# Anyone try seatstay cable routing with Alfine?



## bikeny (Feb 26, 2004)

I am in the process of setting up my Alfine hub, and came up with an idea. The normal cable routing for the Alfine is to run the cable along the downtube and chainstay. My bike (and I think most these days) has the cable stops on the toptube and seatstays. I was playing around with with the hub and discovered that if I swap the blue and green non-turn washers, the cassette joint exits the hub at the same angle as my seatstays. I thought Great! that is perfect! I then looked at the chainline and it looks like the chain will be very close to hitting the end of the cassette joint (where the cable housing is anchored). I am using a 22t cog that I have dished inward, and it looks like it just might clear. If I flipped the cog out, it definately will not clear. My chainline is actually correct with the cog dished inward, so I am going to put a chain on tonight and see what happens. Maybe I could just bend the cassette joint a little if it is close? 

Anyway, this would result in a much cleaner setup without extra zip ties all over the frame if it works. Any comments or questions, let me know. I will try to get some pictures as well so you can see what I am talking about.

Mark


----------



## pursuiter (May 28, 2008)

bikeny said:


> ...I am going to put a chain on tonight and see what happens. Maybe I could just bend the cassette joint a little if it is close? ...


I've looked at this on three different frames, the chain is always in the way. I wouldn't bend the cassette joint, that doesn't mean it wouldn't work. I gave up and plan to add braze-on guides to my Jabberwocky when I have it powered coated.


----------



## itsdoable (Jan 6, 2004)

I've run the red-band nexus with a SS cable route to the cassette joint with the cog on the inner chain-line, I had to use a small enough cog (<22) so the chain was under the cassette joint housing seat, and the steel cable just cleared the chain on the cog. I ran the cassette joint almost strait up (back then I could not get the blue/green non-turn washers here).

It was tight, but ran fine for a few years, even with a bit of play on the cassette joint. But I was always wondering what would happen to the plastic mount of the cassette joint if my chain picked up something.... I now run the cables along the chainstay, I prefer it over the poor clearance with a SS route. 

Personally I would not bend the cassette joint.


----------



## EGF168 (Aug 13, 2007)

This is how mine's routed, it's working fine so can't you route it up the seat stay but around the outside of the seat stay (instead of the inside) which would keep it away from the chain?


----------



## anthony.delorenzo (Aug 17, 2006)

I found a Pugsley on Flickr that had done this, he used a different set of non-turn washers to accomplish it. You can see in the pic he has the blue/green on there, while the Pug takes the silver/white:



I had considered trying this, but in the end I just zip-tied my cable to the downtube. I think that with a 22T cog in the rear it would have chain clearance issues.


----------



## bikeny (Feb 26, 2004)

Thanks for the replies everyone. I have included a picture below of my seatstays and the guides. They run on the top of the seatstay. I could certainly just use the upper one and then have the cable bend down parallel to the chainstay like on EFG168s picture. I think I will try it they way I described above and see how it works. If the chain is too close I will have to rethink it.

Mark


----------



## Vulcan (May 22, 2004)

I've been contemplating how I can accomplish the seatstay routing on my 2008 Rig. I think it really comes down to the cog size. The 22t cog I'm using is garunteed to lead to interference when the cassette joint doesn't lie inside the chain. 

Can't decide if I want to try switching to a 20t cog just to get prettier cable routing.


----------



## bikeny (Feb 26, 2004)

Vulcan said:


> I've been contemplating how I can accomplish the seatstay routing on my 2008 Rig. I think it really comes down to the cog size. The 22t cog I'm using is garunteed to lead to interference when the cassette joint doesn't lie inside the chain.
> 
> Can't decide if I want to try switching to a 20t cog just to get prettier cable routing.


Vulcan: I am the one who started this thread, so I will explain what I did. I tried the seatstay routing, and it has worked fine. Couple of pictures below. In the pictures I am using a 22t cog, but have since switched to a 24t, and it still clears fine. I bent the cassette joint slightly by hand to the outside, and am using my cog dished inwards. If you need the cog dished outwards for chainline reaons, this will definately not work. I used the blue and green washers and swapped them to the opposite side to get the right orientation. I think I ended up with a nice clean setup. Let me know if you have any questions.

