Mowa, Mowa on the floor

Its another small part update today. I felt it was criminal to build this amazing bike and then simply zip tie the cables on. Mowa a create some really nice aluminium cable guides that are anodised in any number of colours. Whilst I agonised over the gold or black decision for a few seconds, I surmised that the last thing you want to do is bring too much attention to the cables so black it was.

As usual with Chain Reaction Cycles, the order arrived the next day with two boxes of clips. Obviously is straight out to the bike to fit them but was sorely disappointed to find they were loose and didn't clamp the cables tightly. The solution took a few moments to surface but turned out to be super simple. I raided the children's playroom for black play foam and found a couple of pieces that had fallen under their toy boxes. Then I grabbed some double sided tape from the "man drawer" where all useless items reside. By cutting off small rectangles and putting tape on them, I was able to stick them to the frame with the cables on top. The cable guides now grab the cables tightly.

Time will tell how reliable this fix is, but for now they look mint! I'll post photos when I'm home next!

It's the small things...

So, the breaking news is the bike was finished about a month ago and rides brilliantly...but more to come later!

What I wanted to talk about is something I'm very proud of, but no one would ever notice unless prompted! The KS Lev dropper seat post has been fantastic after an initial hiccup where I snapped the internal actuating cable - oops. The Lev comes with a nice outer cable which I assume is about 4mm in diameter. Now, being a perfectionist, I couldn't very well have different colour outers for gears, brakes and seat post, so the whole bike uses Jagwire Carbon Silver outers which (annoyingly) are 4.5mm in diameter. Admittedly, 0.5mm difference doesn't sound like a lot, but the outer has a special plastic cable end on it which, in addition to it's normal job, also holds the KS Lev aluminium cap in, so you don't lose it whilst chattering down the trail. The problem, which should be evident by now, is that the Jagwire outer doesn't fit in the cable end.

My first solution was to simple drill out cable end, which would have worked nicely had I not been hamfisted and drilled right through it - so I decided to make a new one...out of metal! Below is the process:

The Jagwire Carbon Silver kits come with a number of aluminium cable ends which complement the outers perfectly. I took one of those and flattened off a thin strip along its length so I had a good gluing surface.

Next, I took some old SPD cleats and used the countersunk bolt plate (the small one on the outside, not the metal plate under your foot) and used a Dremel style rotary tool to grind and sand a suitable lug.

Araldite Precision was the glue of choice (actually, the only suitable glue I had) and after a fiddle few minutes positioning the pieces, I left it to dry over night.

I checked it out this morning and gave the whole thing a once over with a sander to remove any glue, and it was done...

Trying the new cable end out in the Lev confirms a perfect fit and I'd be surprised if anyone could spot the difference, but I know...