Decoy Shred - Brake Swap to Saints

[roboticinvesting]

Just got my Decoy Shred delivered here in Calgary - only took a week which was surprising. Perhaps everyone is waiting for the 2021s with the EP8s?

Will post some pics in the upgrade thread once I am "done" (are we ever really done upgrading ). One of the upgrades I am doing is to Saints. Long term Shimano guy here.

Obviously I need to drop the battery and from what I have read on the thread here don't need to drop the motor. Any one have any pics/videos of the replacement process for the Decoy? If so let me know.

The front will be easy, but I am trying to determine the process to replace the rear caliper. For those who have done it, are you able to let me know if I actually pull the entire cable out and then replace it, or is there actually a housing that the brake cable goes through? For the life of me I can't tell.

P.S. Also reached out to Shaun - YT guy in California providing North America support (he has been really amazing - very responsive) - to see if they had any instructions on it and will let everyone what he says.

 

[Gemini2k]

It's not too hard to replace the rear hose. It's actually easier on this bike than most internally routed acoustic bikes I've worked on. It's not internally guided, so you have to do everything "manually" (can't just push it through). You just need to drop the battery and thread the brake hose above the motor housing, which is easy, plenty of room in there. The hard part is routing it through the hole in the head tube, that took some ninja work, but not too much of a struggle. Just take some pictures/video of the current rear brake before you take it apart to refer to. I did it from bottom up. I'd probably do it that way again I think.

 

[roboticinvesting]

It's not too hard to replace the rear hose. It's actually easier on this bike than most internally routed acoustic bikes I've worked on. It's not internally guided, so you have to do everything "manually" (can't just push it through). You just need to drop the battery and thread the brake hose above the motor housing, which is easy, plenty of room in there. The hard part is routing it through the hole in the head tube, that took some ninja work, but not too much of a struggle. Just take some pictures/video of the current rear brake before you take it apart to refer to. I did it from bottom up. I'd probably do it that way again I think.

Awesome thanks for the guidance on this @Gemini2k. I was looking more at it yesterday and yeah I can see the headtube part being the tricky bit - not a lot of room to get a hand up there to push it through. I was hoping that I will be able to keep the hose capped to not leak any fluid, but not sure is that will work given the size of the cap. Were you able to keep the cap on the cable while routing it?

 

[CraigerC EMTB]

Just got my Saints! Fired up! This is my project this week - please post as much info on the install as you can! Thanks!

 

[roboticinvesting]

Just got my Saints! Fired up! This is my project this week - please post as much info on the install as you can! Thanks!

Mine should get here mid week - you might beat me to it! I am so pumped to get these on and replace the Sram brakes on there now.

 

[CraigerC EMTB]

Me too! I really don't like the Sram! I don't know why the manufacturers put them on! Second bike I have gotten with them on - love the Saints!

 

[roboticinvesting]

Me too! I really don't like the Sram! I don't know why the manufacturers put them on! Second bike I have gotten with them on - love the Saints!

Agreed - I ended up getting 203mm Ice-Tech rotors as well. Were you going to run the same rotors?

And, can you tell if the hose, with the cap on, will be able to feed through the ports so no spilling fluid during install?

 

[Gemini2k]

Awesome thanks for the guidance on this @Gemini2k. I was looking more at it yesterday and yeah I can see the headtube part being the tricky bit - not a lot of room to get a hand up there to push it through. I was hoping that I will be able to keep the hose capped to not leak any fluid, but not sure is that will work given the size of the cap. Were you able to keep the cap on the cable while routing it?

I think I had to take it off in order to fit the hose + the park tools cable routing thing over it and through the hole. I remember it being a tight fit and I had to pull harder than I wanted to.

 

[jk-]

I bought the Rockshock reverb stealth barb to help me feed the rear brake hose through to the front. It attaches one brake hose onto another. Just make sure the the sram hose is loose in the battery bay and chainstay. Once that is done cut the old sram hose near the end of the sram rear brake caliper and feed it though by push and pull gently. Helped me to install my Saint's easily enough.

 

[roboticinvesting]

I bought the Rockshock reverb stealth barb to help me feed the rear brake hose through to the front. It attaches one brake hose onto another. Just make sure the the sram hose is loose in the battery bay and chainstay. Once that is done cut the old sram hose near the end of the sram rear brake caliper and feed it though by push and pull gently. Helped me to install my Saint's easily enough.

