Better Barrel Adjusters

<< Does anyone have any suggestions for some higher quality replacement shifter cable barrel
adjusters? The bike currently has down tube mounted adjusters and they have tended to corrode and
look bad. They also have the tendency to twist with every turn of the headset. Unfortunately, they
rarely twist and untwist in exactly the same amount which causes the shifter to constantly go out of
adjustment. >>

The Dura Ace downtube adjuster for the rear derailleur is indexed with three click-stop settings, so
it can't go out of adjustment. The matching front is barrel-style, but I've never noticed it move,
and the adjustment is less critical anyway. These are expensive if purchased retail, but there's
always plenty of them on eBay starting at about $5 a pair.

THanks for the thoughts but the bike doesn't have the down tube shifter braze-ons just the cable
recepticles.

Steve

Mark Hickey said:

Steve Sr. said:

They also have the tendency to twist with every turn of the headset. Unfortunately, they rarely
twist and untwist in exactly the same amount which causes the shifter to constantly go out of
adjustment.

This is why I still put down tube shifter bosses on my bikes - it lets you use the really nice
cable stop / adjusters that come with Campy and Shimano brifters. Plus, you never know when you'll
want to run a down tube shifter on the left like Lance... ;-)

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles habcycles.comhabcycles.comOpen ↗ Home of the $695 ti frame

In rec.bicycles.misc Mark Hickey <[email hidden]> wrote:
: This is why I still put down tube shifter bosses on my bikes - it lets you use the really nice
: cable stop / adjusters that come with Campy and Shimano brifters. Plus, you never know when you'll
: want to run a down tube shifter on the left like Lance... ;-)

or (and this may be more useful ;-) it allows you to bring along a spare down-tube shifter for when
that brifter cacks while touring in the middle of wyoming a hundred miles from the nearest bike
store and you're the type who just has to have brifters.

but, yea. looking cool is pretty important as well.

what is the advantage of having it on the head-tube, anyway?
--
david reuteler [email hidden]

David Reuteler said:

In rec.bicycles.misc Mark Hickey <[email hidden]> wrote:
: This is why I still put down tube shifter bosses on my bikes - it lets you use the really nice
: cable stop / adjusters that come with Campy and Shimano brifters. Plus, you never know when
: you'll want to run a down tube shifter on the left like Lance... ;-)

or (and this may be more useful ;-) it allows you to bring along a spare down-tube shifter for when
that brifter cacks while touring in the middle of wyoming a hundred miles from the nearest bike
store and you're the type who just has to have brifters.

but, yea. looking cool is pretty important as well.

what is the advantage of having it on the head-tube, anyway?

It's a heck of a lot cheaper to build it that way (see previous threads on 1-1/8" head tubes,
compact geometry, etc.).

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles habcycles.comhabcycles.comOpen ↗ Home of the $695 ti frame

David Reuteler <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

or (and this may be more useful ;-) it allows you to bring along a spare down-tube shifter for
when that brifter cacks while touring in the middle of wyoming a hundred miles from the nearest
bike store and you're the type who just has to have brifters.

but, yea. looking cool is pretty important as well.

Yeah, and while you're at it, get rid of those derailleurs. They're just for poseurs.

Quoted message said:

what is the advantage of having it on the head-tube, anyway?

They keep the cables from rubbing the paint off the head tube.

[censored] Durbin

In article said:

David Reuteler said:

In rec.bicycles.misc Mark Hickey <[email hidden]> wrote:
: This is why I still put down tube shifter bosses on my bikes - it lets you use the really nice
: cable stop / adjusters that come with Campy and Shimano brifters. Plus, you never know when
: you'll want to run a down tube shifter on the left like Lance... ;-)

or (and this may be more useful ;-) it allows you to bring along a spare down-tube shifter for
when that brifter cacks while touring in the middle of wyoming a hundred miles from the nearest
bike store and you're the type who just has to have brifters.

but, yea. looking cool is pretty important as well.

what is the advantage of having it on the head-tube, anyway?

It's a heck of a lot cheaper to build it that way (see previous threads on 1-1/8" head tubes,
compact geometry, etc.).

