Amesja

The steel one doesn't break -it happens. Usually it just fractures at the lip allowing the cable to slide off at an inopportune moment.

Really the plastic pulley wheel isn't as big a deal as the plastic fulcrum sleeve which has a bad reputation of giving out on older 3-speeds. They are really only good for 15-20 years of service life (whether the bike is ridden or not) and after that period tend to just degrade and allow the cable to slide through the cable-stop and create shifting problems. The steel fulcrum sleeves are quite sought-after because of this but really a new plastic sleeve will make a bike shift like new and be good for another 15-20 years.

I think that the hubbub around the plastic fulcrum sleeve has spilled over onto the related plastic pulley wheel as both used to be steel and both were replaced by plastic units in later bikes. The Pulley wheel in plastic is OK as long as it doesn't get bonked and breaks the lip off. I suppose as the plastic ages it gets more brittle too.

wahoonc

Not really but they do get brittle with age and may fracture without warning. I also like the look of the steel. IIRC my old Sports (1971) still has the original plastic one on it, but it really should have been replaced a long time ago, it is not really round any more...

Aaron

lonelybikeboy

By having the gear cable routed on the downtube. Has anyone ever experienced the back of their heels clipping the cable? This happened to me a few times since I switched from routing on the top tube to down tube.

Is there a fix for this?

sorry to hijack the thread!

wahoonc

Never had that problem, re-route it along the top tube?

Aaron

rhm

yes, as was mentioned earlier in this thread:

Yes, switch the cable routing back to the top tube.

lonelybikeboy

Thank you wahoonc and rhm

Velognome 

Anybody route the cable through the top tube...throught the stay? Then and only then I'd bow in all humility to those who run top tube and say nay to the down tube passage.

Not for nothin, I do understand the top tube run advantages, but......... I've been running a downtube cable for the last 3 years on my daily rider, repaired a few tubes roadside and have never had an issue with adjustment...even with my size 12's ticking the cable on occasion. I haven't experienced any of the "disavantages" named in the above posts and as an advantage, the down tube run under the BB doesn't require a pulley...as I see, it on less part to fail.....just my experience, in the spirit of fair and balanced reporting. Good Day

rhm

Yes, yes, we know, we know. It's all good. Top tube is just, well, better.

Put it like this: which do you prefer, good beer, or better beer? I like them both. But I prefer the better one.

slowtostart

Do girls have this option? If not, I call "Foul".
STS

Velognome 

Hmmmm.....

I was thinking it was more like the difference between Belgian Tripel and a Lager....Both beer, both damn good, but different.

wahoonc

All of mine came from the factory routed along the top tube, so I left them that way. Also on more than one occasion when the shifter/hub was being cantankerous I could reach down and pull and release the cable to get it to shift into the gear I wanted.

Aaron

Velognome 

And without spilling a "spot of tea" I'd assume....Good show old man, good show! I jest of course about the tea.

Yes of course, unless you bought a Pashley Clubman, then the routing would be from the down tube (gasp!) Comes that way straight from the chaps bench! Then again, what do the English about building 3 speeds anyhow?

photogravity

Yes, girls have the option, but it isn't very elegant!

Velognome 

Don't think its 'posed to be elegant

wahoonc

As long as it is "sweet tea"...

Somewhere around 1979/80 Raleigh started routing them along the downtube. All of my bikes are older than that.

Aaron

rhm

The not-so-elegant option for girls is to put the fulcrum on the top tube, a pulley where the top tube meets the seat tube, and a second pulley where the seat stays meet the seat tube; so the cable is extra long and makes a prolonged N shape. This routing has the same advantages of the top tube routing on a man's frame. But as has been mentioned, these advantages are not really necessary; so I'm not sure whether this routing is really preferable to running a housed cable all the way to the chain stay.

Velognome 

and the reply

So, I'm thinking, we're not all on the same page are we?

rhm

I don't speak for Photogravity. It sounds to me like we need to get together in one room with suitable refreshments and hammer out a platform that's agreeable to all members of the IGH party. I suggest we do this at my LI house this friday, then take our IGH's for a nice long ride on Saturday.

Velognome 

Sounders wonderful...I'll leave NJ last week to beat the Labor Day traffic on LI

Good to see you're being a "Sport" about it, other than timing...sounds like a "Superb" idea. I'll be "Lenton" you know when I can get away for a weekend!

rhm

Good. That'll raleigh be a good way to raleigh our spirits.

Velognome 

That "saddles" it then!

photogravity

Dag guys, but unfortunately I'm unavailable this weekend. Even if I summoned the strength of Hercules, I simply can't make it.

BTW, those are *horrible* puns!

lostarchitect 

My daily rider has it routed down the downtube and I have had a lot of issues keeping it in adjustment. I switched to indexed housing with less bends and it lessened the issue, but it is still there to some degree. I will probably be switching to a pulley on the top tube when I get the time to deal with it.

Amesja

I can't see how a down-tube/under-the-BB routed Sturmey cable would be any more prone to indexing issues than one that was run over a pulley -regardless if the pulley was mounted at the top or the bottom of the seat tube. If you are having indexing issues then it is either 1 (or more) of these 4 things:

*Cable/housing is shot
*Bad//failing fulcrum sleeve/loose clip
*Trigger shifter is messed-up
*Hub needs rebuilding/gummed-up

The indexing of a tuned & clean S-A hub is nowhere near as tight or as important as it is on a modern indexed derailleur system and these do just fine with he under-BB routing system.

The real adavantage of the top-tube routing is getting the cable out of the way of the chainline. It's OK 99% of the time but when someone changes a tire or removes the rear wheel it is REALLY EASY to mess the cable up if it gets caught in the chain/chainwheel. Once kinked, the cable will have "spring" in that kink and will cause hard-to-diagnose indexing issues from then on. Running the cable overhead keeps it safely away from the chain. It can't be done on a step-through frame so that is why step-throughs have the lower pulley -it can't be helped. But running it overhead is better if there is a top-tube to run it along.

But the difference between a pulley or an under-bb slider? No difference -or none that would make any difference in an otherwise healthy bike & hub.

wahoonc

Apparently there were some issues somewhere on some bike where the bottom bracket flexing would cause the bike to shift into a gear and back out. On an AW going neutral at full steam can be painful.

Aaron