That is a great idea on the stealth barb - will have to find that. Cheaper than the park tool cable routing kit.

 

[roboticinvesting]

Another question for anyone who has changed the rotors - did you need to buy new adapters when going to the 203mm Ice-Tech rotors (when switching from the 200mm sram rotors)?

 

[CraigerC EMTB]

I put the gafer 223mm rotor on the front w/ the Sram setup. I am not going to change it. when I put on the Saints I do have the Ice-tech on my other bike w/ the Saint's. With the 203mm you can use the same adapter/ bracket. You just need to shim/ adjust the contact points with washers.

Link to the GalferUSA rotors below - but I do really like the Ice-tech rotors.

Shop at GalferUSA

galferusa.com

 

[roboticinvesting]

Happy to report that I was able to successfully swap out the Sram Code Rs for the Saints. Front was obviously easy. Rear took a bit more work but in the end was not too back.

Did not swap out the rotors yet as I am waiting for my new wheelset to come in. When I get those I will put the 203mm Ice-Tech rotors on the new wheels and sell the 200mm Sram Centerline rotors.

The tip from @jk- above to use the Rockshox Reverb Barb Connector was the key. Here were the steps I took to swap the rear brake out:

1. Remove brake lever from handlebar
2. Remove battery
3. Remove the cable holder that is located underneath the battery.
4. Locate the brake cable (use the image in the manual) and loosen it from the clips (that are under where the battery was) so it can freely move.
5. Remove the zip-ties that are holding the cable to the rear chain stay. Be careful not to cut the speed sensor cable!
6. Cut the rear brake cable on the Sram brake near the rear caliper. I tried to figure out how to do this without cutting the cable, but due to the metal piece (banjo) that attaches the cable to the caliper I could not see a way to avoid that (it is too big to be able to route through the frame).
7. Attach the Rockshox barb to the existing Sram cable. This takes some elbow grease and some twisting to get in, but it will go in.
8. On the new Saint lever, remove the hose from the lever and cut the hose close to the olive and barb that are already on the cable. Make sure you have a new olive and barb ready for when you re-attach the cable to the lever (done later). Also make sure you remove the nut and rubber cover. I f'd up at first and didn't remove those and realized they were still on near the caliper so I had to redo the whole routing again!
9. Attach the cable from the Saint caliper to the Rockshox barb. Again, takes some work but it will go it.
10. Start to route the cable. Go slow and don't do too much pulling so you remove the hose from the barb. I did more pushing than pulling. You will need to jiggle it around a bit, but it will go through. I was actually surprise how well if went from the rear of the bike to the battery compartment. Nice job on the YT engineers to make this routing easy!
10. Continue to push/pull it up. The trickiest part was pulling the new cable through the hole near the stem but again some pushing and wiggling will make it go through.
11. The new cable is now through the frame!!
12. Remove any slack and reattach the cable to the guides in the batter compartment.
13. Reattach the cable holder that goes under the battery.
14. Reattach the cable to the lever with a new barb and olive and tighten it down.
15. Reattach the caliper to the bike. I bought new Shimano 203 P/PM adaptors for front and back and put those one. That said, the existing adapters would have worked fine.
16. Do a level bleed (I did not need to do a full bleed - just attached the Shimano funnel with new mineral oil and pumped the lever until no more bubbles were coming out. This was necessary due to cutting the cable and the small amount of fluid loss).


Overall was more simple than I thought it would be - I am a hobby bike mechanic so no real skill here,

just some patience and the right tools.


P.S. Excuse the crappy job on the RideWrap. I rushed too much and was left with bubbles! Oh well...

 

[jk-]

That small barb tool make's life a lot easier =]

 

[CraigerC EMTB]

Happy to report that I was able to successfully swap out the Sram Code Rs for the Saints. Front was obviously easy. Rear took a bit more work but in the end was not too back.

Did not swap out the rotors yet as I am waiting for my new wheelset to come in. When I get those I will put the 203mm Ice-Tech rotors on the new wheels and sell the 200mm Sram Centerline rotors.

