Yesterday I spent the day building up my new Lithium frame. Here are some notes on what I learned during the process. Please share your insights, recommendations & tricks in this thread. First, here's a photo of the blank canvas:
![1936482]( "1936482")
Sorry this photo is a little fuzzy. I'll post additional photos once she's finished. I'm employing an old set of brakes on this build and the rear hose is too short, so I ordered a new hose which is expected to arrive tomorrow.
Assuming everyone reading this has built a bike from the frame up before, I'm going to dispense with the proper order of things (install headset first, etc.) and get right to the meat -- cables & brake hose. Everything else is pretty straightforward but the internal routing -- particularly the housing port cover plates -- can make things a bit tricky. But to get to the point of installing cables & brake hose, first I needed to install my seat collar, headset, fork, stem & bars. I also installed my dropper lever onto my handlebar in my preferred position (measured this on my other bike).
I installed the dropper post first, figuring it'd be easier than installing the brake hose or rear der and no doubt I'd learn some stuff in the process.
First, I measured the distance from the top of my pedal to the saddle rails on my other bike. (If you don't have another bike to measure, your inseam should get you close enough.)
Then I inserted the dropper into the new frame to the depth that provided a similar pedal-to-rails dimension as my other bike (or use inseam).
Subtracting the post's exposed length from its total length told me where the bottom of the post was inside the frame (the housing would end at this point).
The dropper housing entry hole is behind the upper swing link. It was easy enough to figure out how much housing would be needed to reach from dropper entry hole to bottom of dropper just by eyeballing and taking a rough measurement on the outside. I don't remember what this distance was on my frame but let's say it was 5".
I got my dropper housing and put a small piece of tape on it 5" from one end.
Next I threaded the taped end of the housing into the upper downtube housing port (behind/below the headtube), then fished it out of the central housing port in front of the upper swing link.
I found the little bag that came with my frame that contained frame small parts, including the three cable housing port cover plates. One plate is designed for a single housing, one plate is made for two housings and the final plate is for three housings -- that's the one we want now, the one for three housings.
At the central housing port in front of the swing link, I fed the housing through the triple cover plate, making sure I had the plate oriented outside-out.
Then fed the housing below the suspension link and up into the dropper housing entry hole behind the link, stopping at the tape.
Now I could go up to the front of the bike and bend the housing over toward my dropper lever, making sure I left the housing long enough so I could turn my bars past 90° without over-tightening the housing.
I cut the housing there.
Then I removed my dropper lever from the handlebar and set it aside within easy reach.
Next I pulled the dropper post out of the frame and attached the cable to the actuator at the bottom of the post.
Then I set the dropper post aside within easy reach, the cable attached to the dropper's actuator.
Now I fed the housing from front of frame up into the seattube until the housing's end was just above the top of the seattube.
I put a ferrule on that end of the housing, then fed the cable into the housing and inserted the post into the frame just far enough to keep it upright, resting it there.
The bare end of the cable had come out the other end of the housing at the front of the bike; I put a ferrule on that end and slid the appropriate housing port cover plate onto the cable & housing, outside-out.
Then fed the bare end of the cable into my dropper lever but before tightening the dropper lever's anchor bolt, I made sure the ferrule at the bottom of the dropper was properly seated.
Then tensioned the cable as much as possible by hand and finally tightened the lever's anchor bolt.
Then I applied friction paste to the dropper's static (in-frame) section and slid the post into the frame to the proper depth.
In so doing, the housing was pushed forward & out the upper housing port giving it its proper length at the front of the bike.
I attached the dropper lever back onto the handlebar.
Now the dropper was installed plus I already had two of the pesky little housing port cover plates in position. But not fastened yet -- don't fasten the port cover plates until all cables & brake hose are completely installed. You need to leave them loose in order to feed & fish the housing & hose in & out.
Once I got the dropper post installed, I'd learned enough that installing the derailleur housing was easy. Except that I almost forgot to put the housing port cover plate on at the right time! It's easy to forget, so don't be like me.
