The E-Box Spacer from Barfly Tidies up Electronic Drivetrain Wiring
Electronic shifting is awesome: I’ve said so before, and I’m more convinced now than when I called Shimano’s Ultegra Di2 the best road group ever.
But Shimano’s Di2 and Campagnolo’s EPS electronic groups have a nagging junction box placement issue. The companies provide straps to attach the box to the stem, but they look like a chintzy afterthought.
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Some bike brands are getting creative and tucking the junction box in the down tube (Trek Madone), under the bottom bracket (Specialized Venge ViAS), or in the handlebar (Canyon Aeroad). But for other bikes, the rider has to get creative, or deal with the cheap provided mounts.
Or get Barfly’s E-Box Spacer ($40), a 5mm-thick, machined-aluminum headset spacer with a long finger for mounting junction box. It’s more secure, and it looks better, completely hiding the box from the rider’s view.
The mount comes in one length, thickness, and angle. Barfly says it works with up to 82/-8 degree stems, though I found my sample-which is an unfinished prototype-wasn’t angled enough to pair with a Deda Elementi Zero100 82 degree stem, necessitating the use of a spacer between the Ebox and stem. A shame, because I think it would look better tucked closer to the stem.
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Riders who use more angled stems, like a -17, will need to use spacers between the Ebox and stem also, though I haven’t seen many riders who use a -17 stem and headset spacers: they’re usually slammed on the headset cap.
With stem under 90mm, the Ebox will start to poke out ahead of the stem. Not a functional problem, but it would look awkward.
Barfly’s E-Box Spacer is a very good product as long a bike is equipped with the right length and angle stem, and uses at least one spacer under the stem. More variations of length, thickness, and angle are needed to improve compatibility, however. Hopefully, Barfly can offer a few before wireless shifting takes over.
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