Oiling cables

[Tom Anderson]

Evening all,

Anyone got any advice on oiling cables? Specifically, how you get the oil
to go into the guides. Is it just a matter of trickling a bit slowly into
the opening of the guide [1] and working the cable back and forth? How
much should i use?

Do i need to oil the mechanism in the shifters? The manual doesn't mention
it, and says "these shifters are nearly maintenance free". Is that a 'no'?

tom

[1] What do you call that, incidentally? I instinctively call it a
'portal', since a cable guide reminds me of a railway tunnel, and that's
what the ends of those are called. I doubt this is a general response,
though!

--
No gods, no masters.

 

[Chris Malcolm]

Tom Anderson <[email protected]> wrote:
> Evening all,

> Anyone got any advice on oiling cables? Specifically, how you get the oil
> to go into the guides. Is it just a matter of trickling a bit slowly into
> the opening of the guide [1] and working the cable back and forth? How
> much should i use?

I've still got an ancient device that screws a rubber seal round the
end of the cable, then you pour oil into it, then you screw on the
lid, which has a tyre valve on it, then you use your bicycle pump to
pump the oil down the cable. I bought it somewhere in London about
forty years ago. Works very well.

Failing that you can improvise a funnel around the end of the cable
with plasticene, bluetack, gaffer tape, WHY, fill it with oil, and let
gravity potter along with the job. Sucking the other end might speed
things up.

--
Chris Malcolm [email protected] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

 

[Pete Biggs]

Tom Anderson wrote:
> Evening all,
>
> Anyone got any advice on oiling cables? Specifically, how you get the
> oil to go into the guides. Is it just a matter of trickling a bit
> slowly into the opening of the guide [1] and working the cable back
> and forth? How much should i use?

Personally, I don't bother unless I'm replacing the cable anyway (in
non-prelubed outer): oil on rag, wipe inner cable with it.

> Do i need to oil the mechanism in the shifters? The manual doesn't
> mention it, and says "these shifters are nearly maintenance free". Is
> that a 'no'?

What make & model shifters?

> [1] What do you call that, incidentally? I instinctively call it a
> 'portal', since a cable guide reminds me of a railway tunnel, and
> that's what the ends of those are called. I doubt this is a general
> response, though!

Not far off! Lubrication holes are known as oil ports or grease ports.
Of course holes can be for other purposes as well and you're not
necessarily supposed to squirt things up every hole ;-)

~PB

 

[MSeries]

Tom Anderson wrote:
> Evening all,
>
> Anyone got any advice on oiling cables? Specifically, how you get the oil
> to go into the guides. Is it just a matter of trickling a bit slowly into
> the opening of the guide [1] and working the cable back and forth? How
> much should i use?
>
> Do i need to oil the mechanism in the shifters? The manual doesn't mention
> it, and says "these shifters are nearly maintenance free". Is that a 'no'?
>
> tom
>
> [1] What do you call that, incidentally? I instinctively call it a
> 'portal', since a cable guide reminds me of a railway tunnel, and that's
> what the ends of those are called. I doubt this is a general response,
> though!
>
> --
> No gods, no masters.

I don't really worry about it. I use teflon lined cable outers and
simply put some grease ont the cable before I thread it through. It
gathers at the end of course and I like to think it prevents water
ingress, not sure if it really makes any difference.

 

[Brian G]

Tom Anderson wrote:
> Evening all,
>
> Anyone got any advice on oiling cables? Specifically, how you get the
> oil to go into the guides. Is it just a matter of trickling a bit slowly
> into the opening of the guide [1] and working the cable back and forth?
> How much should i use?

See http://www.bikemagic.com/news/article.asp?UAN=2451&v=2&sp= for the
appropriate technique.

--
Brian G

 

[Tom Anderson]

On Tue, 28 Mar 2006, Pete Biggs wrote:

> Tom Anderson wrote:
>
>> Anyone got any advice on oiling cables? Specifically, how you get the
>> oil to go into the guides. Is it just a matter of trickling a bit
>> slowly into the opening of the guide [1] and working the cable back and
>> forth? How much should i use?
>
> Personally, I don't bother unless I'm replacing the cable anyway (in
> non-prelubed outer): oil on rag, wipe inner cable with it.

Okay, and this seems to be the general consensus (cheers again, everyone).
Works for me!

>> Do i need to oil the mechanism in the shifters? The manual doesn't
>> mention it, and says "these shifters are nearly maintenance free". Is
>> that a 'no'?
>
> What make & model shifters?

SRAM; X-9 for the rear, and whatever the moral equivalent of that is for
the front (X-3, perhaps!).

>> [1] What do you call that, incidentally? I instinctively call it a
>> 'portal', since a cable guide reminds me of a railway tunnel, and
>> that's what the ends of those are called. I doubt this is a general
>> response, though!
>
> Not far off! Lubrication holes are known as oil ports or grease ports.