I'll add a reply to this thread below describing the way I did my rear brake hose. I fed it from back to front using a wire trick that worked really well for me.
=sParty
Sorry this photo is a little fuzzy. I'll post additional photos once she's finished. I'm employing an old set of brakes on this build and the rear hose is too short, so I ordered a new hose which is expected to arrive tomorrow.
Assuming everyone reading this has built a bike from the frame up before, I'm going to dispense with the proper order of things (install headset first, etc.) and get right to the meat -- cables & brake hose. Everything else is pretty straightforward but the internal routing -- particularly the housing port cover plates -- can make things a bit tricky. But to get to the point of installing cables & brake hose, first I needed to install my seat collar, headset, fork, stem & bars. I also installed my dropper lever onto my handlebar in my preferred position (measured this on my other bike).
I installed the dropper post first, figuring it'd be easier than installing the brake hose or rear der and no doubt I'd learn some stuff in the process.
First, I measured the distance from the top of my pedal to the saddle rails on my other bike. (If you don't have another bike to measure, your inseam should get you close enough.)
Then I inserted the dropper into the new frame to the depth that provided a similar pedal-to-rails dimension as my other bike (or use inseam).
Subtracting the post's exposed length from its total length told me where the bottom of the post was inside the frame (the housing would end at this point).
The dropper housing entry hole is behind the upper swing link. It was easy enough to figure out how much housing would be needed to reach from dropper entry hole to bottom of dropper just by eyeballing and taking a rough measurement on the outside. I don't remember what this distance was on my frame but let's say it was 5".
I got my dropper housing and put a small piece of tape on it 5" from one end.
Next I threaded the taped end of the housing into the upper downtube housing port (behind/below the headtube), then fished it out of the central housing port in front of the upper swing link.
I found the little bag that came with my frame that contained frame small parts, including the three cable housing port cover plates. One plate is designed for a single housing, one plate is made for two housings and the final plate is for three housings -- that's the one we want now, the one for three housings.
At the central housing port in front of the swing link, I fed the housing through the triple cover plate, making sure I had the plate oriented outside-out.
Then fed the housing below the suspension link and up into the dropper housing entry hole behind the link, stopping at the tape.
Now I could go up to the front of the bike and bend the housing over toward my dropper lever, making sure I left the housing long enough so I could turn my bars past 90° without over-tightening the housing.
I cut the housing there.
Then I removed my dropper lever from the handlebar and set it aside within easy reach.
Next I pulled the dropper post out of the frame and attached the cable to the actuator at the bottom of the post.
Then I set the dropper post aside within easy reach, the cable attached to the dropper's actuator.
Now I fed the housing from front of frame up into the seattube until the housing's end was just above the top of the seattube.
I put a ferrule on that end of the housing, then fed the cable into the housing and inserted the post into the frame just far enough to keep it upright, resting it there.
The bare end of the cable had come out the other end of the housing at the front of the bike; I put a ferrule on that end and slid the appropriate housing port cover plate onto the cable & housing, outside-out.
Then fed the bare end of the cable into my dropper lever but before tightening the dropper lever's anchor bolt, I made sure the ferrule at the bottom of the dropper was properly seated.
Then tensioned the cable as much as possible by hand and finally tightened the lever's anchor bolt.
Then I applied friction paste to the dropper's static (in-frame) section and slid the post into the frame to the proper depth.
In so doing, the housing was pushed forward & out the upper housing port giving it its proper length at the front of the bike.
I attached the dropper lever back onto the handlebar.
Now the dropper was installed plus I already had two of the pesky little housing port cover plates in position. But not fastened yet -- don't fasten the port cover plates until all cables & brake hose are completely installed. You need to leave them loose in order to feed & fish the housing & hose in & out.
Once I got the dropper post installed, I'd learned enough that installing the derailleur housing was easy. Except that I almost forgot to put the housing port cover plate on at the right time! It's easy to forget, so don't be like me.
I'll add a reply to this thread below describing the way I did my rear brake hose. I fed it from back to front using a wire trick that worked really well for me.
=sParty
