pablo27

that looks like the cable is far enough out of parallel with the housing to make it difficult for the derailleur spring to pull against when you move to a smaller (outer) cog

you might feel extra drag too on the shifter when you move to a bigger (inside) cog because of the cable dragging on the housing

sydney

Yeah, old friction cable is larger in diameter than the new sti stuff.

Portis

I didn't change the cable. I actually just got different housing and everything works fine. I mis-spoke when i said i got new cable, i actually just got new housing for index shifting.

Portis

I gotta update this story. This has been an amazing journey. For those of you that have been following this, you may recall that i was having trouble. I spent about 3 hours trying to adjust a rear derailler after i replaced the cable and housing.

Come to find out, the problem was that the LBS had hooked me up with friction cable and housing for my index shifters. So i went back to LBS and he said, ok and gave me some compressionless housing. I kept the same cable. He just got the cable from a bulk roll and measured it using a Trek 4500 that was in the stand. It has the same frame as my 4300.

So he charges me 3 more dollars for the new housing. I have now spent $12 total on one wrong housing, one correct housing, and one cable. So i go home and put on the new housing. Everything seems fine and shifts great in the stand.

FF to next morning. I ride to work. The bike shifts flawlessly until the trip home. Then it starts to have a hard time upshifting. Then it won't ride on the second to inner most cog. Crap! What is wrong now?? I get home and put it back in the stand. No matter what i do i can't get it adjusted. I now have $12 invested and over 4 hours of labor.

I give up and call him at LBS. I told him i am bringing it in. I take the bike in and he looks at it. "I see your problem. That one housing (seat stay) is way to short. That is my fault, he says. since i cut it. I think i cut it using an 18" frame instead of your 19.5." I left the bike overnight and went back today.

"Well that was it. It should be fixed now. Five more dollars please." OK, so now i have $17 invested in trying to replace ONE cable and housing. One might read this and say, "well you should have just taken it to the LBS to begin with, if you don't know what you are doing."

Actually the opposite was true. If i never would have went there and my Jenson USA order would have gotten here on time, i would have had a 15 minute job of fixing my cable and it would have cost be about $4 total. Instead i went to the bike experts and it ended up costing me tons of time and frustration and more money than it was worth.

Lesson learned. I can change derailler cable. I have done it before with no problem. I just am not good enough to defeat the bugs that the LBS put into my bike. (BTW, I just ordered a bunch of cable and housing, ends, ferrules etc. online-this won't happen again.)

sydney

You didn't go to an expert,you went to a moron nose picker at LBS,that should not have kept charging you more money for his mistakes. But now you know better.That's a big part of the learning experience.I got hosed by many nose pickers early on too. Everyone starts on the bottom rung.

Portis

One thing i have to keep asking myself....Was this an accident? It seems like every DIY project i have used them on, they have given me something wrong. They are far too experienced to keep making these mistakes. The guy that helped me has over 10 years experience. He has limitations because he is in a wheel chair but he knows bikes.

I think the problem is either....

a. they are intentionally screwing with me to get me to give up on the DIY and take my stuff to them or

b. there is really no concern at all for getting it right. there is always a huge sense of ambivilance when i go in there. Sometimes i can walk in and stand at the counter and he will continue reading the paper for a few minutes before he looks up and acknowleges me.