Ritchey Cable disconnector failure
 

First, to clarify, the Ritchey Brake Cable disconnector didn't fail as in letting the cable pull apart, but failed in not allowing the cable to be taken out and replaced.

We were out of town when the brifter for the rear derailleur failed. Fortunately, a near by bike shop had a replacement brifter available, but no tandem length cables.

I use Ritchey connectors for this reason, so that single bike cables can be used without the need for tandem length cables.

Unfortunately, the steel grub screws tend to freeze in the aluminum bodies, and the 2mm grub screws tend to strip out. One of the two grub screws would not come out of the brake connector, rendering it unusable, and leaving us with no rear brake.

So a point and a question.

Going forward, I'm going to carry a spare set of shifter connectors, and brake connector in a plastic baggy in the seat bag. They're very small, light, and not expensive.

The question, are any other cable connectors, such as the Davinci connectors, more robust?

Our old bike is coupled and we used DaVinci connectors. They too have grub screws into an aluminum body. They never failed us but I didn't install/uninstall them many times. Every time I tightened the grub screws, I was afraid that I would strip the threads. They seemed like the best of bad solutions.

Yes, when we used mechanical shifting and brake cables, we also had the DaVinci connectors. I found the tiny supplied allen key (hex wrench) worked best as it fit the heads better than the other keys I had in my tool kits.

Obviously you would not want to use grease on the grub screw threads, but in order to prevent them from freezing in place, you could use a thread lock compound (blue loctite) which may help prevent oxidization/corrosion.

A mechanic for a tour we were on told me that in an emergency he would just tie the cables together using a square knot. Haven't had to try that myself.

The locktight is a good idea. I will give that a try.

We also use daVinci connectors. They have two grub screws which for lends more security and less likely hood that I strip them out.

I wonder if someone could wick solder into the ends of the cut cable before installing into the splitter. This might help the cable from being crushed by the grub screws. Alternatively, one could try JB Weld?

We use the Davinci connectors and haven't had any issues.
If you are going to use loktite then use 222 which is specifically designed for grub screws and it's also great for wheel building

I thought about that, and would have tried it, if I had to get home.


We just rode the bike to the Hotel as a three speed, with the old brifter. It was Sunday's ride that got missed. Didn't have time to wait for Noon for a bike shop to open.


And didn't need to ride that badly that I'd jury rig the rear brake for a ride in Western NC mountains

The feed hole in the splitter end that has the grub screws is very small. It is hard enough to extract a wire that has been crushed by the grub screws, to the point where likely any additional material (solder, etc) would prevent extraction.

222 is the purple loctite, low strength for small fasteners. It should do a good job of keeping moisture out, and still be easy enough to remove the screw. I had trouble finding a store that carried 222, and got it from Grainger, I think. I see that Walmart online carries it, supplied by a 3rd party storefront.

What about anti-seize? But what formula? I use a tube of generic auto part store, copper based anti-seize for titanium with stainless steel bolts, but would that work with aluminum?

I have had better luck with the Ritchey connectors than the Davinci connector. In my experience the Davinci connectors strip out easier.

I use this for parts assembly when I'm building a bike up http://www.loctite.com.au/3320_AUE_HTML.htm?nodeid=8802635874305
We haven't used anything on ours and they've been fine. I have had one corrode to bits but the guy who owned the bike did zero maintenance. Even though it was a Seven with S&S couplers and SRAM red, it was the one of worst bikes that I've worked on

They dont make them, they buy them from another company, that does..

maybe you can get one of those companies to use stainless steel instead of Aluminum.

Initial order probably a thousand or so.. would include setup.

I specifically buy the Davinci black cable disconnects rather than Davinci or Ritchey silver ones. The black ones are definitely anodized, which inhibits corrosion. The silver ones may claim to be anodized, but it's hard to tell.

I bought the black Davinci for the replacement, with this thought in mind.

I think a stainless steel version would have a lot of advantages over an aluminum one (with the only downside that it would be a tiny bit more weight on the bike).

Business opportunity!


Unfortunately, the market has got to be small, and shrinking with Di2, covering the cost of producing them would be difficult.


And I think you'd have a fairly high products liability insurance cost, given the significance of a failure on the brake cable.