Probably silly question about barrel adjusters

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onlyhuman

New Member
My son's road bike has Shimano Sora gears. What look like barrel cable adjusters on the down tube don't turn. They are supposed to aren't they, to tension the cable correctly?
 

John the Monkey

Frivolous Cyclist
Location
Crewe
Any chance of a pic?

My Giant SCR2.0 has downtube cable stops that DON'T turn, but then it has adjusters where the cables come out of the hoods.
 
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onlyhuman

onlyhuman

New Member
Picture later maybe, for now, they have star-like protrusions for grip which suggests they are adjusters, but I don't want to force them if they aren't.
 

HaloJ

Rabid cycle nut
Location
Watford
They'll likely be pretty tight especially as you'll be increasing the cable tension when you rotate them anti-clockwise. Although there should be at least half a turns play going the other way but that's all dependant on how they were setup in the first place.
 

John the Monkey

Frivolous Cyclist
Location
Crewe
HaloJ said:
They'll likely be pretty tight especially as you'll be increasing the cable tension when you rotate them anti-clockwise.
Easy way to deal with that - move chain to biggest cog, then change down WITHOUT rotating the pedals - hey presto, nice slack cable to work with.
 

PatrickPending

Legendary Member
Location
Leicester
Shall I take it its an aluminium frame? Theese often leave the shops ungreased and then you get galvanic corrosion between the adjuster and the frame - the adjuster won't budge! This is what happened to my Allez - nothing would shift them. Not much of a problem really you can adjust the rear mech using the adjuster on that, but adjusting the front will be a bit more tricky.
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
PatrickPending said:
Shall I take it its an aluminium frame? Theese often leave the shops ungreased and then you get galvanic corrosion between the adjuster and the frame - the adjuster won't budge! This is what happened to my Allez - nothing would shift them. Not much of a problem really you can adjust the rear mech using the adjuster on that, but adjusting the front will be a bit more tricky.

Spot on. Spray with WD40 or similar and go at them gently with broad-nosed pliers. They will move. Then take them off and grease the threads, you can do this by unslotting the cables and allowing everything to fall slack.
 

Fattman

Active Member
Location
Roydon, Essex
PatrickPending said:
Shall I take it its an aluminium frame? Theese often leave the shops ungreased and then you get galvanic corrosion between the adjuster and the frame - the adjuster won't budge! This is what happened to my Allez - nothing would shift them.

Mine too! They ended up so bad (hadn't realised the problem until way too late) that they just kinda broke, so I ended up binning them. The adjuster on the derailleur proves generally sufficient, though not so convenient when moving, so it is a bit of a loss. If the adjusters come to life after WD40, it's worth looking after them with a bit of lube ;)
 
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onlyhuman

onlyhuman

New Member
AlanW said:
Pull up and then twist.

Aha. That sounds like it might be the answer, the bike isn't here now to try it.

It's a steel frame bike, so galvanic corrosion probably isn't the problem.

I'll report back.
 
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