 Replacing Shifter CablesIt seems the most common issue with the Nuvinci gear hub is the shifter cables fraying or breaking.
You should measure your cable to verify, but for ELFs with the UpDrive (which is standard on all new ELFs) 3100mm long cable will be more than long enough. The cable ends should be Shimano/SRAM not Campagnolo.
Some cables come with Shimano/SRAM ends on one side and Campagnolo on the other. To install these you need to cut off the Campagnolo end. After cutting off the end, it can be a hard to feed the cable through the cable housing or sheath because the cable will fray a little. To make feeding the cable through easier try to get a cable that only has a Shimano/SRAM and the other end is welded.
Howard U. recommends replacing the cable with a Pitstop SS Tandem Shift Cable (3100mm)
Nate H. "I bought my cable sheath and cable along with 4 cable sheath ends from Davis' Bikeman sells the sheath and cable by the foot, and borrowed a proper cutter and just made them myself to length. I added a foot to both cable and sheath so I could always "nibble" both a little shorter in the event of fraying on the NuVinci side and get several "de-fraying" fixes from the one cable. Never had a problem."
Marty R. "Typically, the hardest part of this procedure is successfully threading the cable through the long sheath, but the teflon cable coating reduced the friction and kept cable end fraying to a minimum. This made the process relatively painless."
Replacing the shifter cables from Edward M. :
"1) Clip the cable at the shifter end. This will allow you to use a needle nose pliers to pull out the barrel end and the remaining short piece of cable from inside the shifter. Then pull out the rest of the cable from the bottom since then you don't have to force that frayed cable wire through the sheath. (I tried it the other way and what a mess. The fraying is always at the ends of the cable and clipping it at the top past any fraying makes the cable come out easily.
2) It is a bit of a pain to thread the whole wire through the hole and around the shifter but I got it after a try or two.
3) Remove the cable housing from the ELF and straighten the sheath out before trying to thread the cable through. Otherwise it gets hung up on the curves. The means removing it from the wire ties.
I only did the bottom cable as the top cable was in good shape. The top cable has a barrel end."
From Marty R: "The barrel end is held on with a tiny 2mm hex set screw in the center of the round barrel connector."
From Ian M.: "The cables have to be perfectly aligned with their tie-on points on the Nuvinci straight on and not at a slant, otherwise there is likely to be a sideways pull which can pop the ends out of their slots. Once I had realigned them I fixed them onto the main frame with new plastic tie wraps and they haven't come off since." That advice was given after Marty reported how the cables had come off of the Nuvinci hub and gotten tangled up in the sprocket. This pulled the cables hard and broke the Nuvinci handle bar shifter.
From Greg P: Here is a link to a video that goes over the replacement of the NuVinci shifter cables
Nuvinci hub twists forward on the pedal side.Another problem reported with the Nuvinci hub is that it twists forward on the pedal side. A suggested solution is to use a "star washer" to help hold it in place.
The N380 hub has a "no-turn washer" on each side of the hub. This should prevent the hub from twisting or sliding. In at least one case one of the "no-turn washer" was installed on the inside of the mounting brackets instead of the outside. This resulted in the nut digging into the mounting bracket. This was fixed by moving the no-turn washer to the outside and using stainless steel washers to replace the spacing on the inside.
Set screw is strippedThe small 2mm hex set screws that hold the cables on to the barrel end (or cable stop) and the "Overdrive latch" can become stripped. These are metric set screws: M4 and the length is 4mm. You can find them on Amazon or McMaster.
Nuvinci Hub is stripped inside (broken pawls)
This is a worst case scenario. Fallbrook (the makers of the Nuvinci) claim they have no replaceable parts for the Nuvinci hub. However, these hubs have a 2-year warranty. If you can provide proof of purchase then they will send you a replacement hub at no cost.
If your hub is more than 2 years old then a new hub can be purchased online. Ebay often sells them for under $200. The ELF hub is customized with a freewheel on both sides so you'll need to transfer parts to get a working freewheel. When purchasing a new hub be sure to get the one with the correct number of spoke holes (mine was 36) and one designed for a disc brake. Get the disc brake hub EVEN IF YOU DON"T HAVE A REAR DISC BRAKE. The disc brake adapter is what you will use to attach the ELF custom freewheel. [Larry 'replacing a hub' Petersen] Nuvinci no longer makes the N360. However, if you are covered under warranty then they'll replace with a N380 which is compatible. [Larry 'replacing a hub again' Petersen]
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