After I purchased my bike this spring, with plans to add a BBSHD, I noticed newer posts about the plastic housing for the rear brake cable & rear-derailleur cable protruding too far out underneath the bottom bracket. This prevents the motor from sliding through the bottom bracket completely. I've circled the plastic housing in green in the attached photos. Do I remove the plastic housing and re-route the cables above the bottom bracket? If that is the case, any suggestions for cable guides I should use? Does anyone know the gap/distance between the part of the BBSHD motor that slides through the bottom bracket and the motor casing that sits beneath the bottom bracket?
It also appears the downtube's thickness (the underside of the downtube that hides the cables in the downtube) prevents the motor from full rotating forward once I do slide it through the bottom bracket. Can I still install & use the motor if I cannot fully rotate it forward? Is the only downside slightly less clearance between the motor and ground or are there other downsides to not being able to rotate the motor completely forward? Thanks in advance!
I have the same issue and was thinking or routing alongside the outside of the frame, but now I'm thinking that I could use a short section of cable housing secured to the bottom to replace the guide, but I'm not sure how to affix it. Any ideas?
Thanks John, this helps with a lot of my questions too! I like the idea of a shim as well.
It's just a cable guide to give clearence from the cable rubbing on the frame. I just used a low profile one that can be purchased on Amazon or Ebay. But you have to still swing the motor slightly downward to allow the cable to completely clear the motor. This will not cause any operational problems at all. In my case, about a quarter of an inch downward tilt was all that was necessary. I installed a rubber shim between the motor and the downtube to maintain the clearence necessary while tightening the large retainer ring. The alternative is to remove the cable altogether and just install an aftermarket enclosed cable, routed outside the motor area, to avoid the problem altogether. Hope that helps.
Fitz thanks for your response! I believe I need the plastic housing as otherwise the derailleur cable will run/run directly on the bottom bracket. This seems bad. I can try to shave the plastic housing down to lower its profile. I can also remove/replace it. My local bike shop also gave me another housing that has a slightly lower profile, so I may try that. I realize if the motor doesn’t rotate forward all the way I will have much less clearance, but will the motor still work OK? Is clearance the only thing I lose if I cannot rotate it forward?
if its just plastic housing, can u remove it, is its purpose critical? u want your motor to fit, and bunch the excess cables some where they can be tucked or zip tied tight to the motor/BB. also ideally u want the motor jacked upward as far as it can go, hanging straight down is generally a no go... if u have to go over a larger rock or log that motor gonna be smacking stuff if its handing too low, or the wire bundle may get snagged on stuff. during conversion u may run into snags, just work through them best u can, sometimes u gotta hack stuff a bit. im not a fan of grinding the frame near the BB to make the motor fit - voiding the warranty. yikes.