It’s that time of year when the interval between named storms seems to be down to days rather than weeks. So, with less opportunities to get out riding, it’s giving me more time to do some further upgrades to my bikes. (and spend more money!)
ALICE, my touring bike, is complete, at least for now until I get a few miles done on it and see just how it’s working out. The change to a x2 front derailleur has meant one thing. There is now no point in keeping drive-train components interchangeable between the bikes. So I can now look at doing an upgrade to my MTB which I have been considering for some time.
I have been toying with changing my crank-set from Shimano to Hope and have finally made my mind up to go ahead. I’ve ordered crank arms, a direct-mount chain-ring and a larger diameter bottom bracket. I’ve decided to go to 165mm length cranks. I had considered going down to the shortest ones that Hope do which is 155mm but think that may be just too big a change as I’m currently running 170mm. I’m hoping that this set-up will be stiffer than the Shimano I have fitted currently. It will be neater with the spiderless chain-ring and will definately be lighter. Once it arrives and it’s all fitted I’ll do a report.
I received the latest edition of Cycling UK‘s on-line magazine and one article has caused a bit of a dichotomy for me. It was all about providing safer cycle routes in winter time, especially for women. A large percentage of women stop cycling when the days shorten, purely because they feel unsafe in dark places. I am all in favour of encouraging as many people to cycle and am fully supportive of providing safe places for everyone, especially women, to participate in it. I know places I can cycle, with a good set of lights, only a short distance from my home and out of the way of traffic and crowds. I also realise that not everyone feels able to use these places. As a man, I don’t have the same fear that many women do, of being attacked while I am enjoying the peace and quiet. I don’t think that this situation is fair and knowing that is caused by men, I am fully supportive of measures which can go towards correcting it.
But still, I can’t help being in two minds about it!
Parks and open spaces not only provide us with green spaces within and on the outskirts of cities, they also can be a haven for wildlife. They provide somewhere birds and animals can live alongside humans. If we light these spaces up “like a disco on wheels” as a quote in the article said, is this really a good thing? My worry is that the fauna will suffer and may even disappear from some areas within our cities. Are we in danger of destroying dark spaces and should some areas remain out of bounds for some of the time?
After two months of experimentation, I have finally got a front derailleur fitted and working. I’m not too sure what I did to get it working this time around. I have removed and fitted the same mech a couple of times, probably adjusting things slightly differently each time but finally it has all come together and I’ve got working gears. My best guess for the solution is the routing of the inner cable. The mechanism is one which can be either top or bottom pull and I’ve got a feeling that the way I had fed it through the first time was not quite right.
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!
I tried mounting the latest front derailleur mechanism I bought and guess what? It doesn’t fit! My frame has a raised boss for internal cable routing (probably for a seat dropper cable). This is exactly in the place where the 105 mech needs to be fitted. It is the same for both the 10 and 11 speed versions. I now have three mechs, each with slightly different cage shapes and heights. They all mount on the frame in slightly different positions and heights. The band I ordered is the largest diameter that shimano do so there’s not even an alternative way by maybe packing the frame to allow it to fit over the boss.
There are another couple of options for me to try. These will involve buying a couple more different mechs and just trying them out. One is a braze-on version of the FD R-7000 mech along with a band-on adapter bracket. This mount style achieves vertical adjustment by the derailleur moving up and down while the bracket remains in a fixed position. Hopefully the bracket will sit either above or below the boss. It may or may not fit but I’m going to have to spend the money to find out. I think it may be worth trying it as the updated mechanism is a lot more efficient when it comes to adjustment and operation. It will also remove the need for two brackets. Another is to try a high mount fitting. As the name suggests this would (hopefully) clamp on above the cable port but I won’t know which would be the best solution or if either will fit until I try each out. So I’ll order one of each and see how it goes. If I buy new items I can try them out and return them if they are not suitable.
If none of these work I will need to try again to get the original one working with the additional cable stop clamp. It may take a lot of tinkering and adjusting but if I want to keep the x2 front gear then I need to get it working. The final alternative, if the latest idea doesn’t work out, is to go back to a single chain-ring. I think I’m going to be offering a good few FDs on e-bay soon.
I went back to my bike this morning and before I took it off the stand I gave the cranks a quick turn. I tried going up and down through the gears and then shifting from the small to large chain-rings. The front derailleur just wouldn’t move to the large ring. It’s almost there but just won’t go fully on. I’m going to try fiddling around with the L and H screws to see if I can get it right. I may need to re-adjust the position of the mech but am dreading doing that as each time I have messed around with the position I have had to almost start from scratch.
I was still watching a Shimano 105 FD on e-bay and noticed the seller is offering a discount so I bit the bullet and ordered it. Once that arrives I’ll compare the two and work out which one will be better. If I can dispense with the additional clamp for the cable stop it should make adjustments a lot simpler. I’ve also bought a second hand shifter from Shimano’s 105 series. I’m hoping that because this is designed to fit with the front mech the shifting will be easier. It’s the one with twin levers and I’m hoping that it will have a shorter operational reach than the one I’ve already fitted and therefore be more efficient. Fingers crossed.
