It may be time for a new cable...

One strand was all that was still attached. I guess we should just be happy that it held until it made it to the shop.

At least it isn't like the bike in this Dirt Rag review, which I am pretty sure that regardless of what you do it won't shift... http://www.dirtragmag.com/reviews/review-orbea-alma-carbon-29er. Pay close attention to the penultimate picture, the cable makes a 90 degree turn inside a plastic sheath. Pure brilliance... Orbea took a shitty design from their Orca and trickled it sideways to the Alma. Great idea guys!

Always leave the house with clean cables just in case you get hit by a car and your bike ends up in the shop

So your bike isn't shifting properly? OK. Come in, sit down, we can talk about this.

Now, now, tell Uncle Knuckler everything. Oh, so it skips around. It takes two clicks to get it to shift. Anything else? It's driving you crazy. Last question, when was the last time you changed your cables/housing? Six years ago? Holy shit, let's start there.

There are three parts to most shifting systems: (the exceptions are Di2 and that new Syncros stuff) the shifter, the cables/housing and the derailleurs. The shifter is where your input is applied. Want a harder gear? You hit the button releasing or pulling cable tension. The derailleur receives that input via cables/housing and moves the direction that you wanted it to. It's a simple system.

The weak link to the system is the cable/housing. Over time grit and shit will enter the housing degrading the inner sleeve causing friction. The outer sleeve of the housing will also wear exposing the inner radials adding flex to your system. Sure you can buy that fancy Gore stuff to extend the life of your cables but one thing is certain, your shifting performance will degrade over time, regardless of what you do. Yes, I said regardless of what you do, at some point your bike is not going to shift like it should. Big fucking deal, get over it and buy some new cables/housing. How often? Well, if you need me to give you an exact time frame, once or twice a year. If you think you can handle a little more freedom, change them when your shifting isn't working perfectly.

3 day weekend penance

You know sometimes you just ask for it....

Have a semi productive day getting bikes fixed and in a happy mood because your Friday is indeed a Friday.

Then a Cervelo p4 rolls in, owner asks can brake pads be changed? sure you need Enve pads to go with you tubular carbon rims...great have them in stock, all is right in the world

then I notice rear shiftier ferrule is f'D! so have our service writer call up customer, and he wants it by Saturday (yay for being in a shop with a service writer if you dont have one I highly recommend you get one!)...




anyways to change pads and one cable, crankset has to be removed, both wheels, and TT bar had to have tape un wrapped to remove housing.... use thin plastic tubing before removing old shifter cable to prevent a full on gang raping of the P4's innards...

Also to note had to cut rear pads to 2/3 the size to fit on the rear brake!

all in all a very big time suck... with 1 hour to close

Some very interesting hose routing...

So instead of trimming the hose so it doesn't have four feet hanging off the front of the bike, let's just wrap the hose around the stays.

A Reoccurring Nightmare

Di2 + Venge + internal routing = Rape.

At this point, I guess I'm a serial bike rapist...

The day's offerings to the bicycle gods...

They sell these things called chain stay protectors that eliminate that racket you hear when you are going over rough stuff and as an added bonus they protect your chain stay.

Every bike should have a barrel adjuster, right next, to another, barrel adjuster.

Eight Full Hours of Sleep

Today started with a Fox fork service, including the FIT cartridge. The custy was having lock out issues. I opened it up only to find the machining shavings from manufacturing still inside.

Top cap assembly, you can kind of see the shavings in the compression piston.

Ah, yes, metal shavings make a fork work Awesome!

After determining the fate of this fork, my next task was to fit an entire Di2 cabling system in the butt hole of a Venge.

I was then treated to the site of improper water bottle cage installation.

I promise this wasn't staged...

We then contacted the Newby GMC dealer to see if we could get some warranty pay for the next bike that was way sub-standard for what we paid in the bail out.

And finally, just as I was leaving, some creative cone assembly.

Not bad for eight hours of saving bikes from rape....

My bed time music, for hope for better bikes and solidarity with you all.

I present to you the Orbea Orca. Winner of the worst cable routing EVER Award!

I got the opportunity to wrench on a 2011 Orbea Orca with full Dura Ace this morning. The lady was complaining about her shifting. Seeing that I had worked on this bike and tried to explain to this lady over the phone what was going on, I took the occasion to explain the problem. I took pictures so you could all enjoy how fucked this bike is.

Obviously, this is the bottom bracket cradle. The cable runs down the down tube, making contact the entire way. It is then routed through a small metal bracket on the BB. Fairly straight forward except that the cable makes contact all the way down the down tube and then enters the bracket at one angle and leaves at another. Kind of like this, >.

After leaving the BB cradle, it heads toward the rear derailleur. I see three problems here. 1. the cable makes contact with the chainstay as it enters the cable stop. 2. The cable is again required to enter at one angle and leave at another, >, remember. 3. It then has to route right around the QR nut.

Ah, to the beginning of the problem. The cable enters at one angle and leaves at another, >. It leaves and makes contact for about three inches on the down tube. I don't know how long this customer ran the cable casing down the down tube, but there was wear almost all the way to the BB.

The customer was obviously, as mentioned, having shifting issues. I mean, how could she not? Right? I took the time to show her the problems and explain why it would shift poorly. She got it. She was smart. I said we had two options. I could make it shift perfectly with Di2. Seeing that there wasn't any cable friction to worry about. 2nd option, I could put Gore cables on the bike to reduce the friction. She opted for the latter and also decided to go with a Dura Ace chain. They are directional and can help shifting as well.

When the bike was done, it shifted almost flawlessly. As it entered the lower spring tension of the bottom of the cassette it would take an extra tooth or two to drop, but did drop. She left happy.

Luckily, I also gave her the disclaimer that Teflon can wear off and therefore the shifting may not stay as "awesome" as it is right now. She's looking at her options.

Good job, Orbea!