Sunday, April 18, 2021

Focus Paralane: Shifters, Brakes and Di2 Wiring

The Focus Paralane will be my all-weather road bike, so it will have road bike components. Although it is a commuter bike, it will probably be the bike that I will ride the most often. As such, I would like to put the best components that I have on it.

For the handlebar area, I will be using the same Ultegra road hydraulic Di2 shifters, ST-R8070 that I was using on the Fabike C3 commuting bike. These shifters are still working well, therefore I did not have to buy a new set of shifters. The troublesome part is to drain the hydraulic fluid before transferring them to the new bike.

Ultegra road hydraulic Di2 shifters, ST-R8070

Since I am removing these shifters from the handlebar, I always like to take the chance to replace the rubber hoods, as they tend to get dirty and stretched after use. It is nearly impossible to replace the rubber hoods while the shifters are on the bike, so the best time to change it is when the shifter is off the bike. This is exactly the same thing that I did when I transferred the Dura-Ace ST-R9170 shifters from the Canyon Endurace to the Cervelo Aspero.

Replacement shifter rubber hoods for ST-R8070

Here is how the shifters look underneath the rubber hoods. For more details, check out this post.

Coat the inside of the rubber hoods generously with isopropyl alcohol or equivalent, so that it slides more easily onto the shifters. Take care not to overstretch the rubber during installation.

New rubber hoods installed! Now it feels as good as new.

The frameset did not come with enough rubber grommets for the cables or wires, so I had to find my own. Some of the frame holes are oval shaped, while others are circular. As such, I decided to just get two different types of grommets as shown below, to see which one fits best.

Rubber grommets for Di2 wires, comes in 2 different shapes (GM01 and GM02).

The plug has either a circular shape or oval shape to best fit the frame hole.

Junction B is hidden inside the bottom bracket, similar to most other Di2 frames that I have used. This has to be installed before the press-fit bottom bracket goes on.

Using the PRO cable routing kit to route the wires and hoses through the frame.

Here is the Di2 wiring layout for the Focus Paralane. I wired up the left side as well, even though it is a front single system, as I wanted to use the button on top of the shifter to control the Garmin head unit.

Moving on, I also installed the brakes onto this bike. I will also use Dura-Ace brake calipers and rotors on this bike, because why not? This bike will essentially be my road bike, just with additional mudguards.



Front brake caliper installed and brake hose routed.

Rear brake hose also routed, after installing the rear brake caliper onto the frame.

Di2 wires and brake hose routed through the frame, but not connected to the shifters yet.

Next step is to install the shifters, and connect the brake hoses after trimming them to the correct length.

This is the preparatory work needed to start the bike assembly, by pre-installing some of the components. It is not difficult, just tedious as you need to check your measurements and do everything carefully to avoid making mistakes.

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