Rise Dropper Cable Installation

[RickBullotta]

Soooo...I originally took the dropper out when I got the bike, and decided I wanted to add it back. Dropping the motor was actually quite easy (though I did need to remove the crankarms, chainguide and chainring also), and after that it was relatively simple to get things installed. But...

I highly recommend leaving the motor out until you've completed the install. It's very difficult to move the cable housing with the motor in place. Trust me. Leave the motor out.

 

[faberle]

Thanks for sharing your experience @RickBullotta. Removing motor and battery is something I want to do just to get to know my Rise a bit better. I bought few tools (Parktool BBT-69.2, SHIMANO TL-FC39) to remove the crank. Did you need any special tools to remove the crankarms, such as crank cap remover ?

 

[RickBullotta]

Thanks for sharing your experience @RickBullotta. Removing motor and battery is something I want to do just to get to know my Rise a bit better. I bought few tools (Parktool BBT-69.2, SHIMANO TL-FC39) to remove the crank. Did you need any special tools to remove the crankarms, such as crank cap remover ?

Crank cap is a 9 or 10mm hex wrench - nothing special. You'll want to also remove the quick link from your chain and get the chain out of the way. Most of the bolts are 6mm except for the cover which is 2mm (careful - those tiny bolts are easy to lose). And you'll want a torque wrench for proper reassembly. Other than that, it's fairly straightforward. It's quite crowded underneath the motor. I certainly would not enjoy having to replace the wiring harness!

 

[Mtbnutty]

Upon delivery I found that my dropper cable housing was pinched somewhere in the frame. I first dropped the motor, then discovered that the housing was pinched under the battery. I removed the battery to free the housing. While reinstalling the battery and motor I made sure the cable housing was free to move. Now my cable housing moves easily when I push/pull from the headtube to the dropper.

 

[Endurip]

Waiting for my Rise, but the 150 mm dropper will be short for me. Can I use the installed leaver and just switch the dropper to my bike yoke, you think??

Thanx

 

[RickBullotta]

Waiting for my Rise, but the 150 mm dropper will be short for me. Can I use the installed leaver and just switch the dropper to my bike yoke, you think??

Thanx

I don't know. Perhaps you could reuse the housing, but it will likely still need to be adjusted trimmed to length.

 

[Endurip]

Thank you
I’ll try once I receive the bike

 

[Flatsix66]

Thank you
I’ll try once I receive the bike

Did this work out without dropping the motor or adjusting the cable housing? I want to go from the 125mm dropper in my LTD to a 175mm and try to figure out if this is a straight swap or will I need to drop the motor and monkey with the cable and housing.

 

[Funks]

If you guys have the Rise Alloy version, then you need the Park tool LRT-2 to remove the locking as it comes with a 1 piece chainring (no bolts).

 

[Endurip]

Did this work out without dropping the motor or adjusting the cable housing? I want to go from the 125mm dropper in my LTD to a 175mm and try to figure out if this is a straight swap or will I need to drop the motor and monkey with the cable and housing.

I didn’t need to drop the motor. Took it to a local shop cause I didn’t want to pull the cables with force. But when the mechanic did so, it worked.

 

[kotto25]

I didn’t need to drop the motor. Took it to a local shop cause I didn’t want to pull the cables with force. But when the mechanic did so, it worked.

So just to clarify the mechanic was able to pull the dropper cable completely out without dropping the motor? I will be getting my rise soon and have a Reverb AXS dropper for it.

 

[Endurip]

So just to clarify the mechanic was able to pull the dropper cable completely out without dropping the motor? I will be getting my rise soon and have a Reverb AXS dropper for it.

No, he just stretched it enough to connect to the rear brake. I would guess you would have to drop the motor for a dropper change. But can’t you use the same cable? I just connected the existing cable to my bike yoke dropper, and that was it.

 

[volts]

Waiting for my Rise, but the 150 mm dropper will be short for me. Can I use the installed leaver and just switch the dropper to my bike yoke, you think??

Thanx

I reused cable and housing when I installed a oneup 210mm dropper no problems. You can reuse the lever if you want.

 

[kotto25]

I will be removing the dropper cable entirely as the Reverb AXS dropper is wireless. Was hoping I could just pull it out without dropping the motor.

 

[Flatsix66]

I will be removing the dropper cable entirely as the Reverb AXS dropper is wireless. Was hoping I could just pull it out without dropping the motor.

I would think so. I pulled my dropper out of the seat tube and disconnected the cable. The cable and housing seem to be free to slide inside the frame, I would bet they would pull out the front. Perhaps the cable knob might get stuck, a good bet would be to cut it off before pulling.

 

[volts]

I would think so. I pulled my dropper out of the seat tube and disconnected the cable. The cable and housing seem to be free to slide inside the frame, I would bet they would pull out the front. Perhaps the cable knob might get stuck, a good bet would be to cut it off before pulling.

Cut it off? Why? Why not just pull it through and save it for another day?

 

[ebsocalmtb]

The dropper cable situation on my XL m20 has been quite the PITA. The routing was not good from the factory install, and it was binding/pinched with the motor installation. I had to drop the motor to re-route it and tried to quiet it down a bit. Some of those efforts worked and my 210mm oneup dropper is now installed... but it's still jammed between the motor and frame. This was not at all an issue on my wife's medium m20, where her dropper cable is installed/routed in such a way that it does not bind and can move freely in either direction.