The tip from @jk- above to use the Rockshox Reverb Barb Connector was the key. Here were the steps I took to swap the rear brake out:

1. Remove brake lever from handlebar
2. Remove battery
3. Remove the cable holder that is located underneath the battery.
4. Locate the brake cable (use the image in the manual) and loosen it from the clips (that are under where the battery was) so it can freely move.
5. Remove the zip-ties that are holding the cable to the rear chain stay. Be careful not to cut the speed sensor cable!
6. Cut the rear brake cable on the Sram brake near the rear caliper. I tried to figure out how to do this without cutting the cable, but due to the metal piece (banjo) that attaches the cable to the caliper I could not see a way to avoid that (it is too big to be able to route through the frame).
7. Attach the Rockshox barb to the existing Sram cable. This takes some elbow grease and some twisting to get in, but it will go in.
8. On the new Saint lever, remove the hose from the lever and cut the hose close to the olive and barb that are already on the cable. Make sure you have a new olive and barb ready for when you re-attach the cable to the lever (done later). Also make sure you remove the nut and rubber cover. I f'd up at first and didn't remove those and realized they were still on near the caliper so I had to redo the whole routing again!
9. Attach the cable from the Saint caliper to the Rockshox barb. Again, takes some work but it will go it.
10. Start to route the cable. Go slow and don't do too much pulling so you remove the hose from the barb. I did more pushing than pulling. You will need to jiggle it around a bit, but it will go through. I was actually surprise how well if went from the rear of the bike to the battery compartment. Nice job on the YT engineers to make this routing easy!
10. Continue to push/pull it up. The trickiest part was pulling the new cable through the hole near the stem but again some pushing and wiggling will make it go through.
11. The new cable is now through the frame!!
12. Remove any slack and reattach the cable to the guides in the batter compartment.
13. Reattach the cable holder that goes under the battery.
14. Reattach the cable to the lever with a new barb and olive and tighten it down.
15. Reattach the caliper to the bike. I bought new Shimano 203 P/PM adaptors for front and back and put those one. That said, the existing adapters would have worked fine.
16. Do a level bleed (I did not need to do a full bleed - just attached the Shimano funnel with new mineral oil and pumped the lever until no more bubbles were coming out. This was necessary due to cutting the cable and the small amount of fluid loss).


Overall was more simple than I thought it would be - I am a hobby bike mechanic so no real skill here, View attachment 51631 View attachment 51632 View attachment 51633 just some patience and the right tools.


P.S. Excuse the crappy job on the RideWrap. I rushed too much and was left with bubbles! Oh well...

Thanks for the detailed run through on the brake swap! I have been a bit nervous and the riding has been really fun, so I don't want to jack up my bike and have to take it to the shop! They quoted my friend three weeks on a shock rebound! All the shops are slammed! I am about to do it and encouraged by your directions! I bought the barb - that thing is tiny! Supper excited to get on the Saints!

 

[roboticinvesting]

Thanks for the detailed run through on the brake swap! I have been a bit nervous and the riding has been really fun, so I don't want to jack up my bike and have to take it to the shop! They quoted my friend three weeks on a shock rebound! All the shops are slammed! I am about to do it and encouraged by your directions! I bought the barb - that thing is tiny! Supper excited to get on the Saints!

Awesome @CraigerC EMTB . Yeah I was pretty nervous going in - I have installed brakes before, but never on a eBike and the the thing I was most nervous about was the cable routing. In the end it was not bad at all and it is just like any bike. Just go slow and don't pull on the cable too much or else the barb can come loose; more pushing than pulling to get it to the front.

Bleeding was easy too - youtube it and you will be good to go!

And I hear you on the shop times - plus you will save yourself some money.

 

[militantmandy]

This is very helpful stuff as I have been pretty disappointed with the Code Rs. Recently got the Shred and a Privateer 161, both came with Code R. Both needed bled on arrival and even after several bleeds (including by professionals!) they still seem inconsistent, sometimes pulling to the bar on both bikes. I put 223mm Hope rotors on the Decoy. This has helped a lot, but I think a brake swap to Magura is still on the horizon. It's a lot of bike to slow down!

 

[maaalex]

Happy to report that I was able to successfully swap out the Sram Code Rs for the Saints. Front was obviously easy. Rear took a bit more work but in the end was not too back.

