2020 Whyte - Shifter Cable Re-Route

[EMTBSEAN]

I’m going to do this job on my bike but I was wondering if it would make life a little easier if removing that plate that’s bolted to the motor to do the job, great thread and very helpful ?

 

[Tribey]

In my opinion YES. If you've got the correct security torx bit, then it'll save quite a bit of faff.

 

[EMTBSEAN]

You were right in suggesting not to remove the right side motor plate, I did mine last Thursday and it was easy enough to slip the cable behind the plate without removing it, the worst part was routing the chain stay, I was expecting that so no surprises there, the part that was a bugger was when I refitted the battery, I don’t know why but the battery got stuck on the outer cable and bent it double rendering it useless so I had to start all over again, lucky I had an extra long length of outer and a spare inner, the second time around I sprayed silicone lube on the battery and into the battery tube and the battery slid in no problem, it might be of help to anyone else doing this job to get hold of the tool I used, at a fraction of the price of the Park Tool routing tool, I bought one of those cheap Chinese ones and it worked a treat and for less than £11 a complete bargain, here’s what I used

 

[Tribey]

You were right in suggesting not to remove the right side motor plate, I did mine last Thursday and it was easy enough to slip the cable behind the plate without removing it, the worst part was routing the chain stay, I was expecting that so no surprises there, the part that was a bugger was when I refitted the battery, I don’t know why but the battery got stuck on the outer cable and bent it double rendering it useless so I had to start all over again, lucky I had an extra long length of outer and a spare inner, the second time around I sprayed silicone lube on the battery and into the battery tube and the battery slid in no problem, it might be of help to anyone else doing this job to get hold of the tool I used, at a fraction of the price of the Park Tool routing tool, I bought one of those cheap Chinese ones and it worked a treat and for less than £11 a complete bargain, here’s what I used

View attachment 55140

I had one of these kits when I did my gear cable re-route, but I found the magnets weren't strong enough to make it useful. It might be the type/material of theWhyte frame, or just user error!

 

[Landy Andy]

I don’t know if this is of any use to anyone here, but a way of feeding cables/wires or similar through a car chassis/motorbike frame is to use an air line blow up the hole you wish to feed through, and check where most air comes from, if it’s not the hole you want to exit from then block it with tape, or blue tack until air is coming from required hole. Then as you are blowing air through, start to feed string into hole and it will follow the air flow and appear at exit, then use that as draw cord.

 

[EMTBSEAN]

I had no issues with it personally, but, that said, as a precautionary measure I did put the supplied magnet onto a strong magnet to improve the strength of the supplied magnet, whether this made any difference is difficult to say but I did manage to do the re-route none the less without any issues, the only part of the job that might be an issue could be at the derailleur end of the chain stay is the guide tube where the outer cable exits the chain stay needs a good spray of silicone lube to aid the outer cable to slide freely out of the chain stay

 

[The EMF]

Here is my third and hopefully final shifter cable re-route on my 2020 E-150.

The original route exiting the motor casing below bottom bracket was way too vulnerable.
The first re-route, using the same hole as the brake hose was too restricted on my frame, not happy.
The second re-route via a second notch in the rear of the near-side motor cover was okay, but the tight radii of the cable from one side of the swing arm to the other created way too much resistance on the shifter cable.

Inspired by the photo's of the 2021 routing provided by N9VNS and Nakedebiker's re-route, I took a similar route on Saturday afternoon.

Pretty easy and straightforward to be honest, shifting now super clean, and so far cannot see a downside.

View attachment 37716
Garden workshop.
Although it's a bugger when you drop small screws in the grass
The cold beer is out of shot.

Remove bottom shroud and battery. Partially remove the near side motor cover, you can manipulate it over crank without removing.
Pull the cable outer from the shifter, down the down tube, out of the nearside motor casing, then out from the initial routing through bottom of motor case.
Unless you are replacing the outer cable, don't remove the outer from the chain stay.
If you are replacing the outer, then leave the inner in place to use as a guide to draw the outer. A pain if you don't. You will get the jist.

Remove the black painted alloy plate from above the motor casing on the drive side.
Five T40 bolts. They are torqued down petty tight, they are also very very soft, so use a good tool and take care, don't round them off.

With the plate removed you can clearly see the proposed route on the pictures below.
A bit of a fiddle to route the cable back into the hole into the down tube (below and in front of the charge point)
I fed the inner cable down through the down tube to use as a guide.

Feed all the outer cable through, back up the down tube and back out to your shifter.
Leaving the slack that you require ( I trimmed about 100mm from the original length)
Once happy, run a new inner through, reset the tension on the derailleur, put it back together and go ride.

View attachment 37717

After feeding through all the slack it looks like this (below), make sure smooth and nothing fouling.

View attachment 37718

Put the near side and drive side covers back, and tighten the bolts being careful not to round off or strip a thread.

The exposed shifter cable is sat beneath the chain stay, behind the chain ring.
It is well clear of the chain ring, and I can't see a scenario where this is going to be an issue.
I am happy with the amount of slack at the pivot point, and after a 30 mile ride shows no signs of chaffing or resistance due to suspension movement.
Shift quality is as crisp as it gets.

View attachment 37719

All nice and neat, and no longer vulnerable
View attachment 37720

The only further improvement I could make, would be to drill the rear of the motor casing and route exactly as the 2021 models.
But I would not be happy drilling the frame without dropping the motor out. Might also compromise in the unlikely event of a frame warranty issue.
I will see how the cable holds up on this this routing.
It looks good enough that hopefully I won't have to bother.

Bits needed: Strictly speaking none, but I would run a new inner cable as a minimum, probably new outer as well while you are at it.
Tools needed: Set of Allen keys, set of torque bits, wrench, pliers stc. And an ebay £29 work stand helps, but not necessary.
Time: Probably took me 90 minutes being patient. Clean the bike first.

Shifting is super crisp again.
The shifter cable routes beneath the chain stay at the pivot point, well clear of the chain-ring
30 mile test yesterday, and not a sign of any chaffing at the pivot point.

I am not endorsing this mod in any way, you work on your bike at your own risk.
I like messing about with things.
If in doubt, leave well alone, or talk to your LBS.

Hi Kilham5…….
I finally rerouted the gear change cable today. With the help of your excellent tutorial was an interesting mod. I replaced inner and outer cables, sprayed the grommets with dry silicone lube which helped when it came to pulling the slack outer tight so as not to foul in the battery housing and all went well. Gears shifting super smooth and indexing fast.
Cheers buddy. ???

 

[The EMF]

Nice one.

Mine has run for 2,000 miles on that routing, without any problems.
Slight chafing on the paint on the frame edge behind the motor, but not enough to wear through the outer.

I have it to do again shortly.
Replacing the drivetrain with Shimano 10 speed Deore/XT mix as soon as this SRAM cassette wears through.

Why the change to 10 speed

 

[The EMF]

1. My 2020 150-S is SRAM GX 11-speed. The 11 speed SRAM cassettes are expensive and made of cheese
2. I just prefer Shimano, always have, and want the shifting to match that on my hardtail
3. Choosing 10 speed over 11 or 12, keeping it simple, robust and cheap to replace.

I have a brand new Shimano Deore rear mech, SLX 11-42 cassette, XT shifter, HG-X chain and cables, all for less than the cost of another SRAM PG1230 cassette. My original rear wheel bearings and freehub are also well worn, so a new Nukeproof rear wheel saves me faffing around replacing the freehub body and bearings onto a well battered rim.

Sounds good………I hat a shot on a turbo Levo and the Shimano XT brakes were incredible.