I just built up a new bike using 5700 derailleurs and MicroShift shifters. My old bike had cable adjusters for both cables on the DT at the upper cable stops but my new frameset is internal cabling and has no means for barrel adjusters. Of course the RD has an adjuster but I have no adjustment anywhere inline of the FD cable. When I first put the bike together the front shifting was pretty good but just a little off. This required me to push the button twice to shoft down to the small ring and going up I was out of trim when on the big ring. Not a big problem but I want the full range of motion where it's suppose to be so I'll be able to use my trim to eliminate noise when cross chaining (which I find myself doing more now with the double than I ever did with my triple).

I tried adjusting the cable by pulling it tighter at the FD and then loosening it but this is really had to fine tune. I know many bikes/drive systems doesn't have any adjustment for the FD cable and I've also found inline barrel adjusters that can be added. What's the standard practice here? Do many just run no adjusters or do most install the inline barrel adjusters? I'm probably in the range of 1/4 turn adjustments now and it's working fine but I know it could be a little better.

I've never dealt with an internally cabled frame before, but this thread from a few years ago seems to have a lot of good advice on placement of inline adjusters:

https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-me...adjusters.html

I think there should be a special place in bicycle hell reserved for those who design and build (commercially) bicyces without an FD cable adjuster of some kind.

I know that FD cable adjustment is less critical, and by now any decent mechanic can nail it pretty damm close when cinching the cable. But PDC isn't spot on, besides which cable stretch (or settle -- let's not go there), and it's still faster and easiery to cinch a cable reasonably close and fine tune by adjuster, than to nail it 1st time out of the box.

To the OP, there are a number of inline adjusters on the market. Buy a pair and use one, then share the other with a similarly afflicted friend.

Yeah, I'm one of the afflicted, my bike doesn't have internal routed cables, but the cable bosses don't allow for the installation of a FD cable adjuster for whatever reason (ask Mr Ritchey on that one, I don't know why he made that choice).

Whatever, I used these and they work great:

https://www.amazon.com/Jagwire-Mini-I...jagwire+inline

Nice thing is, they come as a pair which means I have adjuster for the RD as well. It's near my handlebars, so when my RD goes slightly out of whack, I can adjust it while riding.

I usually just manage the front cable tension manually, but that is partly because I'm willing to tolerate kind of crappy front shifting and partly because I really don't like inline barrel adjusters. I can usually get the cable tension set pretty well initially, but then when it goes out of adjustment I just live with it for a while.

If your shifters have the shift cable exiting the side (like pre-4700/5700/6700/7900 Shimano shifters did) then you can get a barrel adjuster that goes right against the shifter, like this:



Those I'll use. They work very well. The other kind that just go in the middle of the cable somewhere frustrate me. They can be difficult to turn with one hand, and if you put them in the wrong place (as whoever assembled my 2015 Jake the Snake did) the ferrule can slip out and introduce friction in the cable routing.

I've got an older bike whose clamp-on downtube cable stop doesn't allow for an adjuster. I dropped by my local bike shop, picked up an inline adjuster out of a parts drawer for a buck or two, and I'm all set.

Mine (the Jagwire ones I linked to above) have been flawless over the last 12 months of riding. I find it really hard to see how a ferrule could slip out, being as the FD cable is under constant tension. I was really dreading using these inline adjusters as I had heard a lot of horror stories about them constantly slipping an needing readjustments, but in the last 3000 miles I think I have felt the need to tweak them twice, after the initial setup.

It should happen if the pocket is deep enough, but I think that's what I'm seeing. I'll take a picture when I get home.

In line cable adjusters, can be fitted as long as there's more than 5 cm of exposed housing anywhere along the line. They work fine and don't cost too much.

I guess "slipping out" isn't an accurate description, but this is definitely an unnatural angle (and I suspect it changes as I ride).



Both sides are like that. The cheap plastic ferrule obviously isn't helping. I haven't bothered to fix this yet, so I don't know how deep the socket is on these. I don't plan to keep them long.

Huh. Hard to see how that could happen. I wonderw what the ferrule would look like if you removed it. On my old bike I experienced something like this at the downtube adjuster, and when I took it apart the ferrule itself was bent!

Yeah, I slackened the cable this morning so I could pull the ferrule out and look at it. The ferrule itself is indeed bent at exactly the angle you see above, and the pocket for it is reasonably deep. So I suppose a metal ferrule would mostly take care of this. I'd still be introducing a straight section into a part of the cable that should have a gradual bend (meaning it has to bend a bit more sharply somewhere) but that's probably not enough to cause performance problems. I guess I have to admit that this is just one of those "I don't like it" kind of things.

On my bike I put the adjusters nearer where the cables come out from under the handlebar tape. I don't feel like there's excessive bending in the cable housing there that is being straightened out by the adjuster. That said, I'd not have these things by choice, and my next bike build will not have them (as that frame has bosses for screw in adjusters).

Yeah, those are a much better option IMO. Frankly, I've found internal cable routing to be much more trouble than it's worth.

To follow up.

I ordered a set of the Jagwire adjusters that will fit into my shifters, the ones like [MENTION=111144]Andy_K[/MENTION] pictured in post #5 . I got my housing too short when I installed them and it needs replaced as well. Everything is working fine but I know it can be better. Thanks all

[MENTION=111144]Andy_K[/MENTION]

I added the cable adjusters you recommended while replacing my cables and housings that I'd gotten too short when I put the bike to together, thanks for the advise. These seem to fit the bill, I installed them on both shifters to even out the symmetric.

Nice work. What do you think of the Microshift levers?

It's interesting to see the number of different ways shifters can operate. I guess that's necessary to avoid patent infringement. The two shift levers on those Microshift units seems like a reasonable approach.

I like them ever much. I like that each function has it's own level to to preform the task. The shifting is sure and positive and each shift has a rather loud audible note that tell you a full shift has been made. They aren't smooth, nor light on input effort but they work with absolute certainty each shift. They lack refinement but they work and they work everytime. I would rather have a set the all the cables feed out the back and under the tape but these work so well and are so easy to use I can't replacement them at this point. These are real workhorse shifter, I have no complaints.