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The old timer at the Sacramento swap meet said to back the barrel adjuster all the way in before touching the cable, and I am done arguing with him
I picked up a used set of bars from a guy named Walt at the Sacramento swap meet back in March, and while I was paying he watched me fiddling with a rear derailleur cable and told me to run the barrel adjuster all the way in before I clamp anything down. I nodded and forgot about it for two weeks. Then I did a tune up on a commuter bike and set the cable with the adjuster half out like I always do, and there was no room left to add tension when the housing settled in after a few rides. The shifting went soft on the guy within a week and he brought it back. Second time around I backed that adjuster in first like Walt said, and I had almost a full turn of room in both directions to dial it in. It sounds like such a small thing, but it is the difference between a bike that shifts for a year and one that comes back in ten days. Now I catch myself doing it on every cable job, brakes included. Any of you have a habit you picked up from a random stranger that you still use every single day?
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foster.jordan17d ago
Read somewhere that the old Park Tool repair manuals actually say to run the adjuster all the way in before you clamp, and I always figured it was just filler text they put in to make the steps look thorough. Now I'm wondering if it was there because that's how the old guys actually taught it, and everybody just stopped reading. You only get maybe a turn and a half of slack out of a barrel adjuster, and if half of it is already gone when you start, you're stuck. Been doing it your way since I read that, and yeah, cables hold their tune way longer. Simple thing but it adds up.
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