2022 Santa Cruz Heckler First EMTB owner

[Rusty762]

Hey guys, just picked up a 2022 V9 Heckler size Large in the MX version. After trying a bunch of e bikes I settled on the Heckler for its lively, poppy feel. Most of the single track here in Santa Cruz is flowing, technical, rocky, smooth, fast ahhh I guess a little bit of everything I also wanted range over the travel the Bullit had which is what I was about to buy before they announced the Heckler. I have only had two rides on it both of which were 3 hours long and this bike is going to open so many opportunities for epic rides I would normally do 1-2 times a year.

 

[Rusty762]

Thought I would throw this up in case someone experiences this, I only have a couple of rides on my Heckler and last weekend a friend of mine wanted to demo the new Heckler so we drove to Santa Cruz and the plan was to leave the factory and hit Wilder Ranch and the into Santa Cruz campus which has a ton of single track trails. Once they set him up on his rental we got kitted up and I went to turn my bike on and nothing. The techs threw it in the stand and we tried to figure out what was going on, first swapped batteries, pulled the motor cover and checked all the connections but nada. They said they had never seen this before and would have their top E bike guy get in touch with me on Monday. They were nice enough to loan me a Bullit so we hit the trails.

When I got home I wanted to drop the motor but realized I needed some new tools, I have enough to open my own bike shop at this point but needed the Park tool to take the chainring off in order to get access to one of the bolts on the drive side that allows you to swing the motor forward or backwards. I was pretty confident the issue was the Shimano Di2 cable that went from the display to the motor, when I picked the bike up I noticed if you did a cross up (which I like to do) there was strain on the cable. We put it in the stand and dropped the battery, cut the zip ties and gave it some slack. Next two weekends I put some long rides on the bike with no issues, fast forward to last weekend.

There are some pics below with explanations, I did not take pics of removing the plastic cover on the non drive side which is three philips screws or the bottom bash guard which has a total of five allen bolts.

When you remove the plastic motor cover, you will see the two EW-SD300 cable that plug into the motor. The one in front goes to the display and the back one goes to the sensor on the rear rotor. There is an inline plug that necks up from the smaller EW-SD300 cable to the cable we are replacing Di2 EW-SD50 that I suspect is the issue. On my large Heckler that cable is 900mm, I ordered a replacement 950mm as there is plenty of room to tuck in any slack and I also went to a 60mm stem as the stock 42mm was too short for my taste. You will want to remove the main power cable to the motor, there is an arrow on the collar, just pull up on the collar slightly and then the entire cable will unplug from the motor.

 

[Rusty762]

Next you can unplug the Di2 cable from the display, I just used my fingers even though there is a specific tool just be careful and pull it straight out and do not pull on the flexible part of the cable, the base is hard plastic and you can use needle nose pliers but not necessary. The battery should be out of the bike but if not remove it now and cut the ties that secure the Di2 wire on the left side of the frame. Then you can fish it out, I used a piece of string and some electrical tape so that once I fish the Di2 wire through the bottom bracket I can pull the new cable back through the bottom bracket easily as its a bit of a rats nest down there with plugs and cables. In the second picture you can see the adaptor that the Di2 wire plugs into and then necks down to the EW-SD300. Its a really tight fit to get the adaptor out between the frame, I found it easier to pull the main motor cable towards the rear and then the gap is just large enough to squeeze it through.

 

[Rusty762]

Once the adaptor is out, finish fishing it through and tie the string off to your seat tube so you don't accidentally pull it out when working on the bike. The first pic is the adaptor and you can unplug the Di2 cable but leave the adaptor and SD300 cable plugged into the motor. Then I fished the new 950mm Di 2 cable through the front of the frame, make sure it exits on the left side of the battery cable and get the length you want, turn your bars both ways and once you are happy zip tie the upper most mount to fix the Di 2 cable in place.

 

[RustyIron]

Thanks for the pics. I don't intend to get into mine any time soon, but it's good to know what's in there.

The diminutive size of the wires was a concern when I got my 2021, so I keep an eye on everything, making sure they don't undergo any strain. The system so far has been durable and trouble free.

