ROS 9 cable routing

I wanted to add a little note about one minor frustation -- and a handy solution -- that I had with the new ROS 9.

The rear brake hose is apparently supposed to be routed under the down tube, under the bottom bracket, along the underside of the chainstay, then in front of the chainstay.

First of all, I was using a fairly long hose on my previous frame that ran under the top tube and down the seatstay, but routing the hose the way Niner intended made the hose dangerously short. It was feasible, but I knew I would be one handlebar-twisting crash away from ripping my hose out of my brake lever and needed to replace it anyways.

Secondly, I didn't like having the hose all exposed to rocks and such on the "outside" of the frame structure, preferring to have tacked away safely "inside" the frame.

The frame includes some hose hardware that bolts on and looks like it's perfect if you around anchoring two parallel hoses/housing along the frame for a brake and a derailleur or two, in addition to a dropper post cable or hose, but since my bike currently only has a rear brake, the hardware is unbalanced and inadequate for this singular duty.

nice 'n awkward

I made a trip to the local home improvement store and picked up a lifetime supply of these plastic cable clamps for under $2, plus some washers so I can bolt them down without smooshing the soft plastic into oblivion. I trimmed the square edges of three clamps into something that more closely resembles a round shape and bolted them to the underside of the top tube.

clean!

The frame does not have any sort of cable guides or braze-ons on the seatstays, so I had to fix the hose in place with two zip ties. I cinched them nice and tight to prevent the hose from getting too close the to tire, which could also spell disaster.

tucked in there

Shimano's design of the banjo bolt on that SLX caliper means I can point that hose any direction on that plane without affecting the brake's performance, which came in handy for this application.

I hope that helps people looking for alternate ways to route all the bits and bobs on their own bikes, whether you have multiple lockout switches or just a single rear brake.