w1gfh

I have a quick and dumb question about the Sturmey Archer AW hub. How is the cable attached to the cable coupling (seen in upper left of this photo I found on the web)? The hub end of the shift cable is seen terminating in a knurled barrel affair. Is the cable end that's inside it crimped?...or knotted...or?

BigPolishJimmy

I think I have one that will slide out and is visibly knotted, but I don't know if that's the proper method.

Amesja

The older cables were factory made to a specific length. NOS Raleigh cables are getting pretty pricey these days. You can buy generic cables with a cable stop that is external to the threaded barrel or just the end itself.



Some people say these "look wrong" but I don't see the big deal. If done professionally and with a crimped end on the cable they look fine to me. No worse than a knarp on the older double-ended brake cables IMHO.

Or you could always just silver-solder a knob at the end of a fresh cable after threading it through the old barrel. Getting the length exactly right would be kind of a pain -but it could be done.

More trouble than it is worth if you ask me. But I'm not a purist.

w1gfh

I kinda like the look of the original vintage hub connector/cable tensioner rather than the newer style with the outboard locknut. I wonder if simply tying a knot in the cable (within the barrel) would be OK?

Amesja

It might be OK if you could get it to the right length and not have it slip.

3-speed hubs are extremely sensitive to cable adjustment. The hubs are bulletproof but cable slipping or stretch is a big deal -even a little bit will throw off the shifting. You don't want to find neutral by accident. I hate it when that happens.

I've heard of people who have claimed to have tied a knot in them successfully. I've never tried it. I say it's not a big deal to experiment but be careful about how you use the bike until you are sure that the cable isn't going to move and you can be certain that you won't find neutral and end up hurting yourself or biting your handlebar stem as you slip off the pedal unexpectedly. Cosmetic dentists are expensive

w1gfh

OK...found one on eBay, and here's a photo of the stock cable end treatment (below). Interesting.

What prompted my initial question: my 68 Raleigh Sports shift cable housing is cracked and bent for 1/2" where it goes into the ferrule at the trigger. I thought I'd trim the 1/2 inch, file it flat, and reinstall the cable housing. But to do that you have to remove the cable from the housing completely.

Amesja

I wonder how hard it would be to duplicate that end with conventional crimping technology? It's pretty small. It looks just like melted lead or some alloy. I've always thought it could be done. I had contemplated doing it for a double-ended brake cable but brakes are even more mission-critical than a shifter cable and have a lot more force to hold. I'm sure a simple crimp would do the trick if you could make one small enough. Perhaps a brass rod sized just a tiny bit larger than the cable could simply be crimped onto it or even soldered with some flux to run down into the cable.

JohnDThompson 

I don't know if I'd trust a crimp to hold under shifting tension -- it might be a long ride home in 3rd gear if it fails.

Maybe a blob of solder, though?

Amesja

There shouldn't be much tension on the shift cable. Look how skinny the cable is to begin with. It's at least half the diameter of the brake cables. And the lever on the shifter is only an inch or so long. Not a lot of force is used there. The clutch spring in the hub is something like 1lb or less. It's just a big diameter pen-click spring. If there is more than 5 lbs of pressure on that shift cable when it is properly adjusted and maintained I'd be really surprised.

JohnDThompson 

It's not the standing tension I'd worry about but peak tensions during shifts.

Amesja

I'm thinking peak tension isn't going to be much more than standing tension even when shifting into first (the most tension) unless the person is hammering on that lever. I don't think the cable itself would be good for more than a hundred or so pounds reliably/safely when new. I wonder how much pressure one could put on that tiny little trigger shifter. Looks like there can't be more than a 2/1 leverage ratio on that trigger from where the cable attaches to it. Maybe say 20lbs max a person could pull on that little thing without actually bringing pain to your hand. It's not like a 4-5" lever on a brake cable where there is more like a 10/1 leverage ratio on the cable.

I think a crimp would hold up pretty well if it were done right. I've seen crimps on conductors that were so durable that when equipment mounting catastrophically failed the fixture ended up hanging from the wire the crimp held the entire crash/drop weight. And that was on copper wire which deforms pretty easily so it's hard to get a crimp to hold a lot of mechanical weight when it is jerked hard.

But I suppose a solder would be best. Some brass or aluminum tubing soldered onto the cable would be exactly like that barrel formed end and would be very strong -especially if you used silver solder.

noglider 

I'm willing to try it. I still have lead-based solder. Not sure if it's still available. Would the new stuff be as strong?

mickey85

The new stuff should be AS strong, but I don't know about having it hold fast onto the end of the cable.


