Inline gear cable barrel adjuster with detents/locking?

[Brucey]

as per title; all the inline barrel adjusters I have seen in person just have a spring in them; no detents, no locking. However there are many adjusters available which I've not tried in person, so I suppose that one such may exist. Anyone seen one?

NB the adjuster in question needs to be the sort that sits in the middle of the cable run; suitable adjusters exist for installation at the ends of a cable run, but they can't easily be used in this case.

cheers

[robgul]

I had this conversation with someone at PlanetX (when I was there a few weeks ago building my new machine ) - the thinking, which makes sense, is that the inline gadgets are for micro-adjustment and the infinitely variable "stop" is why they are like that (probably cheaper to make too!) My experience with them on 3 or 4 bikes for both brake and gear cables is that they are a "good thing"

Rob

[Mick F]

Mine don't have detents.
They came as a pair, but I only need one, so I have a spare.
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/token-tk684-al ... -grappler/
I bought the red ones and use one for the rear mech half way along the rear loop to the mech. Deore Shadow 10sp.

The adjuster once set, NEVER needs adjustment. It doesn't need detents IMHO.

[Brucey]

I've seen these used often and they have not needed to have detents or locking. So until two days ago I'd certainly question the necessity of such a thing.

However since then I've seen a bike where the adjuster was on a nearly vertical gear cable run between dropped handlebars and a long piece of cable housing. This adjuster had, we think, persistently moved as the bike's handlebars had been turned and had repeatedly thrown the gear adjustment out. So this particular installation ideally needs a different type of inline barrel adjuster; there is nowhere convenient to put a different style of adjuster, not without creating more problems. The same type of adjuster could be installed elsewhere in the cable run (where it wouldn't be twisted in the same way as the handlebars turn) but this would involve it being relatively inaccessible and would invite ingress or crud into the workings too.

Short of a whole rethink, the best option available at the present is to buy a flexi noodle with a locknutted adjuster built in, and to use that adjuster in the gear cable run.

Unless someone has seen a dedicated inline adjuster with detents or a locknut? There are (for example) several different types sold by SJS, several of which I have not tried, like the shimano ones. They don't look as if they have detents, but maybe they do?

cheers

[rjb]

These adjusters meant for fitting to a boss have detents. You could modify them with a short external sleeve to locate the outer gear housing and use them as inline ones.



https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/cables/jagw ... -per-pair/

[hufty]

Not used, but these have detents: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sram-Compact-B ... s_sp_3_vtp

And not really what you've asked but would a bit of heat shrink protect the adjuster from turning? If you grease the barrel and the cable outer before shrinking it won't stick so can be slid up out of the way for adjustment. Have done this by accident trying to protect a frame adjuster from dirt ingress.

[Brucey]

Not used, but these have detents: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sram-Compact-B ... s_sp_3_vtp

yes if the description is accurate, those look the very thing. Has anyone used these SRAM inline adjusters?

[edit £2.99 each here https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/GXSRIN/sram-inline-gear-cable-adjuster if they are the same thing...]

And not really what you've asked but would a bit of heat shrink protect the adjuster from turning? If you grease the barrel and the cable outer before shrinking it won't stick so can be slid up out of the way for adjustment. Have done this by accident trying to protect a frame adjuster from dirt ingress.

presently the (detentless) inline adjuster has freshly applied marks on it, so that it can be kept under observation and be positively proven to be the source of the trouble. In a similar vein to the above suggestion, the adjuster may yet be trussed up with (clear) tape between adjustments.

It is pretty clear that some of the time the (aluminium) ferrule fitted in one end of the present adjuster has been turning; the finish on it is quite badly scuffed. But the adjuster has also been moving, judging from the 'grey porridge' inside the screw threads, which you only get with repeated movements.

It occurs to me that most of these adjusters are normally fitted with plastic ferrules which are a pretty snug fit in the end of the adjuster (to the point that adjustments are often more difficult that you would like), and that similar turning movements may just move the adjuster back and forth repeatedly rather than make a permanent change to the adjustment.

In a similar vein to rjb's suggestion, it wouldn't be that difficult to machine up a female piece to go with a detent type adjuster from a rear mech or something. The ideal thing for use with rjb's push-in adjuster might be one of the cable housing joiners that used to come with shimano brake cable kits, the idea being that you could replace the exposed cable housing without disturbing the housing beneath the bar tape. Or as an alternative, the aluminium ferrule that comes on the end of a v-pipe perhaps?

cheers

[Brucey]

BTW this is the kind of flexi-noodle I was thinking of;



IIRC these come apart easily enough. I think that 4mm gear cable housing could be a good fit in the aluminium piece, where the flexi part is normally fitted.

The locknut would presumably keep everything secure even if the twisting force is substantial.

cheers

[Foghat]

Unless someone has seen a dedicated inline adjuster with detents or a locknut? There are (for example) several different types sold by SJS, several of which I have not tried, like the shimano ones. They don't look as if they have detents, but maybe they do?

Shimano's SM-CA70 inline adjusters don't have detents, Brucey. They are quite nicely made, though.

[Brucey]

thanks for that.

cheers

[gxaustin]

flexi noodle with a locknutted adjuster built in

I am using these and they seem to work well.

I had the Shram ones on a new bike and they became stiff after a few months. I couldn't get a decent grip on the fixed side without using pliers so they had to go. I replaced them with some brass ones with big knurled grips.
They may have fared better had I greased them well. I didn't grease them because I was too lazy to loosen the gear cables off and reset them.

[slowster]

These adjusters meant for fitting to a boss have detents. You could modify them with a short external sleeve to locate the outer gear housing and use them as inline ones.



https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/cables/jagw ... -per-pair/

I've just bought a pair of these to see if they would fit a Shimano rear MTB derailleur without an adjuster (RD-M772) and so allow me to use down tube levers, and they appear to be a perfect fit. I have not yet fitted the derailleur on a bike to test it, but the adjuster is a nice tight fit in the derailleur, and so should not spin around when twisting the barrel adjuster (and even if it did, it should be possible to grip the middle section and hold it while turning the adjuster).

[Brucey]

yep, those adjusters are pretty good for that job, and the rubber wedge provides some grip. However if the adjuster starts to bind, it will just spin in the RD, so it is best to grease the screw thread and spring well before fitting one to a RD that doesn't have one. The other place they can be fitted is directly into 'washing line' type STIs; I don't think this is such a good idea though, because if they take a knock, it can break the shifter.

Unfortunately adjusters like these couldn't be readily fitted to the transmission in question here though.

cheers

[nigelnightmare]

Try "XLC" J2 Inline index adjuster.

Info@xlc-parts.com
http://www.xlc-parts.com
Search for.
"Gear cable adjuster SH-X06"

They have indents/positive clicks as you turn the barrel.
2off per pack.

The same as the Jagwire ones.

HTH

Edited

[mark a.]

My Surly came with these boss-mounted adjusters. One of them stuck, so I replaced them when I was installing new cables. I can't remember what they were (but I think they were mostly black plastic) and they had the same problem that Brucey mentioned. In fact I posted about it here, but who knows where the photo has gone (perhaps a Photobucket issue).

In my case I could see that as I turned the handlebars the outer cable twisted the barrel one way, but not the other. I couldn't figure out a way to stop that from happening, so I just binned those adjusters and bought new of the original Shimano ones. They have a detent and have been working great ever since.