I'd say that the internal routing is one of two misses by Orbea on the rise. I'm going to be pulling my motor again, and also the battery to re-route the internal routing and fix the dropper pinching issue, as well as the cable rattling in the frame. Really, I wish brands would either use fully internally sleeved/ Tube-in-tube routing or utilize external routing. Honestly, internal routing for ebike frames are just really the best idea. that way, you'd only be dealing with the dropper cable as the only internally routed item on this frame.

Either way, I would caution people from just yanking the dropper cable out without dropping at least the motor. It could definitely work on say, my wife's Medium m20... but doing that on my XL m20, could potentially cause damage to the junction box wiring as it was sorta hap-hazardly bundled up within the frame. I've found that the tiny wiring for the junction box, has as much as 12" - 18" of extra length in there to allow you to pull the dropper cabling in/out without ripping it out of the connection. If you were to snag that with the end of the dropper cable and yank it out, you could do some damage in there.

I feel like if i were determined to remove the cable without dropping the motor, I would for sure, push it back up the seat tube with the post removed, cut the cable end off the metal dropper cable, and remove the housing end cap. that way I could be certain that there wasn't an enlarged outer diameter to the housing/cable that could snag on a connector or wire in there while yanking it out the head tube junction area of the frame. I would avoid being penny wise/pound foolish to save a 2-4 (pick your native currency here) shift cable.

 

[RickBullotta]

I would think so. I pulled my dropper out of the seat tube and disconnected the cable. The cable and housing seem to be free to slide inside the frame, I would bet they would pull out the front. Perhaps the cable knob might get stuck, a good bet would be to cut it off before pulling.

Be careful. You can easily damage the signal wire from the motor, which uses the same internal routing channel.

 

[hoangmcung]

Soooo...I originally took the dropper out when I got the bike, and decided I wanted to add it back. Dropping the motor was actually quite easy (though I did need to remove the crankarms, chainguide and chainring also), and after that it was relatively simple to get things installed. But...

I highly recommend leaving the motor out until you've completed the install. It's very difficult to move the cable housing with the motor in place. Trust me. Leave the motor out.

Hi Rick, Thank you for sharing your experience. I have an M20 that came with the stock SLX. I really dislike the shifter and derailleur because my chain kept on slipping between 10-12 gears. I bought the XTR shifter and derailleur to change. I'm a bit scare to change the shifter since I have no experience with removing the motor/battery. Is it necessary to remove the motor and/or the batter to accomplish this? Thank you in advance.

 

[RickBullotta]

Hi Rick, Thank you for sharing your experience. I have an M20 that came with the stock SLX. I really dislike the shifter and derailleur because my chain kept on slipping between 10-12 gears. I bought the XTR shifter and derailleur to change. I'm a bit scare to change the shifter since I have no experience with removing the motor/battery. Is it necessary to remove the motor and/or the batter to accomplish this? Thank you in advance.

You should be able to do it without any of that. Just re-use the derailleur cable housing that is already there and simply replace the inner wire. Should be a quick and easy job.

 

[Funks]

I bought the XTR shifter and derailleur to change.

You won't get any advantage replacing the shifter and the rear derailleur from an SLX -> XTR. I'm not sure about the XTR but the XT's have a problem with a small spring breaking and it's not reliable at all (will eventually break).

https://www.mtbr.com/threads/shimano-xt-m8100-shifter-problem.1190500/

Only real difference between the SLX and the XT and the XTR REAR DERAILLEUR is the weight, and the XT and XTR comes with jockey wheels that have ball bearings in it instead of a bushing. Easily replaceable on the SLX by buying the RD-M8100 pulley wheels for less than 20$ USD (Part Number Y3FW98010).

Pretty sure the XTR rear derailleur ain't gonna change anything. I say get a derailleur hanger alignment tool and make sure the hanger is perfect aligned first. Then loosen the cable on the rear derailleur, tighten up the barrel adjuster on the shifter and only loosen it one whole turn, re-adjust the low limit screw first, then the high limit screw. Finally adjust the b-limit screw (with the chain on the largest cog).

 

[dlc/emtb]

Quite a bit late, but wanted to let folks know I was able to change the dropper cable relatively easily on my 2021 m20 without dropping the motor, by pulling the power button out (but not disconnecting the wire harness). Easy access to the cable/dropper connection and much easier than dropping the motor!

 

[Bigtuna00]

You won't get any advantage replacing the shifter and the rear derailleur from an SLX -> XTR.

Sorry for the necro post, but this is not quite correct. The XTR shifter allows you to upshift 2 gears at a time. It's a small difference but a nice feature.

 

[Bigtuna00]

Now for a question: currently trying to install a dropper cable in a small size 2022 M30. I have the motor and fork removed. The cable goes easily through the downtube but when it reaches the headtube it's too high up for me to grab with a finger. The aluminum frame doesn't have nearly as much room for this kind of stuff (compared to carbon)! Wondering if someone has a clever ideas to grab the cable and pull it down so I can feed through the port, and so I don't need to remove the battery. May try to "lasso" it with a zip tie or something...

EDIT: ended up putting the cable into the housing and working the cable out the port first.

 

[kiwidoc]

Related issue - my stolen rise whowed up a year after it was nicked. Bike crims has NOT kept it charged, no charger i guess, so battery is munted... (and broken brake lever, worn tires and other brake needs bleeding. V poor maintenance from bike crim.)
Friend trying to get a new battery and M frame, so I'm going take all the gear off my old one.
Cannot get the wiring harness out after motor dropped. After unscrewing the port cover, there are two alloy lugs that don't leave enough room to get the harness out.
Any ideas? This is pretty niche. Might see if i can push it back up the seat tube...

BTW the dropper cable was mashed, must have been pinching

On diagram have unscrewed the covr. The blue dots approx position of the lugs stop is coming down