Did not swap out the rotors yet as I am waiting for my new wheelset to come in. When I get those I will put the 203mm Ice-Tech rotors on the new wheels and sell the 200mm Sram Centerline rotors.

The tip from @jk- above to use the Rockshox Reverb Barb Connector was the key. Here were the steps I took to swap the rear brake out:

1. Remove brake lever from handlebar
2. Remove battery
3. Remove the cable holder that is located underneath the battery.
4. Locate the brake cable (use the image in the manual) and loosen it from the clips (that are under where the battery was) so it can freely move.
5. Remove the zip-ties that are holding the cable to the rear chain stay. Be careful not to cut the speed sensor cable!
6. Cut the rear brake cable on the Sram brake near the rear caliper. I tried to figure out how to do this without cutting the cable, but due to the metal piece (banjo) that attaches the cable to the caliper I could not see a way to avoid that (it is too big to be able to route through the frame).
7. Attach the Rockshox barb to the existing Sram cable. This takes some elbow grease and some twisting to get in, but it will go in.
8. On the new Saint lever, remove the hose from the lever and cut the hose close to the olive and barb that are already on the cable. Make sure you have a new olive and barb ready for when you re-attach the cable to the lever (done later). Also make sure you remove the nut and rubber cover. I f'd up at first and didn't remove those and realized they were still on near the caliper so I had to redo the whole routing again!
9. Attach the cable from the Saint caliper to the Rockshox barb. Again, takes some work but it will go it.
10. Start to route the cable. Go slow and don't do too much pulling so you remove the hose from the barb. I did more pushing than pulling. You will need to jiggle it around a bit, but it will go through. I was actually surprise how well if went from the rear of the bike to the battery compartment. Nice job on the YT engineers to make this routing easy!
10. Continue to push/pull it up. The trickiest part was pulling the new cable through the hole near the stem but again some pushing and wiggling will make it go through.
11. The new cable is now through the frame!!
12. Remove any slack and reattach the cable to the guides in the batter compartment.
13. Reattach the cable holder that goes under the battery.
14. Reattach the cable to the lever with a new barb and olive and tighten it down.
15. Reattach the caliper to the bike. I bought new Shimano 203 P/PM adaptors for front and back and put those one. That said, the existing adapters would have worked fine.
16. Do a level bleed (I did not need to do a full bleed - just attached the Shimano funnel with new mineral oil and pumped the lever until no more bubbles were coming out. This was necessary due to cutting the cable and the small amount of fluid loss).


Overall was more simple than I thought it would be - I am a hobby bike mechanic so no real skill here, View attachment 51631 View attachment 51632 View attachment 51633 just some patience and the right tools.


P.S. Excuse the crappy job on the RideWrap. I rushed too much and was left with bubbles! Oh well...

@roboticinvesting signed up here to thank you for the detailed description. Very very cool of you! I'm switching from Scram to Magura on my Decoy and the detail with the Rockshox barb alone is already worth its weight (haha ) in gold Thanks!

Btw, I also ride Saint on a Scott Voltage and have MT7 on my trial bike - so more or less a good comparison... If you know what you're doing with the Magura (I had to learn it first), I think the end result is better, but it's for sure also a matter of taste. You’re still happy all good on your ride?

 

[CesarV]

I did replace the SRAM brakes for a TRP and at the same time I change the seat post, the YT seat post man was a piece of S….., when I replaced the brakes and seat post I had to drop the motor but It was no as bad as I thought, I found a video in Youtube that show you how to do it if some one is interested

 

[maaalex]

I did replace the SRAM brakes for a TRP and at the same time I change the seat post, the YT seat post man was a piece of S….., when I replaced the brakes and seat post I had to drop the motor but It was no as bad as I thought, I found a video in Youtube that show you how to do it if some one is interested

Uh thats great of you bringing this up. The seat post is rubbish, alone the hub is too little… will replace too, which one did you switch too? Did replace front brake yesterday evening already and saw that you anyway need to find way to but on the seat post control without the Sram lever.

TRP must be awesome breaks too, never had chance to try them out.

Feel free to share mentioned vid, now or later helpful for sure

 

[CesarV]

I switched to one up seat post, I really like it, probably is my 4th seat post, now that I am looking for the video, I remember I found the how to here How to drop motor of YT Decoy?. One more time I changed the seat post collar too.