My new alumicross has an internally routed brake cable, or i guess I should say it has an internally routed brake cable housing since it's sized to shove three feet of cable housing through. I'd like to figure out a way to make it just the cable going through the frame. An end button for aero levers won't fit through the front hole and, being rounded, kind of seats in there OK, but the rear hole is a bit bigger. i have a couple of things that look like this:

https://www.loosescrews.com/index.cgi...d=992255716237

And I was thinking I could kind of shave the edges so it seats in the hole better, but... I'm just not sure about the whole deal. Anyone ever do this before? what I need are some plastic plugs or something, but I'm not aware of any sort of product like that. Opinions?

I have one bike with internally run cable and on mine they enter and exit at a pretty oblique angle and so if you just put a ferule (or something) into the hole at 90 degrees to the tube it would ask way too much of the flexibility of the cable. Could you somehow trim the ferule so that it went in and stayed at the right angle?

What is so bad about running cable throughout anyway?

jim

I don't know the Alumicross, but my 312 and 512 has an oval slot in each end of the top tube. There were plastic spacers that fit in these slots and the cable went through the spacers. If your Alumicross has a slot the same shape and size I can supply the spacers I salvaged from my crushed 312. Got a picture?
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I will get you a picture tonight.

btw- I have a photo of that 500lx derailleur in the thread called "latest completed builds". I still haven't had a chance to ride the bike much so a trade could still be possible.

Oh yeah, I also tried posting another question last night about the sealed hubs on it but the forum wasn't working.

It's got sealed hubs in which the bearing cartridge is pressed into the hub and the axle, instead of having cones it has a couple things that look like cones from the outside until you unscrew them and then you see they're flat sided and fit into the center of the cartridge. They're really smooth but the bike has been sitting for 15 years so I ought to service the bearings. Question is, how?

- Nevermind. I searched around and ol' sheldon has said just run cartridge bearings till they're not smooth and then think about replacing the cartridges. That's a watta I'ma gonna do.

Maybe these top tube grommets:

Just like that except completely different......
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The holes in mine are in the lugs, not the tubes. Mine's aluminum bonded to steel lugs. I'll get pics later.

Pics:



The rear is just a slightly bigger diameter than the front.

I think you'll have to learn to live with the cable housing.
FWIW, ALL the internal-routed Miyatas I've seen are set up to run the cable and housing, even my high zoot Team Miyata Aero TT bike.
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Durn. When I got it, granted the bike has been sitting for 15 years, the rear brake barely budged the lever was so hard to pull. With some nice, new low compression housing it probably won't be too bad. Also- check out the other thread where I have a pic of that 500lx derailluer (mentioned above), you'll see how it's basically new but has some back paint scratches on it.

I'm sure that a well lubed cable and new housing will make all the difference in the world; it did on my 512.
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Personally, based on your picture, I think trying to add anything to eliminate the housing through the tube would muck up what would otherwise look like a nice smooth look.

I do agree, good cable housing and lube would probably do as much for you as trying to eliminate a couple of feet of housing where it is mostly straight anyway.

Ahhhh, looks shmooks.

Actually I've been fretting about the color of housings to put on it. I have regular ol' black available but I'm probably going to get some cool jagwire L3 housings in titanium color. They're the kind that have a woven metal mesh covered in transluscent plastic. It's $30 extra that I don't have to spend but, looks shmooks as they say.