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles habcycles.comhabcycles.comOpen ↗ Home of the $695 ti frame

Okay Mark, so $695 is nice, but when will you start selling the new $595 1-1/8" head-tubed compact
Habanero with head-tube stops?

Seriously, the one advantage to head-tube stops is that you get no cable rub on the frame, which can
be an issue when the cable isn't stopped until the DT braze-on location. I have a converted
Pinarello which has cable-rub issues, and I might be able to fix it with a shorter cable run, but I
fear that would leave me with a pinched cable at full-lock on the handlebars (not that I ride in
that position, but the bars do get swung there when I'm moving the bike around).

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.ca~rcousineOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

In rec.bicycles.misc [censored] Durbin <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Yeah, and while you're at it, get rid of those derailleurs. They're just for poseurs.

?

actually i've done that already. most of my miles are on a fixed gear.

but on the whole i'd consider a backup shifter more important than protecting my paint (gunship
tape?) and that hardly makes me a luddite. at least derailleurs serve a non-aesthetic purpose
(actually they serve no aesthetic purpose -- they're ugly).
--
david reuteler [email hidden]

In article said:

In rec.bicycles.misc [censored] Durbin <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Yeah, and while you're at it, get rid of those derailleurs. They're just for poseurs.

?

actually i've done that already. most of my miles are on a fixed gear.

but on the whole i'd consider a backup shifter more important than protecting my paint (gunship
tape?) and that hardly makes me a luddite. at least derailleurs serve a non-aesthetic purpose
(actually they serve no aesthetic purpose -- they're ugly).

Given that shifter failure is both rare and non-fatal in a touring situation (you use the derailleur
limit screws to pick one gear), I don't think this is worth worrying about. I'd bet more tourists
have broken rims than shifters.

As for spare parts, I think the world's cyclists can roughly be divided into one-speed riders and
shifter riders. In countries where one-speed bikes predominate for transportation (think China), I
daresay any shifter parts are going to be an oddity. In countries where the riders are mostly
recreational (think the USA), shifter bikes seem to predominate, and in those places it's probably
easier to find spare brifteurs than it is to find DT shifters at the LBS.

Anyone care to nominate a country where DT shifters would be easier to find than parts for STI or a
Flying Pigeon?

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.ca~rcousineOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Given that shifter failure is both rare and non-fatal in a touring situation (you use the
: derailleur limit screws to pick one gear), I don't think this is worth worrying about. I'd bet
: more tourists have broken rims than shifters.

well, i have never considered myself blessed with bad luck and this has actually happened to me.
it's obviously non-fatal but it does seriously suck .. especially in the mountains.

: In countries where the riders are mostly recreational (think the USA), shifter bikes seem to
: predominate, and in those places it's probably easier to find spare brifteurs than it is to find
: DT shifters at the LBS.

umm, agreed. but stuffing a spare downtube shifter in your kit is quite a bit smaller than
a brifter.

: Anyone care to nominate a country where DT shifters would be easier to find than parts for STI or
: a Flying Pigeon?

i bought them ahead of time oppenheimer.
--
david reuteler [email hidden]

[email hidden] ([censored] Durbin) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

David Reuteler <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

or (and this may be more useful ;-) it allows you to bring along a spare down-tube shifter for
when that brifter cacks while touring in the middle of wyoming a hundred miles from the nearest
bike store and you're the type who just has to have brifters.

but, yea. looking cool is pretty important as well.

Yeah, and while you're at it, get rid of those derailleurs. They're just for poseurs.

You're thinking of Kansas, not Wyoming.

In article said:

Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Given that shifter failure is both rare and non-fatal in a touring situation (you use the
: derailleur limit screws to pick one gear), I don't think this is worth worrying about. I'd bet
: more tourists have broken rims than shifters.

well, i have never considered myself blessed with bad luck and this has actually happened to me.
it's obviously non-fatal but it does seriously suck .. especially in the mountains.

: In countries where the riders are mostly recreational (think the USA), shifter bikes seem to
: predominate, and in those places it's probably easier to find spare brifteurs than it is to find
: DT shifters at the LBS.

umm, agreed. but stuffing a spare downtube shifter in your kit is quite a bit smaller than a
brifter.

