Wire Organizing- What Do You Use?

[Ken Shopken]

Hey all

I am tired of using zip ties and automotive split or spiral loom to organize and tidy up wiring.

Conversions look like crap with wiring coiled and crammed about.

What are you using?

Has anyone found a purchase link for Velcro closure type sleeves of different sizes?

Who is cutting excessive length from wiring harnesses? What are the products you are doing it with?

I have used soldered wiring ferrules with glue shrink tubing and wiring tubes.

 

[m@Robertson]

Hey all

I am tired of using zip ties and automotive split or spiral loom to organize and tidy up wiring.

Conversions look like crap with wiring coiled and crammed about.

What are you using?

Has anyone found a purchase link for Velcro closure type sleeves of different sizes?

Who is cutting excessive length from wiring harnesses? What are the products you are doing it with?

I have used soldered wiring ferrules with glue shrink tubing and wiring tubes.

A key to tidy wiring is to find a place to hide the excess. Wiring is nowhere near as noticeable if its snug against the frame, or bundled to for example the brake or shifter wires. The problem is not the use of color coded zip ties or split loom casings. Its the 'coiled and crammed' part that makes things half-assed. I use small pouches on the handlebars to stuff my excess wire. Or a handlebar bag that does double duty for wallet, phone and keys. A molle pouch's loops can be used to wend cord inside of the loops, and even though it is external its invisible if you use a black pouch on black cabling.

Velcro closure sleeves look awful. The velcro on both sides makes the loom XL and extra-noticeable. Plus it doesn't last, especially at the outer edges.

If you use heat shrink that is color coded to your frame color (there is a rainbow of 2:1 non adhesive heat shrink available) it hides the cabling in plain sight. Do that to brake cables, too and cover the cabling only so far as it overlaps the frame - leaving it black as it loops outward to the bars - and the 'volume level' of the cabling is reduced without looking cheesy.

I did this one in 2017. Pic is overexposed which unfairly highlights the cabling, but still note everything is in plain sight and its still pretty low key. I wrapped excess wiring harness into a silicone-taped coil under and behind the motor. Its still fine like that now in 2024.

 

[linklemming]

Grin sells these which I use on my latest builds.
https://ebikes.ca/consleeve.html

I have also made my own custom wiring but its always a PITA. It seems like every time I cut a wire to the correct length, I regret it.

 

[Ken Shopken]

A key to tidy wiring is to find a place to hide the excess. Wiring is nowhere near as noticeable if its snug against the frame, or bundled to for example the brake or shifter wires. The problem is not the use of color coded zip ties or split loom casings. Its the 'coiled and crammed' part that makes things half-assed. I use small pouches on the handlebars to stuff my excess wire. Or a handlebar bag that does double duty for wallet, phone and keys. A molle pouch's loops can be used to wend cord inside of the loops, and even though it is external its invisible if you use a black pouch on black cabling.

Velcro closure sleeves look awful. The velcro on both sides makes the loom XL and extra-noticeable. Plus it doesn't last, especially at the outer edges.

If you use heat shrink that is color coded to your frame color (there is a rainbow of 2:1 non adhesive heat shrink available) it hides the cabling in plain sight. Do that to brake cables, too and cover the cabling only so far as it overlaps the frame - leaving it black as it loops outward to the bars - and the 'volume level' of the cabling is reduced without looking cheesy.

I did this one in 2017. Pic is overexposed which unfairly highlights the cabling, but still note everything is in plain sight and its still pretty low key. I wrapped excess wiring harness into a silicone-taped coil under and behind the motor. Its still fine like that now in 2024.

View attachment 177712

Looks pretty nice. Great advice and know how. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[Ken Shopken]

Grin sells these which I use on my latest builds.
https://ebikes.ca/consleeve.html

I have also made my own custom wiring but its always a PITA. It seems like every time I cut a wire to the correct length, I regret it.

Thanks!

 

[indianajo]

Messy wiring inhibits theft. In 6 years nobody has even tried to cut my SS sling or master lock. Thieves have stolen a couple of lights, a tool box, and stabbed a couple of tires with a pick or knife. They have tried to remove the battery twice, backing off a couple of the wrong nuts. I use tie wraps to hold wire to the frame, except the big ball of wire under the controller (under the seat) I protects it from my left pants leg with a 2 liter bottle third tied to the frame twice with tie wraps. Green Mtn Dew bottle to match the frame color.
The last controller did not come with a ring terminal screw strip for the phase wires, so I made one out of MDPE sheet mounted under the seat. I have a 10-24 tap and some SS screws to match the ring terminals.

 

[6zfshdb]

My bikes have the brake and shifter cables routed inside the down & cross tubes. The holes have grommets to protect the cables from chafing where they exit the tubes. They are located so as to not to affect the structural integrity of the frame. I used one of the cables as a "snake" to pull a wiring harness through the tubes. I push any cable slack back into the tube and use spiral wrap from the frame to the bars.

I realize this is a personal observation but, IMO, correctly installed spiral wrap does not spoil the look of the bike at all.

If you know what you're doing, and drill the holes in a safe location, the frame tubes can be used to route wiring.

On one bike, I installed small diameter, rigid tubing to the underside of the cross tube to route wiring. I painted the conduit to match the bike and it is hardly noticeable.