Ryan Cousineau said:I've got a new Alfine drivetrain and I'm adding it to an existing bike
(a steel road bike with horizontal dropouts).
For reasons that are some combination of pragmatic, quixotic, and daft,
I'm contemplating setting up the hub so that instead of the hub's cable
attachment arm being roughly parallel to the chainstay, it would be
roughly parallel to the seatstay. Then I'll run the cable down the
seatstay using a full housing and some zip-ties. That orientation is
provided, BTW, by the anti-turn washers for vertical dropouts.
Is there any danger or detriment in this? As far as I can tell, the
cable doesn't get any closer to the cable and cog than it would in the
normal position: I'm using the Shimano cog with an integrated guard, too.
There may be an advantage in doing what you plan because the gear
cable may be less exposed on the seatstay than on the chainstay;
though I don't do any offroading on my bikes, I notice that the roller
brake cable on the other chainstay gets caught on my foot every time I
operate the kickstand, and that on an open bike the gearchange cable
on the crank side chainstay would be very exposed to shrubbery and
stones and general mayhem.
On the other hand, with the chainstay cable run, the gearbox torque
arm if hit can just flex under the chainstay where it will meet no
resistance, whereas with your setup, if I visualise it right, it seems
very likely that even a light hit will bend the torque arm over the
chainstay -- ouch!
Make sure that the amount of bare cable exposed from the stop to the
gear operating nut is 101mm exactly; don't move that nut if you don't
have to. The dccument you want is numbered
6FD0A-SL-8S20_CJ-8S20-EN_v1_m56577569830605888.pdf
Look for it on the Paul Lange netsite.
Your description doesn't make clear if the different anti-turn washers
you intend to use will turn the entire hub counterclockwise to put the
detent for the actual operating nut on the cable at approximately 30
degrees below the horizontal through the axle, say at the 8 o'clock
position. If this is the case, it might get dirty rather more quickly
than in the "normal" position. Just something to remember for a
cleaning routine. Except for practising to take my Nexus-gearhub
wheels off just in case of a roadside emergency, and demonstrating to
other cyclists and family how quickly they can be removed and refitted
once you have practised the tricky (intricate, fiddly) bits, I haven't
actually removed mine, nor noticed that massive dirt gathers in the
works around that nut (in the "normal" 11 o'clock position on both my
Nexus bikes.
Finally, a tip about fitting the gearchange cable to the gearhub, the
dumbest bit of design I have ever seen Shimano, generally a very smart
design company, perpetrate. Pay close attention to the instruction to
twist the cable just so before you attempt to push the nut into the
detent; it is a fitting procedure in three dimensions, with a twist.
Nor will you manage it even if you follow the instruction perfectly
unless you have a 2mm Allen key; if you use the 2mm for nothing else
on your bike, carry it for just this purpose. You insert it in a handy
hole (possibly made by the designers for just this purpose), then drag
the entire rotating assembly around counterclockwise with the allen
key as your handle, and suddenly you have space for your fingers (or
needlenose pliers) to get the nut -- on the correctly twisted cable --
into the detent. It's incredibly simple if you have practised it; try
it for the first time beside a dark road when you have a flat, and
you'd better pray your mobile is charged up and you have cabfare home
because you will never get it right by trial and error.
HTH.
Andre Jute
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/BICYCLE%20%26%20CYCLING.html