Mark


----------



## mountaingoatepics (Jan 30, 2004)

Bikeny, were you able to get your chainring set up for the 42mm chainline? I've just ordered my Alfine and will be going with a 22 cog for the mountains here in Colorado. Closest I can get my chainring without going to a new crankset is 47.5mm. Have a 73mm bottom bracket and a Shimano XT crankset. I have a few ideas to make the cassette joint work with the 22 dished outwards by doing a S~bend with the metal cable fixing point and that will keep my chain line within .5 mm. Another option I'm working with is using washers to shim my chainring in 4 to 5mm. Won't know for sure until I receive the parts and start manipulating. 

I have horizontal drops on my Soma Juice like the Pugsley so I might be going with the blue/green non turn washers though I have considered the black and grey non turn washers designed for 38 degree angle front entry dropouts. If I go with the black/grey combo this should put the cassette joint between the chain stays and seat stays and may even eliminate the need to bend the cassette joint at all.


----------



## bikeny (Feb 26, 2004)

mountaingoatepics said:


> Bikeny, were you able to get your chainring set up for the 42mm chainline? I've just ordered my Alfine and will be going with a 22 cog for the mountains here in Colorado. Closest I can get my chainring without going to a new crankset is 47.5mm. Have a 73mm bottom bracket and a Shimano XT crankset. I have a few ideas to make the cassette joint work with the 22 dished outwards by doing a S~bend with the metal cable fixing point and that will keep my chain line within .5 mm. Another option I'm working with is using washers to shim my chainring in 4 to 5mm. Won't know for sure until I receive the parts and start manipulating.
> 
> I have horizontal drops on my Soma Juice like the Pugsley so I might be going with the blue/green non turn washers though I have considered the black and grey non turn washers designed for 38 degree angle front entry dropouts. If I go with the black/grey combo this should put the cassette joint between the chain stays and seat stays and may even eliminate the need to bend the cassette joint at all.


Hi mountaingoatepics,

I have not measured my chainline to know exactly what it is, but I guess it is around 42mm. As you can see from the above pictures, I am using an XTR M950 crankset and Boone spiderless chainring and a 116mm XTR BB. You can see in the last picture that the chainstay on my frame has a special cutout to accomodate this setup. My suggestion would be to get the Alfine small parts kit, which I believe comes with all 3 sets of washers, and then start playing with them. Don't forget that switching the washers from left to right and vice versa will result in different orientations. So theoretically, that would be 6 different orientations. Hopefully you can get it to work, and good luck!

Mark


----------



## mountaingoatepics (Jan 30, 2004)

Hey Guys, Quick update. I got my bike set up with the Alfine tonight. I am using a 22 tooth dished outwards for a 47mm chainline. I can't stand downtube routing so I Macgyverized the cassette joint by switching the left, white and right, silver horizontal non turn washers to get a 30-40 degree angle on it and then I had to bend it slightly to get the cable out of the chainline.

Rode it around a little tonight on the neighborhood bike trails and it feels like a good gear range, surprisingly better then expected. The ultimate test will be this weekend's Tour de Mines in the back country near Georgetown, Colorado...going from 9,000 to 11,000 ft.


----------



## OFFcourse (Aug 11, 2011)

Bit of a resurrection but you guys must have strong hands to bend that any hints I'm a little scared of snapping it.


----------



## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

Don't try to bend stuff without taking it apart first, because you will break something. I can't remember if I used a vise or a pair of pliers, but either would work. You just want to bend the metal bit, and it doesn't need to be bent very much.
Drew


----------



## Andy R (Nov 26, 2008)

If you want to bend the cassette joint a little for clearance (I had to do this on my wife's Carver 96er) the best way to do kit is to strip the plastic parts off (held with two small cross head screws) so that you can hold most of the metal part in a vice so that it stays nice and straight and bend it where you need the clearance with an adjustable spanner.

This way you get a nice defined bend without risking any damage to the plastic components.


----------

