Cannondale plastic top tube cable guides
 

I bought a used Cannondale road bike a few months ago - it's from the mid- to late-80s, I believe. It's aluminum, with Shimano 600 indexed downtube shifters and aero brake levers. It's in pretty good shape, and I'm loving it, except for one little problem: the bike has little plastic cable guides along the top tube, and they're breaking. Out of the three that used to be there, only one remains. The first one was broken when I got it! I've attached a couple of pictures, both of the one that remains and one of the broken ones. The problem with the broken ones is that the posts are broken off in the tube; the only way I can see to remove them is to push them INTO the top tube.

So, would this be bad? I guess it would rattle, but I can't imagine it would be THAT bad. More importantly, are these things still made? Can I get replacements (maybe metal ones that won't break)? Is there an alternative system I can use so this won't happen??

Thanks!

Go ahead and push the pins all the way through. You won't notice the rattling. They don't weigh enough to make much noise. They were available 4 years ago when I polished one of my frames so they still should be around today. You may have to look at several shops or ask one to order them for you.

I'd get one of the clips that wraps around your entire top tube

http://www.thethirdhand.com/index.cg...d=387434530857

As for the remnents of the other, push em through. You might hear em rattle about occasionally, but not enough that you'd really notice I think. Might want to cover the holes, maybe with a wrap of colored electrical tape. You could mount the aforementioned clip ontop of the tape then for a snazzier look.

Or just use a couple of zip ties.

Although I agree you probably will not hear them, you could push them through. Then take your seat post out and turn your bike up-side down to have the plastic pieces fall out.

Thanks for all the great replies! I think I'll get some of the top tube clips (the metal ones!). They'll look nice (that's why I haven't been using zip ties - I did think of that one already) and won't break as easily. I'll probably just leave the remainder of the posts in their holes, and live with the rattling if they eventually fall through.

Thanks!