While I’m waiting for the latest bits to arrive to complete the front derailleur, I’ve decided to try another upgrade to the bike. As the bike is off the road and up on the work-stand I may as well try things out.

I wanted to do the same thing I did with my MTB and fabricate a cover to protect the cables running under the bottom bracket . It works well on the other bike and keeps the area free from mud and grit and is easy to clean. This should also protect the cables on the Alice from mud and maybe even from grounding although this probably won’t be as likely with the road bike as it is with the mountain bike. I made it from the other extension that came with my mudguards and hopefully will be robust enough to last for a long time to come.

Back to the front derailleur where the problems are seemingly never ending. I had what I thought was a solution set up with all the components bought but when I put it all together it just wouldn’t work the way I needed. Because of the boss on the frame the tolerances for adjustment are so close it is extremely difficult to get it all right. I had it working but on tightening the mounts up there must have been some movement in the brackets and the chain was millimeters from shifting. As the adjusters were all at their limits I need to try other mechs so it’s back to the drawing board. There are so many different mechs it is nightmarish trying to find the one that fits. Almost every model has two or three variances depending on the mount or the routing of the cable. Some of the older models are also difficult to source and descriptions of used examples often don’t give detailed enough descriptions to know if they are right without trying them on the frame. This involves a great deal of fitting and removing but I’m sure one of these times will be the final one and it will fall into place. I’ve put so much effort into it I am determined to reach the end and have working front gears!