mm braze-on to band-on adapter for £3.28 
One of my colleagues wants the Sora groupset too so I'll get a few quid back for that 
