The Good Doctor’s Bike Build
Hooking up the brakes and cables, then taping the bars was to be the next project. The Tektro brakes I got with the frame didn’t seem to fit well in the cow bar ends. They were too loose to be very secure. Also, I found that the cable ends didn’t fit into the levers. Hmmmm. I went to the local bike shop and was sold brake cables for mountain bike brakes. It seems that the round end fits in these levers fine. OK. I then proceeded to place a little duct tape on the ends of the brakes to help them fit snugly in the ends of the bar.
I cut the housings, ran the cables, and then taped the bars without much difficulty. Getting the brakes with the right tension took a few tries, but with a little practice I was able to pull them tight enough to keep from unscrewing the cable adjuster completely to get them to work.
As I went to put up the bike I noticed the fork seemed to rattle a little in the head tube. DARN! I pondered that one until the following morning and started looking for Headset Presses. Well, before I purchased one I decided to look it up in Zinn and realized the headset might just be loose. I loosened the cap nut and the stem. I then tightened the cap nut, repositioned the stem, and then tightened the stem. Voila! No more rattle.
Tonight I’m reading about setting up shifters and noticed in Shimano’s documentation how a
neat little hex screw in the shifter pod was used to set the pods in the bar ends. Hmmmm. Yes, there is a similar system on the Tektro brakes and they are now secured with both duct tape AND the hex screw that expands inside the bar. I’ll take off the duct tape the next time I tape the bars……
neat little hex screw in the shifter pod was used to set the pods in the bar ends. Hmmmm. Yes, there is a similar system on the Tektro brakes and they are now secured with both duct tape AND the hex screw that expands inside the bar. I’ll take off the duct tape the next time I tape the bars……
with backward mutters of dissevering power 