The fine folks over at Race Pace Bicycles claim to have just put together one of the first bikes in the US with the new Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9070 group, including the new internal battery. And they sent pics!
Thus far, we really haven’t put eyes on the new internal SM-BTR-2 battery. It was subtly announced alongside the Alfine Di2 and mentioned again when 9070 was introduced, but neither time did Shimano include photos. And when we saw a bike with it at NAHBS last year, they wouldn’t let us pull the post for examination.
Nick at Race Pace’s Ellicott City, MD, location said when they ordered the bike from Trek they were told the internal batteries weren’t shipping yet, but then it showed up in the box! Pics and details below…
The battery comes with several “slotted leaf spring” adapters and shims to fit different size seat posts. Once the right size parts are installed, an O-ring slides on them to lock everything in place.
Normally, the battery mounts inside the seatpost and enough slack is left in the wire to allow the post to be removed without yanking it loose…which would mean plenty of finagling to get the wire back out of the frame.
In this case, the battery placed in the seat tube rather than the post because Trek Madones use an inverted system where the post topper slides over the seatmast.
Fortunately, Shimano had the foresight to add an external remote charging port on the control box.
A couple more closeups.
Actual weight is 56g, roughly 15g lighter than the standard battery! Nick says Shimano told him charging time is about 90 minutes and has the same battery life as the standard battery. Win-win-win.
…and some general group shots:
Note how much smaller the 9070 Di2 is than previous generations – all thanks to smaller motors.
A carbon fiber cassette “spider” is a first for Shimano. We showed you its backside in our “Unboxed & Weighed” post, and here’s the inside.
HUGE thanks to Nick for sending this over!
