TRP has been playing with Di2 integrations for years now, first showing prototypes in 2011 that quickly progressed into more polished looking versions called HyWire.
But it never really became a commercial product, despite having the perfectly good Hylex singlespeed hydraulic disc brake set on which to mount it. Now, they’re back at it, this time using Shimano’s own climbers button pod and integrating it directly into the Hylex’s cover plate. This one’s still a very early prototype, but it’s certainly more polished than the prototype Ben Berden was running this past season. Equally exciting is the thinking behind how they’ll make it available…
The heart of the system is the Hylex hydraulic brake, which retails for $160 per wheel. The top piece in this photo is the stock hood shell, which has a bolt-on plate that covers the master cylinder. The Di2 conversion kit is simply a replacement cover base plate and the bezel that goes over the buttons. To add the actual buttons, you’d order up the Shimano climbers switch and take it apart…
…and put the actual switch pieces (white with black rubber circles and wire sticking out) onto the base plate. Then stick the buttons over it, and install the bezel to hold it all in place:
These white prototypes were 3D printed in house. The black one shown at the top was printed for them by Shapeways. Because it’s all printed on demand, they’re basically available now for about $50, just email them if interested. They’re also considering just making the plans available through Shapeways for anyone to download and print, which would let you choose whatever color you want. They can even print in bronze metal!
The kit comes with the base plate, bezel and a guide for cutting the hole in your hood cover. Eventually they may offer a pre-cut, custom molded hood cover for this system.
They also had these gold printed levers to showcase their color printing capabilities. And, they’re working on a version that’ll be drilled out using this same dot pattern.
