Bad Machine
In the garage .....
- Location
- East Anglia
My first trike was a brand-new Peformer JC70, and the combination of new cables, outers, twist shifters and mechanism meant at first there was no difficulty in twisting to change gear. Not sure of the quality of the shifters (Microshift) they used, but over time it became harder and harder to change, to the point where I remember on one early morning ride mid-winter I watched as the front mech remained in the same position no matter which way I twisted the 3-speed grip in my left hand.
I returned home with only the rear derailleur working, and put off sorting out the problem until later that day. By then of course the problem had disappeared. So it wasn't until the next morning (when the same thing happened again) that it dawned on me that if water had been getting into the cable runs over time, then rust could have developed within the outer, preventing the gear cable from moving smoothly. And enough water that on really cold days, the inner cable would be frozen within the outer, and not move at all.
Replacing the old cables with new (inner and outer) solved the problem immediately; I did the same for the brakes too, and felt an immediate improvement there. For good measure I lighly greased the replacement inner wires on the cables, made some rain hoods from Sugru for each of the brake handles, and squirted some powdered graphite into the various crevices on the twist shifters.
Maybe a bit OTT, but didn't have the problem again right up until I sold it on. This was the kind of stuff I used on the twist shifters, seemed to work pretty well for other things that need some lube, but oil-base would be a risk.
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