That’s not ‘break as in brake’ either.

Si I was in the bikeBasement last night and thought to myself: ‘self? The reason you’re having trouble with that front derailleur stringing is that you no longer have something to compare to…’ which was when I remembered wifebot(tm)s sweet, sweet Bianchi hanging back there, so off I went to study her set-up. It’s Campy, and therefore more awesome, but I saw the gist of what I was doing wrong: I was overcomplicating the threading. The pulley is a stop against the frame, not for the cable. So, I strung it and voila, had shift! Except fof where no matter how much tension I gave the cable, I couldn’t get the cage to set over the big ring. It’s two positions were inner ring of the double, and nothing. So, after some consideration, further exploration of limit screws and cable tension, and noting the fraying cables, I decided to err conservatively and bring it into my LBS, Tam Bikes.

Scott helped me see the error of my ways. Well, one of them. We determined that the physical positioning of the derailleur needed to be a bit higher by some 2mm or so (which is double what my book recommended) and then after some more flim-flam, and fresh cables, we, and by we I mean he, got the limits right. I took apart the Dura Ace ST-7700 brake/shifter ‘brifters’ (as per Sheldon) and rethreaded cable for him to use. All seemed well.

Here’s that left side brifter, exposed, rethreaded.

I had total lust for this tool. It’s called the THIRD ARM. It hasd a tension plate so you can hold against the part, while squeezing the plies to create tension against the part itself, freeing your other hand to tighten the allen bolt of the part itself. MAN do I want one.

Unfortunately, defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory. We were struggling to understand why the shifter could be shifted by the cable, manually by hand, but not by the brifter. As it turns out, the brifter is officially horfed. Check that photo out, and the 45 degree pivot of the shifting assembly. Nothing it holding it in place.

So, while the derailleur problem is solved, I have a NEW problem, perhaps more urgent. Replacing a 12-year old, top of the line Dura Ace brifter. So, that’s where we are. Worst case scenario? I’ll ride the Team Lope Tour de Lung with one ring. BOOM!

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