On Mon, 07 May 2007 18:45:56 -0500, Gary Young <
[email protected]>
wrote:
>On Mon, 07 May 2007 12:20:19 -0600, carlfogel wrote:
>
>> On 7 May 2007 09:43:15 -0700, [email protected] (Donald Gillies)
>> wrote:
>>
>>>=?ISO-8859-1?Q?G=FCnther?= Schwarz <[email protected]> writes:
>>>
>>>>Recently the head of the front shifter cable of my 2006 Campagnolo
>>>>Veloce Ergopower just popped off. The bike is almost new and was costum
>>>>built by my LBS. So the components were supplied as spare parts through
>>>>the official chain.
>>>
>>>It never happened to me, but the heads are usually just pieces of lead
>>>heated up and "cast" by the cable manufacturer while the shifter is
>>>sticking into a mini-crucible. Any contamination on the cable might
>>>make it easy for the lead to separate. I am told that a good
>>>motorcycle can make custom-cast cable-ends onto cables of any size and
>>>shape, e.g. they could make weinmann straddle cables, for example.
>>>
>>>When a cable pops out of a brake - for me - its usually because I
>>>screwed up and threaded the wrong pear (the smaller one, not the
>>>larger one) into the brake lever.
>>>
>>>- Don "keep moving forward" Gillies
>>>San Diego, CA
>>
>> Dear Don,
>>
>> On motorcycles, cable ends are soldered onto each end of the cable
>> after the wire and housing are trimmed to roughly the right length.
>>
>> Motorcyclists are usually shocked to see the bare end of a bicycle
>> brake cable just clamped with nothing but a tiny screw and plate.
>>
>> Slotted fittings allow cable installation and removal from the brake
>> and clutch levers, the twist throttle, cable adjusters (often at both
>> ends), brake and clutch arms, and the carburetor slide.
>>
>> Here's a how-to-trim-and-solder with pictures:
>>
>> http://www.off-road.com/dirtbike/jul2001/jul01rsCableTech.html
>
>Is there any reason this couldn't be done with bicycle cable? The
>conservationist in me is always bothered when I buy a full-length brake
>cable and then clip most of it off when installing a front brake. I've
>often thought it would be less wasteful (and cheaper) to get a continuous
>length of cable and some end caps. I suppose the biggest difficulty would
>be finding end caps, since I've never seen them for sale.
Dear Gary,
You can do it, but the fuss and trouble are probably much greater than
the cost of the bicycle cable.
Many attempts to avoid waste turn out to be extremely wasteful when
you step back and look at the whole process. The best thing to do with
old pieces of cable and housing is to throw them away so that they
don't fill useless boxes on shelves and crowd out useful stuff.
A good antidote to the pack-rat save-anything syndrome is reading any
of Don Aslett's books on getting rid of junk:
For Packrats Only
Not For Packrats Only
Clutter's Last Stand
Clutter-Free Forever
. . . and so on.
You can find used and new copies at
www.bookfinder.com,
Aslett made his fortune in office janitorial services, where he
learned the hard way just how much time most people waste cleaning
around useless junk and clutter.
His books are just cheerful exhortations to throw our useless stuff
away, with endless, painfully familiar examples of our mindless urge
to keep things that--that--well, that might be useful someday after a
nuclear war.
True, I might use some of those worn-out old bicycle tires for some
experiment in Fogel Labs, but they're really just junk, even hanging
neatly from the garage rafters.
Excuse me for a moment . . .
There!
Eight worn-out or hopelessly damaged 700c tires now nestle in my trash
can.
In the process, I knocked over some useless junk piled neatly nearby.
(Just as Aslett predicts, the junk got in my way and the resulting
mess wasted my time.)
I also discovered that I had a stash of unused 27-inch tires. (Just as
Aslett predicts, my junk had covered up my useful stuff.)
Like a coward, I ignored the boxes of old 27-inch brake calipers and
cables. (Just as Aslett predicts.)
Excuse me again for a moment . . .
There!
So much for all the old caliper brakes salvaged off junked bicycles.
And the box full of empty cable housings went, too.
(But not before I began to stare and think that I ought keep just one
or two long cable housings--plus maybe one of each color-- and-- and--
No, Aslett is right. If you haven't found a use for it in years and it
just clutters your shelves, it will be just as happy and useful in the
trash and you'll be happier without it. So I tossed the neat box
filled with worn-out old square-taper cranks, bearing rings, and
threaded crank caps.)
The push-reel lawn mower is sulking near the trash can, too. I last
used it over thirty years ago, but it's had a cosy spot in the garage
ever since, just in case disaster struck, gas became unavailable to
run the power mower, and I decided in the midst of Armageddon that the
grass needed mowing. I can use the space that it hogged.
(A moment's thought, as Aslett suggests, showed me that there is no
neighbor I dislike enough to burden with a free push-mower, much less
a friend or charity. Its sheet-metal grass-catcher still bears the
$10.95 price mark, but I have no more use for it than I have for a
buggy whip.)
Thanks for inadvertently reminding me of the dangers of "the
conservationist in me" that leads to most of the clutter in our lives.
The real cost of storing and trying to use old bits of cut-off wire
cable (and similar junk) usually outweighs the imaginary gains.
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
