Use of STI or ERGO on old steel bikes

Ernie said:

I just got an older Merckx frame, a 1990's looking, Century model with
TSX tubing. The BB shell has those cast in grooves/cable guides. Do
these have too much friction for STI or ERGO? If so what can I do? I
don't think I can drill for the delrin screw on guides since this BB
has some "louvres" or slots cut along the width of the bb. Any help
appreciated....I am buring to ride this frame!!

Make sure the guides are clean, wax them up and you should be just fine.

Ernie said:

I just got an older Merckx frame, a 1990's looking, Century model with
TSX tubing. The BB shell has those cast in grooves/cable guides. Do
these have too much friction for STI or ERGO?

No. I've got a frame older than that with steel guides and 8-speed
modern shifting, and a pretty new frame also with steel guides (though
the frame is mainly carbon fiber) with 9-speed. No problems.

JT

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John Forrest Tomlinson said:

Ernie said:

I just got an older Merckx frame,

Quoted message said:

I've got older than that.

How fascinating.

Quoted message said:

John Forrest Tomlinson said:

Ernie said:

I just got an older Merckx frame,

Quoted message said:

I've got older than that.

How fascinating.

Ozark,

Feel free to snip what I write as appropriate, but don't add something
that isn't there -- in this case the period after "that." The
sentence didn't end there. Just leave it without a period and have
your joke.

JT

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Ernie said:

I just got an older Merckx frame, a 1990's looking, Century model with
TSX tubing. The BB shell has those cast in grooves/cable guides. Do
these have too much friction for STI or ERGO? If so what can I do? I
don't think I can drill for the delrin screw on guides since this BB
has some "louvres" or slots cut along the width of the bb. Any help
appreciated....I am buring to ride this frame!!

thanks,
Ernie

Nope, make sure they are clean, no problema-

If ya don't like them, file them off, drill a hole in the BB, tap it
and install a conventional BB guide.

Ernie said:

I just got an older Merckx frame, a 1990's looking, Century model with
TSX tubing. The BB shell has those cast in grooves/cable guides. Do
these have too much friction for STI or ERGO? If so what can I do? I
don't think I can drill for the delrin screw on guides since this BB
has some "louvres" or slots cut along the width of the bb. Any help
appreciated....I am buring to ride this frame!!

Simply a non-problem. Clean and lube the channel, lace up your cables and go
ride.

Ron

John Forrest 'the Sultan of Snip' Tomlinson said:

Quoted message said:

John Forrest Tomlinson said:

On 19 Jul 2006 17:32:51 -0700, "Ernie" <[email hidden]> wrote:

>
>I just got an older Merckx frame,

Quoted message said:

I've got older than that.

How fascinating.

Ozark,

Feel free to snip what I write as appropriate, but don't add something
that isn't there -- in this case the period after "that." The
sentence didn't end there. Just leave it without a period and have
your joke.

Anything you say, boss! When it comes to the subject of snipping, you
da man!

Ernie said:

I just got an older Merckx frame, a 1990's looking, Century model with
TSX tubing. The BB shell has those cast in grooves/cable guides. Do
these have too much friction for STI or ERGO? If so what can I do? I
don't think I can drill for the delrin screw on guides since this BB
has some "louvres" or slots cut along the width of the bb. Any help
appreciated....I am buring to ride this frame!!

thanks,
Ernie

As others have said, it's not a problem. I can add two things. First,
I set up one older frame by running the fder cable under the BB, no
guides at all. It just ran along the smooth surface of the bottom side
of the BB. It has worked fine for 7000 miles so far.

The other is that the rder cable on older bikes usually runs on the top
side of the right chain stay. This can be a problem if you have a
triple chainring setup because you may find the bottom of the fder cage
hits against the cable when in the small chainwheel.

Hope this helps,
Tom

Thanks for all the input. I was just a bit concerned because I read
somewhere (maybe actual campy literature) that they don't even
recommend internal cable routing and anything at all that was not
perfectly smooth and frictionless.

I remember an early 80's Peugeot I bought that had the plastic guides
and it was kind of a hyped selling point because it reduced friction.