Speaking of using knarps - does anyone have photos of how to do this? I have an original "aluminium" caliper on the front, and road style levers on the other end - they both take the small, "road" style (not the barrel style) cable ends. Are these "knarp-able" or should I just take the hit and put a standard steel Raleigh caliper on the front (as it does on the back)?

w1gfh

I just looked at mine. It's just a split metal tube (similar to an electrician's 'uninsulated butt splice') that's crimped, not soldered. Sorry - wretchedly bad focus.

Amesja

Brake knarp.

raleighfront.jpg

This is an early attempt. It looks much nicer now but this is the pic I have.

Use a spoke nipple cut down a little bit as the "pear shape" above the knarp so that it doesn't slip out of the slot. The original cable end is almost exactly the same shape as a spoke nipple but the nipple is longer. If you don't cut the nipple down a little bit you might have trouble getting the cable out with the available adjustment in the screw so you can take the tire out without deflating it.

Then use a #6 or thereabouts washer under the spoke nipple but above the knarp. The knarp is long and narrow. The original Raleigh cable bottom knob also has a washer on it to do this same thing.

Then put the knarp on. Don't over-tighten the knarp to the point of stripping it. It is just a 4/40 threaded lug -you can't put 50ft/lbs into that poor beast. it'll hold just fine with 10-15.

Treat the caliper just like a regular caliper and put a crimp-on end on the cable.

I think this picture is pre-washer so the knarp is sitting a little bit crooked. I should take a picture of it now. It looks really professional and nobody but a Raleighphile would even notice that it isn't the way it is supposed to be.

wahoonc

Use a small piece of brass tubing, crimped and soldered...do it all the time. I prefer the OEM style cables, but am not willing to pay the price

Aaron

w1gfh

OK. I replaced the cracked shift cable housing (68 Sports) today - which entailed snipping the old 'end crimp' from the shift cable, dismantling the works and sliding on the new cable housing, and then installing a new 'end crimp' on the cable. It was a huge PITA. Not having the exact size tubing handy, I searched high and low for the right sized object to use as a crimp - one that would be small enough to fit inside the threaded cable adjuster barrel - yet large enough to function as a cable stop. I finally used a pin from an old octal-style vacuum tube. Even after I crimped and soldered there was some filing to be done to get it to fit. And of course since my shift cable was now 1/2" shorter I had to adjust the position of the pulley on the seat tube a bit to create more slack. All in all, a success, but next time I may go for the aftermarket gadget with the locknut.

Amesja

Sucks to have had to move the clamp. Hopefully there isn't too bad of a stained mark where it used to be. I probably wouldn't have thought myself to make the new housing just 1/2" shorter until after I made the crimp & solder. /headsmack. I always think about stuff like that too late.

w1gfh

Ended up keeping the seat tube pulley where it was. But I did move the clamp on the top tube back 1/2". A bonus was finding a small section of gold pinstriping hiding beneath it!

The result, all cables now match: white w/grubby beige patina of a mid 60s Raleigh.


White cables

ahson

If I get a 44t or 48t crank to replace the 46t crank on my Superbe, how big of a difference I will get from it? Not much at all?

Velognome 

If you want to change your gearing why not switch the rear sprocket? it's much easier and there are multiple sizes available.

ahson

The truth is my current 46t is in extremely bad shape and needs to be replaced. I have a hard time to source a 46t crank but seeing tons of 44t and 48t available.

Amesja

Don't go bigger. The bike is already over-geared. Go with the 44T

Use Sheldon's Gear Calculator to figure out what you have now and how much it will change with different options.

Make sure to fill in all the boxes with the right info: 26 x 1-3/8 - 590 wheels, Crank length 165mm, Gear Inches are the easiest thing to compare for most people, Chainring = Front sprocket teeth, Custom Sprocket = Rear Cog #teeth, Internal Hub = Sturmey Archer 3-speed (AW probably).

Play around with what you have. If you like the over-geared stock ratio and you go down then you will also have to go down on the rear cog to match which might be harder. In that case you will probably need to go with the bigger front chainring and then go with a bigger rear cog too to replicate the stock gearing.

sykerocker 

What you're considering is not all that difficult. If anything, before the mid-60's, that's how you got a cable done for a motorcycle. Dealers would either buy spools of cable and mold both ends, or maybe by universal cables with the disc at the brake/clutch lever end, cut to length and pour the remaining end. The catch is that the motorcycle shop would have molds in the service department, just lay in the cable and melt the lead. This service disappeared by the end of the 60's, unfortunately. I'd love to find an old set of molds to make my own shorter cables for my cafe' racers.

My understanding is that if the newly molded end survived the first tension or two, you were most likely good to go. I don't doubt this would be equally true to bicycle cables, given that you're talking a lot less pressure.

biaddiction

vintage Pletscher Rear Alloy Bike Rack, model c
anyone knows the model c will fit with a raleigh sports? is it just for older 27" road bike? Thanks!