Hi! I want to fit a Reverb Stealth to my bike, but as it’s a 2009 Pitch I don’t have the routing. I know it’ll void the warranty but I want to drill a small hole for the cable to exit from.

The frame is quite well set up for this as the cables run in a loop under the BB so I can attach the Reverb cable to these to make it look neat.

However I am wondering where to make the hole. I could enlarge the bottom cable mount hole for it to come out of, or make a hole in the seat tube. Not really sure what the best option is.

Any ideas?

Please submit plans and drawings if you see fit. 😉

Whole frame pic:

BB area

Underneath

Detail around BB

have a look on the Liteville site – there’s instructions for where and how to drill their frames for a stealth reverb. Some good advice in there. (had a look: here it is: http://syntace.my1.cc/liteville/pdf/RockShox_Reverb_Stealth_an_Liteville_engl.pdf

clearly they know the butting etc on their tubes and have picked a low stress/high tube thickness place to do it but the principle is the same.

Don’t worry about stresses unless you’re drilling through welds. You need to remember a 5.5mm hole won’t cut it, you need a slot about 10-15mm long or the hose will exit at a right angle. I would loop it under or in front of the BB and go in where the loop naturally ends at the bottom of the seat tube.

you need a slot about 10-15mm long or the hose will exit at a right angle

Or as frame builders used to do (on cheaper frames, mind), you drill the hole then with a metal implement, you lever the hole to allow the cable to enter at an more shallow angle. Of course, that adds further stress to the tube but does mean a smaller hole.

You end up with this sort of shape (though this pic is a ‘proper’ guide

Seat tubes are funny. Under bending and high torsional loads.

What could possibly go wrong? 🙂

Brant, where would you make the hole? I’d appreciate your input.

I’d make the hole on the back of the seat tube, bit like the Trek’s did when they first started with the Stealth.

Then run the cable down inbetween the brace on the swingarm and the BB, under the BB, and ziptie it to the brake cable on the way back up the downtube.

Or go the whole hog & just drill a hole in the head tube, like the Commencal’s. Run it internal, down the ST, up the DT, round the steerer & out the front of the headtube.

Just cable tie the decker to your cable run. The run in through a hole in the underside of the bb shell so it goes straight up the seat tube

I think my favourite would be a hole in the BB shell.

A hole in the BB shell would mean the hose has to run around the BB spindle and rub up against the rough/sharp end of the inner seat tube?

I like a similar entry point to what Hob Nob suggests on the Trek’s – http://bicyclingaustralia.com.au/2012/trek-remedy-9?page=2