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Reader’s Rides: Julian’s Updated 11 Speed PKi2 Scott Spark and New DWi2 Scott Scale

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You may remember Julian Da Silva’s custom Scott PKi2 Scale from last June. Heading into the race season for the year, Julian of Alex’s Bicycle Pro Shop was looking for the ultimate in electronic integration – which he created himself when he combined a K Edge Di2 system, and Alfine gear indicator, and Fox ICD lockout system all on the same battery. The race season has come and gone, and Julian reached out to us again, this time with an 11 speed upgrade for the PKi2 and a new Scott Scale DWi2 he put together for one of their team riders, Doug Deweese. After seeing and riding Julian’s PKi2, Doug had to have one of his own.

Check out the results, plus how to upgrade a Ki2 system to 11 speed after the break!

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In addition to 11 speed, the PKi2 electro wonder bike is running the new Rotor REX1 crank on the new Shimano XTR M987 bottom bracket. Though the swapping of components the weight of the bike has stayed the same at 21.5 lbs.

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The biggest upgrade is obviously the addition of one more gear which was made possible with the addition of a Shimano Ultegra 6870 RD. According to Julian, the RD 6870 bolts up to the K-edge Di2 kit exactly the same as the RD 6770. Once the swap was made, Julian made adjustments to the shifting via his laptop with the E-tube system which was all that was needed.

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Obviously, if you’re going to run an 11 speed cassette, like the 6800 11-32 the bike is running now, you need an 11 speed compatible freehub. Julian says that Reynolds offers two freehub bodies for the Reynolds XC 29 carbon wheels he was running on the bike. The standard gold freehub body is 33mm long for use with 9 and 10 speed drivetrains. For 11 speed use, they offer a black freehub that is 35mm long and includes a spacer if you are running 10 speed. Add it all together and you have an 11 speed Ki2 drivetrain.

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The Dwi2 Scott Scale started life as a 2014 Scale 900 RC frame that was given the Ki2 treatment, though it stays 10 speed and lacks the Fox ICD suspension. Weight for this beauty? 19.1 pounds without pedals.

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Specs

  • 2014 Scott Scale 900 RC
  • Rockshox Sid XX WC
  • ENVE Carbon Clincher Wheelset
  • XX1 Crankset with Rotor QX1 spider 34t and 32t
  • Ritchey WCS Cockpit
    Tioga Spyder Saddle
  • Ultegra 6770 Rear with K-Edge Ki2 retrofit kit
  • XG-1099 11-36 Cassette
  • Shimano BTR2 9070 Internal Battery
  • Shimano XTR M987 brakeset

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Julian has been racing his PKi2 Spark all season without issue in the Florida State Championship series which he finished 4th overall in the XC2 19-29 category. As always, thanks to Julian for sending these in, and thanks to Rodney “Too Low” Rodriguez  @officialtoolow  (@photobytoolow)  for the bike shots and the action shot by Mickey Rivera.

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17 Comments
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jereshort
10 years ago

No chain drops without a Rd clutch or chain guide?

Sardinian Rider
Sardinian Rider
10 years ago

Haters gonna hate and crave for one. I do already,without the hate tho.

tommy
tommy
10 years ago

Awesome. Too Bad you will be able to buy an official Xtr Di2 system from shimano later this year

Esteban
Esteban
10 years ago

The rex qx1 chainring has narrow wide
Profile. No need of chainguide

matin
matin
10 years ago

One photo of Spark shows front tire X-king Protection, second photo shows Schwalbe Racing Ralph. Also you didn’t mentioned wheel size of this Scale bike which I predict is also 29er?

Colin
Colin
10 years ago

@Esteban

I still couldn’t trust a w/n chainring to keep the chain from bouncing off the top.

Reformed Roadie
Reformed Roadie
10 years ago

XC2 = Sport class?

I guess it is all about the bike…

CXisfun
CXisfun
10 years ago

@Reformed Roadie: He only finished in the top 50% of his class once all year, and that’s in the sport class. Might be time to step away from the work stand and onto the pedals a little more…..

greg
greg
10 years ago

maybe he’s a mechanic/tinkerer who also happens to enjoy racing. nothing wrong with that.

Josh
Josh
10 years ago

Guys he’s a bike mechanic, not a pro racer. He’s doing this to gain recognition as a mechanic with the vendors and to promote his own LLC startup. You don’t have to be an expert pro with 5 tour win under your belt to legitimize a name for yourself. What he is doing is taking new technology and integrated it to segment in the industry that was not thought of before. It his applicable and functional. You may disagree that you need electronic shifting or an electronic lockout on a bicycle, but the fact is that the vendors already manufactured the parts and made them available, so obviously they saw a market for it.

Shimano originally said it could not be done, and he proved them wrong. Then he took it a step further and went to 11-speed. He races on it to prove that the system works without a hiccup, which it does.

Also the derailleur cage and spring is custom. I am not positive what is different with it, but whatever it is, it seems to be replacing the clutch function.

The X-King was swapped out to the RR weighing the bike. I personally haven’t seen good results from the X-King with the Loose-over-hard scattered coral for the riding here. The 2.4 worked with better results, but the 2.2 sport and protection do not seem very happy in the front.

You can hate all you want, but he has a legitimate reason to do this, and there is a legitimate reason his bikes are showing up in BIKERUMOR, MBACTION, and MTBR.

Chris Watkins
Chris Watkins
10 years ago

I know Julian and raced against him and Doug all season in the Florida State Championship Series and his fully integrated Di2 Spark is beautiful and worked flawlessly all season at every race. I am glad to see a fellow FSC racer gain some notoriety for using the latest technology and bringing it to the world of mountain biking.

Trailhound
Trailhound
10 years ago

CXisfun might want to spend sometime and energy on something positive. Sounds like a fun night looking up a FSC sport riders stats.

Derek
Derek
10 years ago

XTR Di2 is coming out soon so I hope that his business model doesn’t solely rely on modifying road RDs for MTB use.

James Herrod
James Herrod
10 years ago

An electronic shifting full suspension mountain bike in Florida? puh-lease! Waste of time and money.

Rodney TooLow Rodriguez
Rodney TooLow Rodriguez
10 years ago

@ James Herrod It’s a waste of time being featured in numerous magazines all while being PAID to create this one off mountain bike & enjoy his creation racing with some of his very close friends/teammates ? Yeah tell me how being a hater is financing yourself buddy ? Keep proving everyone wrong Julian !

Frank W
Frank W
10 years ago

Tight. Its awesome to see people tinkering like this. Major Props.

Antoine Aden
9 years ago

Hello Zach, hello Julian,
I like the bike’s clean and functional design very much!
While I’m as well configuring a bike (a velomobile) with a Di2-System, I would as well like to combine Alfine display and Shifter with either Ultegra 6870 or XTR front and rear derailleur.
If possible, pease could you help me with my questions:
– At a velomobile I always have to leave out one of the eleven gears (pinions?) and replace it by a spacer. Can I disable one of the eleven positions in the Di2-System? If not, i have to find a mecanical solution.
– If I take the 1×11 gears, do I need special versions of the firmware, to make Alfine-Display und -shifter work with Ultegra/XTR-derailleurs?
– If I take the 2×11 gears, I’d like to have synchro-shift, does it work with the Alfine-Display?
Many greetings from Germany and thank you very much for your answer.
Antoine

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