Quoted message said:

i bought them ahead of time oppenheimer.

Okay, now this is Eagle Scout levels of preparedness. I'm not trying to be mean, but how unsupported
was your tour, anyways? I mean, I don't think I'd get to the point where there wasn't something I'd
rather carry (even if it was "less weight"😉 before I brought a spare shifter. Full points for
actually using it, mind you.

But jokingly, let's do an examination of this: a spare shifter weighs x grams, and from
various websites we can get a formula for the loss of time per unit of extra weight on a
climb. At that point, we can calculate how frequently shifters have to fail (in terms of
vertical gain between failures) in order for carrying a DT shifter to save more time* than it
costs you when climbing hills.

*The saving, of course, being the reduction in delay caused by the time difference between
installing the spare shifter and adjusting the derailleur into a single speed and limping to the
nearest bike shop on your route.

I'm interested in seeing how the numbers work out,
--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.ca~rcousineOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

(censored Durbin) said:

David Reuteler said:

Mark Hickey <[email hidden]> wrote:

: This is why I still put down tube shifter bosses on my bikes

Quoted message said:

what is the advantage of having it on the head-tube, anyway?

They keep the cables from rubbing the paint off the head tube.

Mark's got that angle covered, too.

Paint is (sometimes) a necessary evil, but brifters are never necessary.

Chalo Colina

Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Okay, now this is Eagle Scout levels of preparedness. I'm not trying to be mean, but how
: unsupported was your tour, anyways? I mean, I don't think I'd get to the point where there wasn't
: something I'd rather carry (even if it was "less weight"😉 before I brought a spare shifter. Full
: points for actually using it, mind you.

actually it was completely unsupported and solo. there were times i had difficulty finding presta
valve 700C tubes much less brifters. sure, they could have been ordered.

anyway,

visi.compannier2002.htmlOpen ↗

yea, i have a web-page with the contents of my panniers. yea, i'm a geek. we knew that. actually i'm
an extremely light traveler in comparison to most i met (ie, no camp stove, tent, wine bottles, cork
screws, front panniers or morning coffee) at around 26 pounds water not included. living off the fat
of the land (err, gas stations & restaurants) mostly.

: But jokingly, let's do an examination of this: a spare shifter weighs x grams, and from
: various websites we can get a formula for the loss of time per unit of extra weight on a
: climb. At that point, we can calculate how frequently shifters have to fail (in terms of
: vertical gain between failures) in order for carrying a DT shifter to save more time* than it
: costs you when climbing hills.

well, sure. i agree in a lot respects. like most of the tools i brought and never used it's a cost
vs benefit thing. it weighs hardly anything (i brought only the right side) and i viewed the
potential benefit as enough to warrant it. i also brought along a lot of other things i never used:
an extra sidi buckle/strap, atac cleats and for that matter most of the bike tools 'cept for the
4-5-6mm y wrench. hell, i never used the first aid kid, either.

all i've ever said in this is that having d/t shifter bosses gives you an option you otherwise would
not have and at little cost (apparently paint chafing. my bike doesn't have paint anyway).

i don't use d/t shifters. i have and will continue to use brifters (in fact you'll pry them from my
cold-dead hands). if you google back on this group you'll find me defending brifters for touring to
the bar-end folks by saying the above (you can bring along a spare d/t shifter if the durability of
brifters worries you that much).

: *The saving, of course, being the reduction in delay caused by the time difference between
: installing the spare shifter and adjusting the derailleur into a single speed and limping to the
: nearest bike shop on your route.

see above. that can be a lot depending on where you're touring. i was in south dakota and wyoming.
that's why i brought 'em along. but you're right i wouldn't worry about it in california or at all
if you're not touring. but riding across western sodak in one gear on a 55 pound bike waiting to get
to rapid city to find a brifter didn't sound like fun to me.
--
david reuteler [email hidden]

David Reuteler <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

In rec.bicycles.misc [censored] Durbin <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Yeah, and while you're at it, get rid of those derailleurs. They're just for poseurs.

?

actually i've done that already. most of my miles are on a fixed gear.

but on the whole i'd consider a backup shifter more important than protecting my paint (gunship
tape?) and that hardly makes me a luddite. at least derailleurs serve a non-aesthetic purpose
(actually they serve no aesthetic purpose -- they're ugly).

