Autumn - a second spring!

   Sure, later in the season things turn a bit bleak, but when the leaves change colors, it’s almost as though flowers are in bloom. Temperatures are a bit more comfortable (although we had a relatively mild summer), sight lines become a little better as roadside vegetation dies off and I’m already in good cycling shape – what could be better?

   Well, I could do without the wind! It was fairly still outside today, but we have been getting a consistent dose of blustery days for the past week or so. I don’t mind a light, steady breeze, but 20-30 mph gusts can be a bit dangerous, let alone leg-sapping. Taking some shelter on one of the area trails is one way to combat the conditions, but since those routes are often out-and-back affairs, they can get old really fast. And it’s WAY too early to hop on the indoor trainer…ugh!

  

   The cable/housing set that I needed to complete the Cervélo arrived last week, and the assembly was complicated by internal routing of the cables. Some manufacturers build in some type of tube that makes insertion easy, but Cervélo does not. Luckily, this summer I learned two little tricks to get around this problem when switching the components on my Pinarello, which also has no internal guides.

   The holes in the FP2 frame have small plastic ferrules into which the housings fit (see photo above), and these can be popped out to expose the 1/8 inch diameter holes in the frame. Before removal, I taped the end of the new cable to the existing cable and slowly pulled everything through. This would have worked perfectly had I not forgotten to put the ferrules back on, along with the housing sections, when I slid the cable back through.

   My son Carrick is a tinkerer, and years ago he took apart some old stereo speakers and collected some of the high-powered magnets that were inside. I borrowed one and held it against the top tube near the brake cable’s insertion hole, with the intent of keeping the magnetized wire near the surface in order to meet up with the exit hole on the opposite side of that tube. Since the carbon fiber frame is not magnetic, I could get a really good feel as to exactly where the cable was located as I slowly pushed it through and slid the magnet along with the cable end.

   This technique worked perfectly for the Pinarello, and as it turned out, came in handy with the aluminum (non-magnetic) Cervélo. It had no pop-out ferrules and very small holes drilled in the frame, which did not allow room for two taped-together cables, so I had to go to the magnet once again. However, the operation didn’t go quite as smoothly as it did with the Pinarello, which had to do somewhat with the difference in frame materials/construction and the Cervélo’s holes not being flush with the tubing. I had to slowly spin the cable until it curved into alignment with the hole.

   Inserting the cables into the downtube was much easier, as the frame had a large slot (see photo above) from which the cable emerged near the bottom bracket. After making some slight derailleur adjustments and centering both front and rear brakes calipers over their respective rims, the bicycle was finished. Here are some photos of the finished product: