greenjeans

**Edited***

Anybody know what width bottom bracket would have come with this bike ??
I'm going to use some modern cranks that I have (originals didn't come with bike)
They are some FSA ISIS splined....
It's a 68mm shell, just need to know if I can put a shorter spindle in there - the one that came with the bike is
a 68mm BC1 1.37"x24T doesn't say the width. But it makes the chain line too far out/away from the inner cogs on the cassette. I have a spare BB that measures 113mm that would bring the chainrings in closer to the bike.

Anybody know or have any advice ??

I have a

About to route cables on my recently aquired 1987 Trek 560EX (All the parts were in a box when I picked it up)

Anybody know if they just routed the cables on the frame under the BB ? Normally I'd expect to find some sort of plastic gizmo for the cables to slide on. This has no place for such an item to attach (no threaded hole etc) It looks as if the cables were just routed on the frame - there are indentions.....but that seems bad to me, as eventually the paint would wear through and it's steel etc....

The cable to the rear derailluer actually runs through the chainstay.

Anybody care to chime in ?

I'll try and get a pic up in a little bit.

Thanks

jacksbike

HI,
I sold Treks from about 1982 until 1995. I am very familiar with what you have. From what I can remember, there were 2 channels under the bottom bracket where the 2 derailleur cables were routed through. I believe that there was some type of very small rivet, or so, in which the cable was held against. The rear derailleur cable was routed through a hole in the right hand chainstay and came out the back near the rear derailleur droput. Routing the rear derailleur cable was always a pain in the royal rear end. You can either try to rotate and twist the wire as you go through the right hand chainstay, or, you can run another cable from the rear derailleur backwards to the bottom bracket, tape its end onto the new inward coming rear derailleur cable and try to pull them through. I am a very proficient repair person, but most of the time it would be so frustrating to do this that I would let one of my employees have the pleasure. Good luck !

unterhausen

I think that is pretty typical. For example, on my bikes there is a braze on at the bottom bracket that routes the cable. It was originally painted.

waldowales

My Trek 600 has the grooves in the bottom bracket for the cables. I use a short piece of Teflon cable liner on each cable where it contacts the frame.
The cable through the chain stay is a royal pain. Once you get one installed, don't remove it until you tie a piece of fishing line to it and pull that through, so you can use it to pull the new one in. Couldn't find anything else thin enough to go through the holes.

greenjeans

Thanks for the tips guys....just got all the components cleaned & shined up.
I think I'll leave the cable routing for tomorrow evening.
Probably give the teflon cable a try as well.
thanks guys

jan nikolajsen 

the chore of routing the cable thru the chainstay must vary from bike to bike. mine goes smoothly all the way and pops out right where i want it, first try every time. trek 600, 1985.

maybe you're lucky too.

jan

pacificaslim

That's good news Jan. I bought an '85 600 a while ago and haven't needed to chang cables yet. Glad to hear it might be easy on my model!

greenjeans

Bump for BB question - original post edited. Thanks guys

luker

loaded question, of course. the bottom bracket is 68mm and english. that is all that is independent of parts. A perfect chainline is one where a straight edge on the center back cog splits the large and small chainring spacing on the front. And you'll like perfect best of all.

I usually swap in and out from a collection of bottom bracket axles until I get the chainline as close to perfect as possible. Then, if I want a fancier bottom bracket axle, I measure the one that creates the best chainline...that gives me the correct bottom bracket width for the particular crankset I'm working with. I don't have a collection of ISIS bottom brackets, though, so I dunno what will work in that case.

Whilst on the subject, remember that it is possible to use spacers behind the freewheel or cluster to do some fine adjusting of the chainline, just as it is possible to get a little variation by putting spacers behind the fixed cup at the bottom bracket (lousy idea for Italian threading, though).

Ex Pres 

You have to match the spindle length of the BB to your FSA crankset, not the bike. If a double, probably a 109.5mm(?), English threaded of course.

snappy

same here. '87 560 ex.