chain and derailleur class

[mimitabby]

Last night DH & I attended a class aimed to demystify the chain and derailleur.

Our instructor, a veteran of bike races (cyclocross) and a many time volunteer for STP showed us how to clean a bike chain without that odd bike chain cleaner thing (use a rag) and talked about how to lube the chain when you're done.

He then taught us about the cables, there are two kinds, one for the brakes
and another for the gears. They are different widths (brakes have a fatter cable) but if you are not careful you could get them confused.
He showed us how to adjust and replace the cable. He showed us what happens some times when you just can't get it into a gear after replacing the cable (the shifter wasn't clicked all the way!)

It was a great class. I might never replace a cable on my own, but now I know what it's all about and there is less mystery for me anyway around these parts. He made it very clear that DIRT is the number one factor in bike chains, derailleurs, derailleur cables, sprokets and chain rings going bad. That FENDERS can help protect from this stuff.
(Cascade bike club)

[KnottedYet]

Oooh, I wanna take that class!

[mimitabby]

there's a series of 3, the next one is about brakes. Believe it or not, he said
brakes are harder to adjust than Derailleurs.

[KnottedYet]

Darn it, that brake class is during my evening work hours!

[DebW]

Is it the cables or the housing, Mimi? Gear and brake cable housing used to be the same, back before indexed shifting. My framebuilder was explaining how the housing is now different for derailleur cables - lateral runs of the metal fibers to make them non-compressible. Rotary-wound housing compressed too much for the indexing to work consistently. The wire has always been different because the ends are different.

[mimitabby]

Is it the cables or the housing, Mimi? Gear and brake cable housing used to be the same, back before indexed shifting. My framebuilder was explaining how the housing is now different for derailleur cables - lateral runs of the metal fibers to make them non-compressible. Rotary-wound housing compressed too much for the indexing to work consistently. The wire has always been different because the ends are different.

yes, he showed us how the cable housing is very different from the brake housing. And told us what could happen if you screwed up (Brake failure!!!)