Mayonnaise

Greetings,

My wife and I have a CoMotion Carrera which we bought new 2 years ago. We love it.

Our tandem has electronic shifting (Shimano Di2 Ultegra) and mechanical shifting.

I absolutely love hydraulic brakes.

As anyone here attempted a similar upgrade?

Curious about any insights or advice you could provide.

Thank you

bogydave

I have Tektro Gemini, mineral oil hydraulic (Entry level)
A little noisy, but work ok

Talked to the LBS the other day on upgrades
He said might just upgrade the calipers with a better one, (stay Shimano for the mineral oil)
& Might need new rotors, have to take it in to check.

Estimate was $100 .
Not sure if that's total or per wheel ??

TooMany

I'm assuming you meant that you have Di2 and mechanical braking (TRP Sypre, BB7, etc).

You should be able to swap in these levers and calipers, though you will have to find a long hydraulic line for the rear.

Shimano Di2 ST-R785 Hydro Levers | Jenson USA

We have them on the Land Shark and they are great. The calipers are basically XT a different finish. There has been some others with this set up that had poor lever feel, but I haven't ever had an issue with them. They are now much cheaper than when we bought them though.

Since the Carrera appears to have housing stops on the frame and the hydraulic line has to be continuous, it may look less clean and/or require a generous use of zip ties.

Alternatively, just go with a set of TRP Hy/Rd brakes. It'll be cheaper and the implementation will be much easier.

Mayonnaise

Took a long hard look at the bike and asked myself could I live with all the zip ties.

I can't

akexpress 

You don’t need to use zip ties. Jaquire makes adhesive hose guides. You do use zip ties in them but inconspicuous like on mtn bikes. We used them on our Calfee when the Shimano brakes first came out. You will need the new levers and a custom long rear hose. There are a variety of options for the hose. Shimano and jag wire are readily available. The rear brake is kinda of a pain to bleed. If it feels soft at the lever you still have air in it. We have been running the Di2 hydraulics since they first came out and would never go back.

Mayonnaise

Thanks for the encouragement I've got a bike guru mechanic who thinks he can do it. I love'd love to feather those brakes on that big bike.

akexpress 

It is getting hard to source (eBay works) but Goodridge hose is really good hose with reusable fittings. It comes in a variety of colors and provides a very solid lever feel. Good quality hose is important on a tandem because of the long length. I also shaved down a bleed block 1 mm for the bleed process. I think the lever reservoir is the culprit for the the difficulty bleeding. We have a number of tandems with hydraulic brakes and none of them are hard to bleed and the only real difference is the DI2 levers.

Mayonnaise

thank you for your insights