Building a touring bike - some questions

[andym]

Should this be necessary for a brand new frame? Or is this when it's needed most? I take your point on the cutters, I use a hefty pair of pliers and clean the ends up after cutting, but gear cables canbe a pig to cut neatly.
Will have a think on the framesaver.
Thanks

Put it this way. Fitting the headset is a faff if you don't have the right tool. And you might also not get the cups in straight. If you are going into the LBS then you might as well get the BB faced and chased so you get a nice clean square face on the BB shell.

The cable cutters are most useful for the cable outers. People do manage without cutters but personally I wouldn't want to cut outers with pliers.

The fact that the frame is 'made' by a British company doesn't mean anything as far as the BB shell width is concerned. It is very likely 68 mm because of the diameter of the seat tube - but it won't hurt to measure it and be sure.

 

[the snail]

Re: bar end shifters, one advantage with these is that you have the option of fitting linear-pull v-brakes rather than cantilever brakes, which I think will give better braking, also cheaper to replace than STI if damaged.

 

[mickle]

There are three diameters of seat tube for bikes which use front mechs. Steel frames are invariably 28.6mm (1.125 inches). Some mechs must be bought with the correct band size to suit the seat tube diameter, others are designed to be shimmed to fit. Some front mechs for road bikes bolt on to a frame mounted bracket - they are called 'braze-on' front mechs.

There are two bb shell widths - 68mm and 73mm (though 73mm is rarely if ever seen outside of mountain bike land). BB width has no influence on the type or size of front mech being used.

Other parameters include:

* Number of rings - double or triple.

* Size of outside ring, measured in number of teeth. Determined by the radius of the inside curve of the outer cage plate each mech has a range of capacity - ie 48 to 53 or 42 to 46 etc.

* 'Speeds' - 5/6/7/8/9/10? It refers to the number of sprockets on the back wheel and therefore chain width (and of course chainring width and spacing). And therefore the distance between the cage plates.

* 'Pull' - does the cable pull from above or below? Road and touring bikes usually below - bottom pull, mountainbikes usually above - top pull.

And that's it. Those are the rules, some of which may be broken. But basically that's all the info your bike parts provider needs to supply you with the correct unit.

So what'll come out of you mouth will be something like; 'Hello I'd like a front mech please, a nine speed, 28.6, bottom pull, triple for a 48 tooth outer.' or '....a five speed, braze on, bottom pull, double for a 53 outer'. etc.

 

[rh100]

Put it this way. Fitting the headset is a faff if you don't have the right tool. And you might also not get the cups in straight. If you are going into the LBS then you might as well get the BB faced and chased so you get a nice clean square face on the BB shell.

The cable cutters are most useful for the cable outers. People do manage without cutters but personally I wouldn't want to cut outers with pliers.

The fact that the frame is 'made' by a British company doesn't mean anything as far as the BB shell width is concerned. It is very likely 68 mm because of the diameter of the seat tube - but it won't hurt to measure it and be sure.

Will double check the bb.

I've spoken to the guy at the lbs, he's confident it won't need facing it had parts fitted to it before I got it, and he'll fit the headset for me for £10 labour plus the cost of parts, so can't complain. Might see if I can watch it done for future knowledge.

I've also picked up a cable guide for under the shell, I'm guessing a pop rivet will hold this?

 

[rh100]

Re: bar end shifters, one advantage with these is that you have the option of fitting linear-pull v-brakes rather than cantilever brakes, which I think will give better braking, also cheaper to replace than STI if damaged.

Ah I had all this last year with my galaxy rebuild!! I have to say I love the v brakes, easy to set up at the brake end. On the galaxy I ended up putting trekking bars on because the bike was too big for to reach the drops comfortably and the levers were cheaper anyway, using mtb style brake/gear levers.

On this one I definitely want drops, if I go for bar ends it will indeed allow for v brake levers, but I also want cross top levers, and the only ones compatible i've seen are the 'Paul Component' ones which cost a small fortune compared to the canti equivalents.