I believe you got a couple of topics confused there. You asked what the advantage was to having
barrel adjusters on the head tube. I responded that it kept the cables from rubbing the paint off
the head tube. No one called you a luddite.

In rec.bicycles.misc [censored] Durbin <[email hidden]> wrote:
: I believe you got a couple of topics confused there. You asked what the advantage was to having
: barrel adjusters on the head tube. I responded that it kept the cables from rubbing the paint off
: the head tube. No one called you a luddite.

i misunderstood the other comment you made in the same post. i took it to mean you were calling me a
luddite. i'm still not sure what you meant by it. that was what the ? was for.

:> In rec.bicycles.misc [censored] Durbin <[email hidden]> wrote:
:> : Yeah, and while you're at it, get rid of those derailleurs. They're just for poseurs.
--
david reuteler [email hidden]

David Reuteler said:

: But jokingly, let's do an examination of this: a spare shifter weighs x grams, and from various
: websites we can get a formula for the loss of time per unit of extra weight on a climb. At that
: point, we can calculate how frequently shifters have to fail (in terms of vertical gain between
: failures) in order for carrying a DT shifter to save more time* than it costs you when climbing
: hills.

well, sure. i agree in a lot respects. like most of the tools i brought and never used it's a cost
vs benefit thing. it weighs hardly anything (i brought only the right side) and i viewed the
potential benefit as enough to warrant it.

Well, I've always brought more tools/parts than I needed, too. God forbid you should not bring
something you need. Fact is, last two tours I haven't even needed a tube, but I did not regret
bringing a few.

But I think presuming a shifter is going to fail catastrophically, then bringing a spare, is
overkill. That is probably a failure of the STI design, which despite Bill Cotton's claims is
essentially not user-servicable. OTOH, Ergo is easily serviced. For $5 before the tour begins, you
can replace the g-springs and be assurred of trouble-free shifting. I mean, you put on good tires,
you can do this.

If you head out cross-country with shifters ready to fail (STI with 20,000 miles, for example), you
are being as foolish as heading out with frayed brake cables.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Arguing with an engineer is like mud wrestling with a pig... You _`\(,_ | soon find out the
pig likes it! (_)/ (_) |

In article said:

Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Okay, now this is Eagle Scout levels of preparedness. I'm not trying to be mean, but how
: unsupported was your tour, anyways? I mean, I don't think I'd get to the point where there
: wasn't something I'd rather carry (even if it was "less weight"😉 before I brought a spare
: shifter. Full points for actually using it, mind you.

actually it was completely unsupported and solo. there were times i had difficulty finding presta
valve 700C tubes much less brifters. sure, they could have been ordered.

anyway,

visi.compannier2002.htmlOpen ↗

yea, i have a web-page with the contents of my panniers. yea, i'm a geek. we knew that. actually
i'm an extremely light traveler in comparison to most i met (ie, no camp stove, tent, wine
bottles, cork screws, front panniers or morning coffee) at around 26 pounds water not included.
living off the fat of the land (err, gas stations & restaurants) mostly.

That's a great resource! I like the page. Very useful guide to packing. I think it's fair to say
that we'd agree that the DT shifter is the least important spare part/tool you carry, but I can't
think of any tool I'd carry instead of that, so it's really just a matter of whether you carry it or
not. No, scratch that: do you carry an extra quick-release skewer? Failure of that is a true
show-stopper, and it does happen, albeit rarely.

Heh, now I've made you paranoid 🙂.

Quoted message said:

all i've ever said in this is that having d/t shifter bosses gives you an option you otherwise
would not have and at little cost (apparently paint chafing. my bike doesn't have paint anyway).

Well, there you go then. I'd be really concerned about it on my Pinarello, except that all my bikes
are cosmetic messes already.

Quoted message said:

: *The saving, of course, being the reduction in delay caused by the time difference between
: installing the spare shifter and adjusting the derailleur into a single speed and limping to the
: nearest bike shop on your route.

see above. that can be a lot depending on where you're touring. i was in south dakota and wyoming.
that's why i brought 'em along. but you're right i wouldn't worry about it in california or at all
if you're not touring. but riding across western sodak in one gear on a 55 pound bike waiting to
get to rapid city to find a brifter didn't sound like fun to me.

