105 to Ultegra di2 upgrade compatibility?

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This topic has 10 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 3 years ago by joebristol.

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105 to Ultegra di2 upgrade compatibility?
iainc
Full Member

I have a 6 month old Giant Contend AR1, which has only seen a few rides as bought primarily for winter road and some away trips.

I have become spoiled by electronic shifting on a couple of my other bikes and am wondering about upgrading the Contend, which has a 105 groupset, to Ultegra Di2.

I’m thinking that brakes, crankset, chain and cassette would be compatible, so it’d be levers, mechs and wiring/batteries maybe ?

I’d likely be asking lbs to do the swop for me, price, compatibility and availability dependant.

Any thoughts about what I’d actually need, or things I’ve missed ?

Posted 3 years ago

one_bad_mofo
Full Member

I recently bought an Engima Etape. I ordered a full Ulterga mechanical groupset but then accepted a discount to allow for a downgrade to a 105 front mech and cassette in order to get the bike in July rather than wait until some time after October for a full Ultegra groupset. It all works just fine. HTH.

Posted 3 years ago

slackboy
Full Member

As long as its the ultegra 6800/8000 11-speed Di2 kit you’ll be fine with your existing chain/chainset

Ultegra Di2 has literally just moved to 12 speed so just be aware of that (its the R8100 groupset)

You’ll need:

Battery

wiring cables (£20 + each !!)

mechs

Hydraulic Di2 levers

Junction box (bars)

junction box (bottom bracket)

Is the bike Di2 compatible? Is there somewhere to store the battery and get the cables out of the bottom bracket, looks like the run to the rear mech will need some zip ties

merlin have a complete ultegra upgrade kit for £1500, prices seem to have gone up a lot since I did this last year.

Posted 3 years ago

iainc
Full Member

Very helpful, much appreciated

Posted 3 years ago

njee20
Free Member

Charger too. That’s £100.

Posted 3 years ago

iainc
Full Member

I have a charger 😁

Posted 3 years ago

njee20
Free Member

Yes if I’d engaged my brain I’d have realised that, apologies! Saved yourself £100!

Posted 3 years ago

scotroutes
Full Member

#tooposhtopush

Posted 3 years ago

jonnyboi
Full Member

6 cables required!

or 7 if you get the wireless connector, which is quite handy.

Posted 3 years ago

iainc
Full Member

Availability looks like an issue, summer 22 for some of the bits ! Oh well..

Posted 3 years ago

joebristol
Full Member

I did a 105 mechanical to
Ultegra Di2 change. Mixture of the latest (ignoring the 12 speed stuff) Ultegra and previous generation – all 11 speed.

Think it cost me about £700-£800 in all. But I picked up cheap r785 shifters as they had post mount calipers on them (I just kept my existing calipers / hoses and switched in the new levers), and then shopped around for the rest.

You can often find junction box b for about £20 (or you could), with junction a or an Xt box with display being the more expensive box. I have got the Bluetooth module connected in my downtube but I’ve never actually used it.

Cables are the hidden cost – you need a long one from junction a to b – and I was surprised how long a cable I needed from the rear mech to junction b.

If you want syncro shift you need the later battery module – the earlier one doesn’t support it.

Your brakes / cassette / chain / chainset will all be fine.

Posted 3 years ago