Quoted message said:

Ernie said:

I just got an older Merckx frame, a 1990's looking, Century model with
TSX tubing. The BB shell has those cast in grooves/cable guides. Do
these have too much friction for STI or ERGO? If so what can I do? I
don't think I can drill for the delrin screw on guides since this BB
has some "louvres" or slots cut along the width of the bb. Any help
appreciated....I am buring to ride this frame!!

thanks,
Ernie

As others have said, it's not a problem. I can add two things. First,
I set up one older frame by running the fder cable under the BB, no
guides at all. It just ran along the smooth surface of the bottom side
of the BB. It has worked fine for 7000 miles so far.

The other is that the rder cable on older bikes usually runs on the top
side of the right chain stay. This can be a problem if you have a
triple chainring setup because you may find the bottom of the fder cage
hits against the cable when in the small chainwheel.

Hope this helps,
Tom

In article
<[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

John Forrest 'the Sultan of Snip' Tomlinson said:

Quoted message said:

John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:
> On 19 Jul 2006 17:32:51 -0700, "Ernie" <[email hidden]> wrote:
>
> >
> >I just got an older Merckx frame,

> I've got older than that.

How fascinating.

Ozark,

Feel free to snip what I write as appropriate, but don't add something
that isn't there -- in this case the period after "that." The
sentence didn't end there. Just leave it without a period and have
your joke.

Anything you say, boss! When it comes to the subject of snipping, you
da man!

Do not change quoted text.

Hey, everybody! Ozark is attributing text to people that
they did not write.

--
Michael Press

Michael Press said:

In article
<[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

John Forrest 'the Sultan of Snip' Tomlinson said:

On 19 Jul 2006 21:15:44 -0700, [email hidden] wrote:

>
>John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:
>> On 19 Jul 2006 17:32:51 -0700, "Ernie" <[email hidden]> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> >I just got an older Merckx frame,
>
>> I've got older than that.
>
>
>How fascinating.

Ozark,

Feel free to snip what I write as appropriate, but don't add something
that isn't there -- in this case the period after "that." The
sentence didn't end there. Just leave it without a period and have
your joke.

Anything you say, boss! When it comes to the subject of snipping, you
da man!

Do not change quoted text.

Hey, everybody! Ozark is attributing text to people that
they did not write.

Ever fog a mirror?

Ernie said:

Thanks for all the input. I was just a bit concerned because I read
somewhere (maybe actual campy literature) that they don't even
recommend internal cable routing and anything at all that was not
perfectly smooth and frictionless.

I remember an early 80's Peugeot I bought that had the plastic guides
and it was kind of a hyped selling point because it reduced friction.

One last thing, shifting may be affected by the design of the drop-outs
on some old bikes. Post SIS Shimano rear derailleurs require that the
upper pulley be a certain distance from the center of the axle, and
some artfully installed old drop-outs may not work that well , making
shifting a little less precise. That would not be a problem on a
mid-90s Merckx, though. -- Jay Beattie.

Jay Beattie said:

Ernie said:

Thanks for all the input. I was just a bit concerned because I read
somewhere (maybe actual campy literature) that they don't even
recommend internal cable routing and anything at all that was not
perfectly smooth and frictionless.

I remember an early 80's Peugeot I bought that had the plastic guides
and it was kind of a hyped selling point because it reduced friction.

One last thing, shifting may be affected by the design of the drop-outs
on some old bikes. Post SIS Shimano rear derailleurs require that the
upper pulley be a certain distance from the center of the axle, and
some artfully installed old drop-outs may not work that well , making
shifting a little less precise. That would not be a problem on a
mid-90s Merckx, though. -- Jay Beattie.

8-speed STI was practically developed for steel Merckx frames -- the
7-Eleven/Motorola racing team was a testing ground for the shifting
and was generally on Merckx steel frames at the time.

JT

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Michael Press said:

In article
<[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

John Forrest 'the Sultan of Snip' Tomlinson said:

On 19 Jul 2006 21:15:44 -0700, [email hidden] wrote:

>
>John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:
>> On 19 Jul 2006 17:32:51 -0700, "Ernie" <[email hidden]> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> >I just got an older Merckx frame,
>
>> I've got older than that.
>
>
>How fascinating.

Ozark,

Feel free to snip what I write as appropriate, but don't add something
that isn't there -- in this case the period after "that." The
sentence didn't end there. Just leave it without a period and have
your joke.

Anything you say, boss! When it comes to the subject of snipping, you
da man!

Do not change quoted text.

Hey, everybody! Ozark is attributing text to people that
they did not write.

Yeah, we know.

Ron