 

[Rusty762]

I forgot to mention before I did any of this, I plugged the new Di2 cable into the display and motor with the battery installed and the cable running outside of the frame to make sure that the cable was in fact the issue. She powered right up! I found it easier to remove the battery plug/cradle (two Torx bolts) in the bottom bracket to get the new cable as cleanly routed as possible. I also forgot to mention that the other end of the string was tied to a small washer and placed inside the bottom bracket so as not to loose the end while working on the bike. I took the washer off and taped it to the new Di2 cable and fished the through the bottom bracket and out the top side of the motor. You want to keep the cable to the left side of the frame as much as possible when pulling it through, the arrow in the first picture is the new cable keep it to the left side of the center post. once you fish it out you can plug it into the adaptor and push the adaptor back through the gap above the motor and carefully pull it from the battery compartment taking care to not pull it out of the adaptor in the process.

 

[Rusty762]

Now you just need to reinstall the battery cradle/plug, there is a Di2 wire that runs right next to the mount so be very careful not to pinch that! Both of the Torx screws need Blue loctite, any time you are using loctite make sure to not get it on anything plastic as the chemical reaction can cause the plastic to become brittle and break after a while. Once the cradle is mounted and you confirmed the Di2 cable is not pinched I spent some time zip tying and using some 100 mph tape to tidy things up. You obviously do not want any wires/cables that can get pinched when installing/removing the battery. I do not charge the battery out of the bike and plan to never remove it unless absolutely necessary.

 

[Rusty762]

Now you just need to plug the main power cable back into the motor, the cable collar should snap into place, you can lightly pull up on the sleeve to confirm its seated. Make sure the other cables are tucked in like in the picture below and then you can install the plastic motor cover and the bash guard. Push the love button and you should be good to go!

 

[Rusty762]

Guess a picture of the bike is in order, this is Fort Ord and the first ride I took "Piggy" on. Theres a ton of single track here with a little bit of everything. Its BLM owned and unfortunately they recently tore out all the features and jump lines we have built over the last couple of years. I feel fortunate to have a huge network of trails 5 minutes from my house, this was my happy place during the whole Covid thing.

 

[Mungalot]

Wow!

 

[luna87824]

Next you can unplug the Di2 cable from the display, I just used my fingers even though there is a specific tool just be careful and pull it straight out and do not pull on the flexible part of the cable, the base is hard plastic and you can use needle nose pliers but not necessary. The battery should be out of the bike but if not remove it now and cut the ties that secure the Di2 wire on the left side of the frame. Then you can fish it out, I used a piece of string and some electrical tape so that once I fish the Di2 wire through the bottom bracket I can pull the new cable back through the bottom bracket easily as its a bit of a rats nest down there with plugs and cables. In the second picture you can see the adaptor that the Di2 wire plugs into and then necks down to the EW-SD300. Its a really tight fit to get the adaptor out between the frame, I found it easier to pull the main motor cable towards the rear and then the gap is just large enough to squeeze it through.

View attachment 85645

View attachment 85647

you can also get the 300-50 adapter out thru the power button hole, no need to remove the motor...

 

[Rusty762]

Been playing around with Vertical Hero 10 to show more of the trail in the canyons of Toro Park as all of the trails descend down River/Creek ravines. This is my second ride on my 2022 Heckler, love pretty much everything about this bike have a small mod list but out of the box its amazing!

 

[Rusty762]

Any other Santa Cruz E bike owners that have had issues with the Shimano DI-2 EW-SD50 cables failing? I had my second one fail on a ride yesterday, the first one was because the length where it exited the frame and into the Shimano display SC-E7000 and when I did a cross up it crimped the wire because it was too short. I replaced it with a 950mm and made sure there was plenty of length, put over 250 miles on it and washed the bike for the first time and on my ride yesterday It would turn off and back on randomly. I pulled the motor cover and checked all the connections, I bought a 1200mm DI2 cable in case this happened out on the trail and routed it along the frame and tied it down with electrical tape and it worked like a charm. My question is why are these cables failing and if anyone else has had to replace one on their bike?

 

[Rusty762]

Been running the Cascade Components links and the longer stroke Fox DHX2 coil in the back and loving it. So much plusher, feels like a different bike.

 

[luna87824]

Did it raise the BB a little?

 

[Rusty762]

BB stays the same height as in the low position, you have to run a longer shock to use the links (230 x 65) ends up putting the rear end at 160mm of travel. I could not imagine going back to the stock setup with the Rockshox air shock, if anything I would run a Fox coil with the standard links if you don't want more travel.

 

[SEBA]

anyone knows the name of the battery mount ?

bm ... ?!

thank you and happy new year

 

[SEBA]

what are these connector ?!