After my conventional Reverb developed a bit of play which wasn’t resolved with a regular bleed I decided to put the money I’d have paid for a service towards a new post which in turn gave me the further excuse to try the DIY stealth routing I’ve been thinking about for a while.

The frame is a BFe so I figured a safer option to go drilling than the aluminium suspension frame I’ve been contemplating doing this to before.

There’s been at least one other thread on this so before but it was a while ago and I figured might work as a prompt to others.

First up was to find the spare grommet I’ve had lying around wince selling a Whyte frame on.

Measuring it up showed that I needed an 8mm hole. The advantage of this was that a plain round hole is all I needed as the grommet is shaped to angle the hose.

Next up was to mark the extent of the seatpost insertion and then the spot for the hole in the seat tube.

Then time to start drilling, in an uncharacteristic fit of patience I went all the way from 2mm which made the drilling a doddle.

Finished hole size.

Quick dab of paint around the edge of the hole.

Grommet fitted, nearly done.

At the moment I’m using the bottle cage bolts to hole plastic p clips for the hose routing but will probably swap these out for proprietary hose guides (CRC have Nukeproof ones which look right for the job)

As there’s no fitting further up the downtube I had a choice between a stick on hose guide or something more substantial so I opted for drilling another hole near the head tube and fitted a rivnut to take another hose clip.

And that’s all done. The post is a Fox Transfer which compared to a stealth Reverb is a complete doddle to fit. I’m laid up with a bad back so other than getting on the bike to check the seatpost height can’t test it properly but so far so good. Time will tell whether the frame is going to crack and suck me into a black hole!

Nice work 🙂

You painted it with “RUST-oleum” ?! 😆

I’m not sure i’d have done the additional Rivnut hole but other than that well done on a bang tidy job.

I was undecided on the additional hole as a stick on guide would have sufficed but as I had all the bits handy and had already drilled one hole I decided on the ‘in for a penny’ approach. Chances are the frame won’t be a long term option for me (they never are) but it’s a 26″ frame which will be worth about 20p so any hit on the resale value isn’t a heartache.

Plus it means I can use 3 of the same fitting instead of a mix.

Nicely done

I’d be more inclined to do it on an aluminium frame (and I have) than on a steel one.
Not convinced about drilling a hole for a cable guide either…

I’m just considering drilling my Liteville 301 Mk10 for stealth routing – those of you that have later versions, is the seat tube reinforced where it’s drilled (like it is for the gear cable) or is it just drilled?
I know that Liteville seem ok with drilling it BTW, I’m just curious really.

Looks good ST. Very neat. Always were a bit of a dab hand with the tools though!

@AndyR:
This is what Liteville recommend: http://syntace.my1.cc/liteville/pdf/RockShox_Reverb_Stealth_an_Liteville_engl.pdf

My 601 has a small tube welded into the seat tube for the stealth dropper.

Thanks for that, stevied – I’d seen the Liteville pdf but was curious to see how exactly they’d executed it on later frames.

Did you seal the cable entry with anything?

Did you seal the cable entry with anything?

No need as the tube that’s welded on goes up inside the seat tube an inch or so. Was a pain to thread the hose down through as I removed the remote lever not the fitting on the bottom of the post 😳

I asked whether I could do this on a cotic however their response see was that they really renforce the newer models around the hole and it shouldn’t be attempted on non stealth models as would risk the integraty of the tube.
Not sure how true or not this is but put me off attempting!

It’s probably more bum-covering than an absolute “don’t do it or you’ll end the universe” sort of answer though. If they say “yes, it’ll be fine” and you subsequently die and sue them it won’t be good for them. If they say “Noooooooo! Don’t do it!” and you do it anyway, and subsequently die, they’ve covered their collective bums and it’d be your own fat-fingered fault the universe ended.

I wouldn’t have any qualms about drilling my BFe, the thing’s built well enough that the cockroaches’ll be riding around on it come the Trumpocalypse. Dunno about anything skinnier than a BFe though 😕 IANAME.

I might just use a Fox Transfer (with external actuation) on the 301, as they have perfect cable routing for that purpose already (in the channel under the top tube and up through “the ashtray”, as ze Chermans call it.
Thinking about it, it’s probsbly a better option than stealth routing.

Well I’ll report back here when the frame catastrophically fails and brings about the end of the world as we know it.

Alternatively if it does ever crack I’ll get it welded up or use it as an excuse to buy something else.

Non stealth routing on the BFe is perfectly adequate but I like the loss of the curve of hose when the post is dropped for a number of reasons.

As a number of other stealth frames I’ve owned show there is little more than a local external reinforcing piece so I’m. It convinced about stealth compatible frames having loads of extra reinforcement.