But the end of a cable guide isn't specifically a grease port, is it?

> Of course holes can be for other purposes as well and you're not
> necessarily supposed to squirt things up every hole ;-)

Heh. Fingers crossed then ...

tom

--
The RAMAN VESSEL enters the SOLAR SYSTEM. The explorers explore it,
and it is COOL. Then they LEAVE. Then the Raman vessel LEAVES. --
Book-A-Minute SF/F

 

[Pete Biggs]

Tom Anderson wrote:

>>> [1] What do you call that, incidentally? I instinctively call it a
>>> 'portal', since a cable guide reminds me of a railway tunnel, and
>>> that's what the ends of those are called. I doubt this is a general
>>> response, though!
>>
>> Not far off! Lubrication holes are known as oil ports or grease
>> ports.
>
> But the end of a cable guide isn't specifically a grease port, is it?

No.

~PB

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, Tom
Anderson ('[email protected]') wrote:

>> What make & model shifters?
>
> SRAM; X-9 for the rear, and whatever the moral equivalent of that is
> for the front (X-3, perhaps!).

Absolutely not. X-9 is the second best SRAM make, and very, very good.
3.0 is bottom of the range, and may be OK if you don't expect too much
of it. Get an X-9 for the front.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; Sending your money to someone just because they've erected
;; a barrier of obscurity and secrets around the tools you
;; need to use your data does not help the economy or spur
;; innovation. - Waffle Iron Slashdot, June 16th, 2002

 

[Tom Anderson]

On Wed, 29 Mar 2006, Simon Brooke wrote:

> in message <[email protected]>, Tom
> Anderson ('[email protected]') wrote:
>
>>> What make & model shifters?
>>
>> SRAM; X-9 for the rear, and whatever the moral equivalent of that is
>> for the front (X-3, perhaps!).
>
> Absolutely not. X-9 is the second best SRAM make, and very, very good.
> 3.0 is bottom of the range, and may be OK if you don't expect too much
> of it. Get an X-9 for the front.

Aha. I thought it was called X-9 because there were nine sprockets under
its control - hence the guess that it might be X-3 on the other side,
since i have three chainrings. I'll have a look later and see what it is.
It certainly looks very similar to the rear one, so it's presumably SRAM,
but i don't know what sort.

tom

--
Don't believe his lies.

 

[Tom Anderson]

On Wed, 29 Mar 2006, Tom Anderson wrote:

> On Wed, 29 Mar 2006, Simon Brooke wrote:
>
>> in message <[email protected]>, Tom
>> Anderson ('[email protected]') wrote:
>>
>>>> What make & model shifters?
>>>
>>> SRAM; X-9 for the rear, and whatever the moral equivalent of that is
>>> for the front (X-3, perhaps!).
>>
>> Absolutely not. X-9 is the second best SRAM make, and very, very good.
>> 3.0 is bottom of the range, and may be OK if you don't expect too much
>> of it. Get an X-9 for the front.
>
> Aha. I thought it was called X-9 because there were nine sprockets under its
> control - hence the guess that it might be X-3 on the other side, since i
> have three chainrings. I'll have a look later and see what it is.

I've had a look, and they're actually both SRAM X-7s.

And the fork is definitely a Suntour XCR-LO. The rear mech is a SRAM SX5,
and the tyres are Hutchinson Scorpion Air Light. Still don't know exactly
what the rims are.

tom

--
This should be on ox.boring, shouldn't it? -- Simon Cozens

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, Tom
Anderson ('[email protected]') wrote:

> the tyres are Hutchinson Scorpion Air Light.

Ooh.

I have a pair of those in the shed. Don't take your bike anywhere within
500 metres of a hawthorn bush.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

---===***<<< This space to let! >>>***===---
Yes! You, too, can SPAM in the Famous Brooke Rotating .sig!
---===***<<< Only $300 per line >>>***===---

 

[Tosspot]

Simon Brooke wrote:
> in message <[email protected]>, Tom
> Anderson ('[email protected]') wrote:
>
>
>>the tyres are Hutchinson Scorpion Air Light.
>
>
> Ooh.
>
> I have a pair of those in the shed. Don't take your bike anywhere within
> 500 metres of a hawthorn bush.

But *nothing* is proof against Hawthorns! The military are considering
their use in the next generation of AP rounds.

 

[Tom Anderson]

On Wed, 29 Mar 2006, Simon Brooke wrote:

> in message <[email protected]>, Tom
> Anderson ('[email protected]') wrote:
>
> > the tyres are Hutchinson Scorpion Air Light.
>
> Ooh.
>
> I have a pair of those in the shed. Don't take your bike anywhere within
> 500 metres of a hawthorn bush.

Thanks for the warning. I'd better get my skates on (and stay clear of any
metaphorical long grass, it seems) on the tyre front.

tom

--
.... the full attack expands into an unusual pseudosteganographic
strikeback methodology against peer to peer networks. -- Dan Kaminsky