Gear noodles and rusty rivnuts

Steven Martin

Hello,

Looking for a bit of advice on 2 issues.

1st, my Winter bike has a really stiff motion for upshifting to the big ring. I think this is down to the cable routing. It appears that the braze on that is on the downtube on that side has been put on a bit to far round the tube so that the cable route to it is forced to have a pretty tight turn to get round the headtube. The braze on is threaded for a barrel adjuster. So, I was thinking, is there another way to get the cable round there allowing a wider arc. I can't find anything suitable that I could screw in that would provide a cable stop in place of the barrel adjuster. Then I thought about brake noodles. Does anyone know of a gear equivalent that could screw in to the braze on and lessen the tight turn?

2nd, my much beloved best bike, 10 years old as it is is suffering from rusty rivnuts on the downtube. Years of High5 have rusted it. So, does anyone want to recommend an LBS or somesuch in Essex that they would trust to get these out and replace without trashing the paintwork? The rust is already lifting the paint round about the rivnut as it is.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Steven

keef66

You could cross the cables under the downtube so the outers take a wider turn around the head-tube.

nicklouse

1 see above.
2 buy a dril and rivnut setter and do it yourself.

Steven Martin

Thanks for the responses.
Crossing the wires doesn't help, the tight turn occurs where it bends behind the headtube where the cable has to get to the braze on mounted on the downtube. The braze on is quite high up on the downtube and is located low down on it. The loop from under the tape to the headtube doesn't seem that tight. I was just trying to work out a way to get rid of the barrel adjuster there to give an extra cm. It might make all the difference.

As for the drilling out option, I am not sure my drill will fit in, I'll see if I can get a drill bit cut down to shorten the total length.

rolf_f

You can replace the barrel adjuster with a plain ferrule and put an inline adjuster elsewhere on that section of cable.

Obvious question - has the shift always been stiff? I'd probably try new cables (inners and outers) before making any real modifications.

As for the rivnuts - I'd scrape off the loose paint and apply some kurust to stabilise the surface. Then I'd get a paint match and paint over the rusted areas.

Steven Martin

I bought that bike 2nd hand, but I took the cable out of that guide to check that it wasn't the shifter (5700, they have a bit of a rep...), and the shift seemed fine. A plain ferrule would be fine, but the braze on is threaded, so I need something to screw in. I could just take out the spring and plastic outer off the adjuster...I'll try hanging the bike upside down and getting some lube the length of the outer (this under the tape routing makes simple things so much harder) and try recabling it if that makes little difference.

I might just try the sanding option, I am less likely to accidentally trash anything...