Has anyone successfully installed a stealth dropper on an Orange four. I’ve got both dogs sat on the lawn watching in mild amusement and even the wife came out to help as she could see I was in distress. I’m still no further forward than when I started hours ago.

Looking at the mechanics of how it should work it would appear to be a system based entirely on luck with the odds heavily stacked against me

I had no dropper in before so no cable to leave in and I’ve struggled to find a specific thread or video online to guide me. Any suggestions other than sell the bike or pay someone to do it? Cheers!

I had the same issue with my Segment, took all the skin off my knuckles and nearly threw the bike in the bin. Think in the end I ran the dropper cable down the down tube and out of the bottom bracket then an old gear cable down the seat tube and out the bb. Joined them with one of those threaded Rockshox doobiefurkins and used brut force to drag it through.

Thanks, I had a nasty feeling others may also have suffered! Just watched a video with someone hoovering a thread through the frame so that could be the next method I try. It would only take them embedding a small internal guide when the frame is being welded to make life a lot easier.

Thanks, I had a nasty feeling others may also have suffered! Just watched a video with someone hoovering a thread through the frame so that could be the next method I try. It would only take them embedding a small internal guide when the frame is being welded to make life a lot easier.

A friend of mine has the Park Tools internal routing kit. It made the routing of my Brand X post very simple on my four.

http://www.parktool.com/product/internal-cable-routing-kit-ir-1-2

When i installed mine, the method i settled on in the end was tying a small nut to a thread, dropping down the seat tube to the hole, spin the frame ove 180 in a stand so the nut acts as a weight to slide along the down tube. Then just shake it out of the hole at the top.
You can then use the thread to carefully draw the hose through (i went seatpost-down tube with the thread attached to the barb and the remote disconnected).

Thanks all for advice, I think I may have just cracked it – I used a length of copper piping and fed the outer through leaving about 1cm extended at the bottom and crimped in the direction of the down tube angle. I then dropped the copper piping into the seat tube and it allowed the head of the cable outer to poke through in the direction of the downtube. Brute force then works to push the cable manually through the copper piping and back up the down tube – previously without the copper piping the outer just kinked and twisted as it had nothing to brace itself against. I now have the outer where I can see it at the cable exit point but I’m calling it a night now and I’ll finish what hopefully should now be a straightforward job in the morning. One final query though, is there a specific rubber bung to fit in the exit hole to seal it with the cable or do you just drill the existing plastic blanker that sits there at present? Thanks again.

I did my segment with thw vacuum cleaner and cotton trick, used the cotton to pull string through, then the string to pull a sacrificial inner through, outer over that and then finally the good inner without kinks absolute ballache of a job. And yes there is a special port for the downtube entry point

clicky link

This is the one for the segment, guessing the same for the four.

or do you just drill the existing plastic blanker that sits there at present?

I just cut the top off of mine. I have ordered a 3 pack of routing plugs from orange, that fit the 5. Hoping they will fit the 4.

I have a bit of maintenance to do on the dropper, hopefully this weekend, which will involve me removing the cable inner. Whilst I’m doing that I’ll try out the plugs I bought. If I only need the one (ie if all goes to plan), you’re welcome to one of the spare 2 I’d have left.

I know people sometimes consider the boutique brands to be “style without substance”, but when I built a new Bronson CC a few weeks back with a reverb stealth, it was as simple as “shove the hose in the right hole at the head tube and keep pushing until it comes out of the top of the seat-tube”. I don’t know what went on inside the frame, but they had definitely thought about this and it worked flawlessly.

It’s really easy for manufacturers to forget (or compromise) on things like this that make the difference between a good bike and a great one, especially in the workshop. Sadly, it’s also nearly impossible to find out before you buy it. I’ve trashed a couple of reverb hoses over the years and had to replace them and I’d be pretty annoyed if I had to lose my sanity over what should be a 30 minute job, maximum.

Tenfoot – thank you very much for the offer but I went on line and ordered a pack of three this morning unfortunately (though I did need a spare mech hanger too just in case so have one heading my way) – hoping they fit the four as it doesn’t specifically state they do but they look like they should (famous last words).
I’ll also extend the same offer to anyone that should need the 2 spare ones I’ll have.

It does seem ridiculous that it is such a tricky job just to install a dropper on this type of frame – I would have happily run my old fox doss externally but with the increased standover I was just above the minimum insertion line on it.

No problem, I got a spare mech hanger too. Fingers crossed they fit