Product Review Cane Creek - Climb Switch Remote - OPT

JTmofo

XC Enthusiast
Item: Cane Creeks new "OPT" climb switch remote
Purchased From: Mountainbikesdirect.com.au
Purchase Price (approx): $95
Usage: Used with a Cane Creek iL Coil on a Canyon Spectral

Pros -
Works effortlessly to switch between climb and open mode on the fly.
Well finished and quality feel.
Easy install (if you don't try and be smart...see comments below)
Switch is neat and ergonomic on the bars.
Can be mounted integrally with the Cane Creek "Dropt" dropper lever
Weighs next to nothing.

Cons -
Cable routing isn't the most attractive for OCD cockpit freaks
Some play for and aft of the switch (may be user installer error)
Not compatible wit all Cane Creek shock (and must be bought top of bottom mount specific)

Comments:
For anyone that dreams of ultimate descending plushness of a coil shock on their trail bike, but dreads the feeling of the energy sapping pedal bob on climbs, the new range of coil shocks from both Fox (X2 coil) and Cane Creek (DB coil and iL Coil) may be your answer. Both manufactures offer a climb switch/lock out on their range of coil shocks, but Cane Creek have brought a light weight (and shorter travel) option with the iL Coil.
This is the second Cane Creek iL Coil I've had installed on one of my bikes (the first on a full endura race prepped SB6). I wanted something that was going to supply the adjustability of LSC, HSC, LSR and HSR for the fine tuning of feel from my bikes.
My recent addition Canyon Spectral came from the online retailer with the standard Rockshox Monarch RT3. As much as I tried to like it.... And as much fiddling I could do with the limited self tuning options, I just couldn't get it to feel as I wanted.

Off I trotted to the good people at MTB direct (be under no illusions, I paid for this setup myself, and I am not affiliated with MTB direct) who have Cane Creek wares in stock and at reasonable prices (even compared to overseas online suppliers). Seeing as that CC now has the option of a bar mounted climb switch actuation lever, I thought it would be a worthwhile experiment.

Firstly, you need to decide what the cable routing preference is on you particular bike. In my case, the Spectral has internal routing the runs down the down tube and exits a few inches before the bottom bracket. This is ideal routing for the OPT cable, and meant that I chose the "Bottom mount" option for the OPT hardware. If, for example, you were to run the supplied cable under your top tube, you would require a "Top mount" hardware.

The OPT system comes complete with the bar mounted lever, quality Jagwire outer and inner cable as well as hardware that replaces the "switch" on the Cane Creek shock. Mounting the hardware is easy, with a couple of hex head screws and switch lever to be removed, replaced by the well finished gold anodised cable actuation anchor.

The lever can be mounted on either side of the bars. It is a 1 bolt operation, that clamps around the bar in a similar fashion to a SRAM clamp. I opted to mount mine on the right hand side, purely due to the cable routing through the frame. I already had the rear brake and dropper cable routed into the right side of the frame, with only the RD cable on the left side.

Routing the cable will differ for various bikes and set ups, and is totally a personal preference. The lever can potentially be integrally mount with a the optional Cane Creek Dropt dropper remote lever. I considered this, but decided against it due to having excess cables routed from the left side of the bar (and needing 3 cables into the right side of the frame).

The lever is pretty inconspicuous when mounted on the bars, it has a low profile and doesn't protrude or interfere with my shifter of brake lever. You do have to ensure the mounting angle agrees with the cable angle from the lever tho, and this is where the cable routing Nazi's wont be happy.

Fucktard Alert** When I was mocking up the routing, I thought it would be a good idea to use a 90 deg cable noodle to get a nice tidy route from the bars. Please, don't be like JT. Don't try and be smart. It wasn't a clever thing to do. After routing my cables, cutting the outer and inner, installing the noodle and testing the lever, it was obvious the you need cable outer continuity for the push/pull to work!!!!

New cable outer and inner installed, and functionality was restored. The outcome of this is that the lever cable angle is directly out from the bars, and to maintain a decent bend radius of the cable, it protrudes a little further than I would like.

As a result of using a different cable inner and outer cable (which is a smaller diameter and less stiff than the supplied Jagwire setup), there is some "give" as you push and pull the lever. A dead spot you might call it, when the lever move a coupe of mm with zero impact on the climb switch actuation. It doesn't affect the functionality of the setup, but it does detract from the quality crisp feel of engagement. I have since ordered a replacement Jagwire kit to retro fit, so I will report whether this solves the issue.

As a whole, this product works great. I've had about 50km of all mountain riding on this setup now. Although most of the time has been dialling in the new shock, I have used the bar mounted switch countless times. I never used the climb switch on the SB6 as often due to the fact you had to reach down (usually without looking) and manually switch the lever. With the bar mount, it has already become second nature.
It turns, what is an absolutely incredible shock, into something that all trail rider could consider. Gone are the days of uber heavy coil shocks sapping every last bit of energy during a climb, this switch makes light effortless work to turn your plush descending plough machine into a fast and capable trail weapon in 0.5 second.

Result - Buy one...........


Pictures/Videos:
Actual installed photos to follow...... stay tuned.
 

Attachments

teK--

Eats Squid
Thanks for the review.

I'm curious to see closer up pics of the new CS mechanism to see how it isn't affected by the shock cycling up and down.

TBH I use my DBIL Coil full open unless I am climbing up a fireroad. I'd probably forget to open it up if I had a lever that allowed me to turn it on and off regularly. YMMV it all depends on your frame design as to whether it's feasible to not run a remote, and instead reach down for the switch.
 
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