Heh heh. But you have a triple, right? Thus you're never going to be reduced to less than three
widely-spaced gearing choices, or 7-10 choices if your front derailleur goes.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.ca~rcousineOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]> wrote:
: I think it's fair to say that we'd agree that the DT shifter is the least important spare
: part/tool you carry

yep.

: No, scratch that: do you carry an extra quick-release skewer? Failure of that is a true
: show-stopper, and it does happen, albeit rarely.
:
: Heh, now I've made you paranoid 🙂.

ha. funny you mention q/r skewers. i had my first crash in ten years a few weeks back (got right
turned by a 16 y/o girl -- she was kind enough to clear me on the left before turning right into
me) and the only damage to me or my bike besides road-rash (chipseal, ouch!) was a destroyed rear
q/r skewer.

but that never occured to me last summer. what did were drive-side spokes. in addition to normal
spokes i had one of those kevlar replacement spokes but no way to get the cassette off if i broke
more than one rear drive-side spoke. i (probably sensibly) vetoed the tools as too heavy. anyway, i
haven't broken a single spoke in 12 years so i don't think of it as an issue.

funny how you inherently think of what does or does not happen to you as normal. i instinctively
think of brifters as more likely to fail than spokes even though that's probably not the case. heh.

:> all i've ever said in this is that having d/t shifter bosses gives you an option you otherwise
:> would not have and at little cost (apparently paint chafing. my bike doesn't have paint anyway).
:
: Well, there you go then. I'd be really concerned about it on my Pinarello, except that all my
: bikes are cosmetic messes already.

ummm, how ugly could you possibly make a pinarello?

ahh, btw you mentioned the subaru wrx in another thread. a coworker (who i usually eat lunch with)
owns one. dude, that car is zippy. more or less a rally car. i dig it.

: Heh heh. But you have a triple, right? Thus you're never going to be reduced to less than three
: widely-spaced gearing choices, or 7-10 choices if your front derailleur goes.

yea, that's not lost on me. my gearing is 24/38/48t 11-32t which is pretty low and wide. 38t front
and 11-32t rear covers 33 to 93 inches and stuck on 19t rear gets you 34, 54 and 68 inches from the
front. i only drop to below 34 inches (down to 20 on the front 24t) when loaded (weight, not booze)
on the worst passes and/or late in the day. i tend to spin pretty fast when i climb so i like
loooowww gearing.

i'm certainly not adverse to David's suggestion for ergo. i rather like the idea .. maybe i'll head
over to boulder and give peter some business when i'm in denver visiting the folks ;-)
--
david reuteler [email hidden]

Ryan Cousineau said:

Mark Hickey said:

David Reuteler <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

what is the advantage of having it on the head-tube, anyway?

It's a heck of a lot cheaper to build it that way (see previous threads on 1-1/8" head tubes,
compact geometry, etc.).

Okay Mark, so $695 is nice, but when will you start selling the new $595 1-1/8" head-tubed compact
Habanero with head-tube stops?

Errrr, it will be a while...

Quoted message said:

Seriously, the one advantage to head-tube stops is that you get no cable rub on the frame, which
can be an issue when the cable isn't stopped until the DT braze-on location. I have a converted
Pinarello which has cable-rub issues, and I might be able to fix it with a shorter cable run, but I
fear that would leave me with a pinched cable at full-lock on the handlebars (not that I ride in
that position, but the bars do get swung there when I'm moving the bike around).

Ah, but that's something Habby owners don't worry about (cable rub). Even on my MTB (that gets a LOT
more cable rub), if the little shiny spot that eventually develops bothers me, a couple swipes with
a Scotchbrite pad or piece of fine sandpaper, and it's "like new" again.

I once had a bike set up with a "slightly too short" cable, and it's just not worth the hassle.
Plus, it can get you into trouble when you're doing a track stand (if you crank the bars to the side
and suddenly find out the brakes are on...).

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles habcycles.comhabcycles.comOpen ↗ Home of the $695 ti frame