Bicycle Mechanics - Cable stretch?!

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Xrisnothing
08-18-07, 09:27 PM
After some time, I finally got the bike I'm building together. I got the derailleurs shifting smoothly, took the bike off of the stand and had a joyous trip around the block to make sure it was indeed shifting properly and that the brakes were nice and tight. All was right with the bike, so I put it back up on the stand, wrapped up the handlebars and crimped the cable ends. I went to blockbuster, watched half a movie and then decided to play around with the bike. Now the chain is rubbing on the front derailleur and the rear cassette is noisey and shifts poorly.

I guess the obvious answer would be cable stretch. How long is it going to take for these cables to stretch out completely? I'm tired of adjusting things.

fogrider
08-18-07, 10:42 PM
the first stretch is going to be the bulk of it, but I would say it takes more than a day.
Deanster04
08-18-07, 10:54 PM
Thats why barrel adjusters are provided on most bikes. It is possible your cable tension has changed because you are getting some slippage on the termination bolts.
When I replace my cables I usually only have to make very minor adjustments on the barrel adjusters then the cables don't need to be adjusted for months. Cable stretch was a problem in the old days before new Steel.