Cartridge
EXPLODED VIEWS
Supre Drive Cartridge
1. Outer Cap
  1.1. Front bolt
  1.2. Rear bolt
2. Cartridge Base
  2.1. Brass connecting tube
3. Drum
  3.1. Drum Axle
4. Cartridge
  4.1. Spring tube
  4.2. Damper tube
  4.3. Mid section
  4.4. Bottom cap
  4.5. Spring
  4.6. Aluminum cable seat
5. Tensioner cable
6. Frame adapter
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INSTALLATION
Installing the cartridge
- For the Nicolai Nucleon 16, remove the rear shock and rotate the swingarm to 100% compression.
- If the rubber frame adapter isn't already in the down tube, slide it into the bottom of the down tube with the orientation shown in the illustration.
- Slide the cartridge (without the cartridge base) into the down tube of your frame until the bottom end is just inside the frame.
- It helps to have the bike in a bike stand and to rotate the entire bike forward in the stand so that the down tube is horizontal. This allows you to look down and easily access the down tube from the bottom.
- Thread the tensioner cable through the cartridge base and out the opening in the back, manoeuvre the cartridge base into the frame so that it is just below the cartridge that's in the down tube.
- Align the small brass connecting tube and the hole in the bottom of the cartridge. Pull the tensioner cable while holding the cartridge base. The cartridge will slide onto the brass connecting tube.
- Feed the tensioner cable back through the opening in the back of the cartridge base and out of the large opening in the side of the frame.
- Be careful not to kink the cable.
- The cable should now be coming straight from the cartridge through the large hole in the frame.
- Continue to the next step to load the drum and fasten the cartridge assembly.
Loading the drum & fastening the cartridge assembly
- With the cartridge and cartridge base inside the frame, continue with the following steps.
- Thread the cable through the drum in the correct direction. The "IN" label on the drum should be facing into the frame. While pulling a bit on the cable, slide the drum into the frame and cartridge base.
- Be careful not to pinch the cable behind the drum or between the drum and the cartridge base's inboard face. Put a little bit of tension on the cable while sliding the drum into place so that there's no cable slack at risk of getting pinched behind the drum.
- The cable should now come straight from the cartridge, through the drum and out of the frame with no wraps around the drum.
- Push the drum axle through the drum and into the hole in the back of the cartridge base. With a pair of circlip pliers or needle nose pliers, rotate the drum clockwise two and a half rotations while holding the cartridge base.
- Look at the bottom of the cartridge base, you should see at least two neat wraps of cable on the inboard side of the drum. Make sure it is not pinched between the inboard face of the drum and cartridge base.
- By hand, neatly wrap the cable two and a half rotations clockwise around the portion of the drum outside the frame. While holding the cable, push the outer cap onto the drum axle. At this point, the assembly should hold itself together and can be let go.
- Fasten the cartridge bolts to 2.2 Nm. The front bolt is longer than the rear bolt.
- With a pair of pliers, hold the cable at least 30cm away from the drum, cycle the entire cartridge system 2 or 3 times by pulling and releasing the cable about 10cm each time.
- You should feel the resistance of the spring and the smooth operation of the damper. There should be little to no friction in the system. If the force feels uneven or won't return fully each time, re-do the installation, checking for sources of friction.
SETUP/ADJUSTMENT
Adjust the cable tension
- The cable tension is important to the Supre Drive shifting performance.
- If the derailleur struggles to shift out of the lowest gear, check that the cable tension is not too high and release a small amount of cable.
- If the chain is slack in the heaviest gear, check that the cable tension is not too low and pull a small amount of cable.
- Small cable adjustments will make a big difference in chain tension. Keep cable adjustments <5mm.
- Un-do the cable clamp bolt. Pull or release the appropriate length of cable. Re-fasten the cable clamp bolt.
- It is important that the cable clamp bolt is fastened to the correct torque, if not the cable could slip, significantly impacting the performance of the drivetrain.
MAINTENANCE
Replacing the tensioner cable
- In normal circumstances, the tensioner cable shouldn't need to be replaced. An example of when it would need to be replaced is in switching from a plastic tensioner arm to an aluminum tensioner arm.
- Remove the two cartridge mounting bolts, the black outer cap that covers the drum, the drum axle, and the drum. You may need to wiggle the drum out because of the cable spooled on the inner side of the drum.
- Thread the cable back through the hole in the frame and through the hole at the bottom of the cartridge base. Remove the catridge base by holding the bottom of the cartridge with pliers and pulling on the cartridge base (see video). Slide the cartridge out. Wipe off any dirt and cut the cable near the end of the cartridge.
- Slide the box end of a 16mm wrench over the yellow damper tube of the cartridge onto the black mid section of the cartridge. While holding this wrench, unscrew the white spring tube part fo the cartridge by hand.
- The white spring tube and mid section are under load from the cartridge spring. Do not be alarmed if the two parts "pop" apart when un-doing.
- Do not pull, twist or use the brass damper tube as a place to hold during any of the cartridge operations as it is only held onto the mid section by friction.
- Once the mid section and damper tube are separated from the spring tube, remove the spring tube and spring.
- With any narrow tool, push the head of the shifter cable out the side of the aluminum part and remove the old cable.
- Thread the new cable (standard shifter cable) through the aluminum part, through the centre of the spring and through the spring tube and the hole at the bottom of the spring tube. Slide the spring into the spring tube and pull all excess cable through. Apply grease to the spring (we use Maxima waterproof grease).
- With one hand on the mid section (black part below the brass damper tube) and one hand on the spring tube, push the two parts together while guiding the spring so that it doesn't bulge out of alignment (otherwise it risks getting permanently bent). While pushing the parts together, start threading them together by approximately one turn.
- Without our specialized assembly tool, this step requires some physical effort.
- Be careful to prevent the spring from bulging and possibly bending permanently. The photos show a technique where the spring is prevented from bulging by the same hand that's holding the mid section.
- Put the box end of a 16mm wrench on the mid section, and while holding the wrench with one hand, screw the white damper tube fully onto the mid section with the other hand. Once fully screwed together, there should be no gap between the protruding flange of the mid section and the end of the spring tube.
- See above for instructions about installing the cartridge (in the section "Installation").