However, if I go for Shimergo or normal shimano and cross levers, I'll be looking into those travel agent adapters, will have to look into if that 3 way combo will work safely though

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/travel-agent-br0411-black-each-prod6546/


Failing that may just have to live with normal canti's, but I find them a pain to set up and don't look to pretty.

 

[rh100]

There are three diameters of seat tube for bikes which use front mechs. Steel frames are invariably 28.6mm (1.125 inches). Some mechs must be bought with the correct band size to suit the seat tube diameter, others are designed to be shimmed to fit. Some front mechs for road bikes bolt on to a frame mounted bracket - they are called 'braze-on' front mechs.

There are two bb shell widths - 68mm and 73mm (though 73mm is rarely if ever seen outside of mountain bike land). BB width has no influence on the type or size of front mech being used.

Other parameters include:

* Number of rings - double or triple.

* Size of outside ring, measured in number of teeth. Determined by the radius of the inside curve of the outer cage plate each mech has a range of capacity - ie 48 to 53 or 42 to 46 etc.

* 'Speeds' - 5/6/7/8/9/10? It refers to the number of sprockets on the back wheel and therefore chain width (and of course chainring width and spacing). And therefore the distance between the cage plates.

* 'Pull' - does the cable pull from above or below? Road and touring bikes usually below - bottom pull, mountainbikes usually above - top pull.

And that's it. Those are the rules, some of which may be broken. But basically that's all the info your bike parts provider needs to supply you with the correct unit.

So what'll come out of you mouth will be something like; 'Hello I'd like a front mech please, a nine speed, 28.6, bottom pull, triple for a 48 tooth outer.' or '....a five speed, braze on, bottom pull, double for a 53 outer'. etc.

Thanks for the comprehensive guide mickle, makes it very clear.
What about capacity? Or is not worth worrying about? If the difference between large and small ring is 22 teeth, is that the capacity? And does the mech need to allow for this?

 

[vernon]

Failing that may just have to live with normal canti's, but I find them a pain to set up and don't look to pretty.

Have you consideredd Froggleg or Tektro CR520 cantis?

The Froggleg cantilevers look fab.

I have one bike fitted with Frogglegs and one bike fitted with Tektro. Braking performance of both bikes was improved immensly when I upgraded to the aforementioned brakes.

 

[rh100]

Have you consideredd Froggleg or Tektro CR520 cantis?

The Froggleg cantilevers look fab.

I have one bike fitted with Frogglegs and one bike fitted with Tektro. Braking performance of both bikes was improved immensly when I upgraded to the aforementioned brakes.

Thanks for the links. Looks like the tektros may be the ones then, they look pug ugly but if they do the job......

Found a usefull thread here http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=33329 , there is a picture on page 2 showing what I'm now seeing my end setup being, campag shifters, cross levers and the tektros.

 

[rh100]

Sorry to drag up an old thread, have been slowly building this one up and now hitting a few snags.In the end I've gone for nitto bars, tiagra sti levers (too many issues with shimergo with the trimming of the front mech), tektro cross top levers and tektro 520 brakes.However, when I fitted the brakes I found that the brakes had a sloppy fit on the canti studs, there was a few mm between the bolt head and the canti sleeve, the bolt wasn't bottoming out in the stud as its head was firm against the top of the stud. I spoke to the lbs and he tried a set on some forks and they were similar but not as bad as mine.So have now decided to go with a set of vee brakes and travel agents, the brakes fit to the studs fine and I've figured out how to wire the travel agent, however, the rear cable is now too short after wrapping around the agent, and the front doesn't sit to well as the curve of the cable housing pulls at the agent so it is pulling upwards away from the noodle holder.Does anyone else have much experience of these? Presumably I can get a longer cable to cope with the rear brake? If someone could post a few pics of there's too see how mine compares that would be great.Thanks