UPDATE : The 105, 10 speed front derailleur arrived but it doesn’t have a cable stop. I’m not going to fit this one but have decided to try an 11 speed version. That one definately has the integrated cable stop. It will match the shifter I have ordered so I’m hoping the cage will take a 10 speed chain as there’s not a huge difference in the width between the two.
I’ve put my bike up on the stand to start the work fitting my front derailleur. Before I started on the derailleur, I removed the rear wheel and replaced the cassette with an 11 – 36 tooth one as I think that range will be my best choice.
I fitted the mechanism, lined it up and then looked at routing the cable. As my frame doesn’t have any cable stops, the outer cable needs to fit all the way to the mech but there is no cable stop on the one I bought. It fits and is suitable in every other way.
I went on-line to try to find a solution to this. That’s when I discovered just how many different front derailleurs Shimano have made over the years. For some reason they seem to change them almost continually. I found articles suggesting that later models have an integrated cable stop but I just couldn’t find a model which fitted all my needs. There are one or two which were almost there but none which I could say (by reading the instructions) exactly met my needs. They were either top pull when I want a bottom-pull, braze on when I need a clamp-on or they were for anything but the 10 speed I’m running. Some of them have a high clamp which wion’t fit as my down tube has a cover for an internal seat dropper cable and the clamp needs to fit below that. I didn’t want to order a new one without being certain it would fit, so I started looking for alternatives.
Eventually I came across a clamp-on cable stop which seems to be a useable fix. It’s not ideal as it’s an extra clamp on the frame but as one of the reviews on the site I bought it from says “it seems to be the only way to fit a front derailleur to a frame with no cable stops”. I’m not sure this is the case but without any definitive evidence that there is a mech which will suit, I decided to go for it and ordered one on-line. The additional clamp should fit below the derailleur clamp and not be too noticeable or interfere with the operation of the front gears.
This means that my bike will need to remain on the stand until it arrives and I can get on with the work. Fingers crossed it will work out OK.
Origin8 cable clamp
UPDATE: I continued researching alternatives (something I repeatedly tell myself not to do) and, by accident, found a YouTube video which contained instructions for fitting a style of front mech which seems to fit my needs. So now I am considering ordering a Shimano 105 front derailleur. This has an integrated cable stop as well as a tension adjuster. It’s the same range as my cranks but when I was reading the specs on a lot of the sites I looked at, none of them had the full details. Sourcing one has proved almost impossible as it looks as though Shimano have discontinued this model. I can’t find a supplier with one in stock. There are a few on e-bay but they are from China and I don’t really trust getting one from there. Second hand is also an option but I haven’t seen one yet in good enough condition so I may just go with my original plan.
As it was sunny this morning I thought I’d get a couple of hours out on my bike before the weather turns again. As it turned out my luck wasn’t as good as the weather. I got a couple of miles along the canal and had just turned off the towpath to go around Possil Loch when my chain snapped. Luckily I carry a chain splitter so it would just be case of removing a few links, reconnecting the speed link and I could return home. Unluckily, I dropped half of the speed link and it completely disappeared into the long grass. Ten minutes searching with my nose to the ground and I still couldn’t see any trace of it. No problem, I was only a couple of hundred metres away from the newly reopened bike repair shop atLambhill Stables.
They had a 10 speed quick link in stock, so I bought that, shortened my chain but not without dropping another half of the quick link I just bought. Thankfully I had put the unlost half of the original in my pocket. So I fitted it and single-sped it home. While I was doing the work the guy in the shop made some comments about my colour co-ordinated bike. If only he knew what was coming next. When I got home I fitted one of the KMC chains I bought cheap last year but hadn’t needed to fit until today.
I was out on my mountain bike yesterday for a shortish 10 mile ride and something just wasn’t quite right. When I set off, I extended my dropper seat-post as I drop it down when I take my bike down in the lift. This is really the only time I use the dropper as my riding style means I’m not descending many steep hills which is when I would use it more. When the post is at its maximum it feels rigid and is the most comfortable position for the saddle. I noticed that the post was slipping down, just a few centimetres but enough to make a noticeable difference in my reach which made my ride feel awkward. This seems to be a built in suspension effect rather than a malfunction of the post’s hydraulics so probably could be allowed for by raising the height of the post. I found myself adjusting my position constantly to maintain comfort although it was probably more psychological than physical. The difference in height wasn’t really enough to make a lot of difference to the ride.
I do prefer the feel of the post at the upper limit without the slight drop so have decided to go back to using a rigid seat-post. I have sourced a Hope Eternity, used but in great condition on e-bay and will be fitting that as soon as it arrives. The dropper post was a good idea but just too complicated a mechanism, giving benefits I don’t really need. I prefer my bike to be as straightforward and simple as possible.
So, back to e-bay to see if anyone is interested in a fox dropper!
Last year at this time, the weather turned warm and sunny after a long spell of wet and windy days. The summer had seemed over but a for few days it came back again and I was able to take advantage of this and head off to Arran for a glorious week’s camping.
According to the weather forecast, it looks as though we’re getting a similar short spell of weather, just a week later. I would have been over the moon if I could have planned a trip for even a few days away but pre-arranged commitments have precluded that. So I’m going to have to enjoy the warm weather in other ways, hopefully getting out on my bike for a few hours at a time. After the poor summer we’ve had it’s disappointing but that will need to do me.
Just Me - On my bike 