On 10/31/2018 1:43 PM, jbeattie wrote:

Speaking of brake levers, I decided to upgrade my commuter to hydraulic discs because with the new Cannondale warranty replacement frame, the cables for the rear disc run through housing from the lever to the caliper, and the cable bends and housing length added a lot of drag -- and the BB7 calipers were haunted by Frank's potergeist and would periodically drag, even though the return spring seemed adequate.

Nope, that wasn't my poltergeist. She only does electronics.

So, I put those on with the other mandatory upgrades, installed and filled the hydraulic hoses/levers/calipers (yet another adapter) and put in the gear cables. I shifted the RD, and the cable predictably loosened as the housing settled in and pulled into the lever with its little finned ferrule. But it kept settling. I peel back the hood, and as it turned out, the cable housing and ferrule had not seated but had been dislodged during some part of the process, and with all the shifting, I had managed to drag the housing and ferrule into the lever body where it broke a $.10 plastic internal cable guide. This: http://si.shimano.com/pdfs/ev/EV-ST-RS505-3902.pdf (part 5).

Crap man, it was designated as a wear item, so the part should be available. Nope -- not from Shimano or my local shops. And the cable does not stay put through the lever without the guide, so I'm SOL unless I can find a replacement. The only place I could find was SJS in Somerset. I think I got their last one, and it only took a week via Royal Mail/USP. The price was not crazy, either -- even with postage. I threw it in last night, and it works like a charm. If I break that part again, I think I would have to get it from some re-seller in Japan or Germany. That's incredible for a lever that is maybe two years out of date and for an alleged wear item.

If its a plastic part, I wonder how soon we'll be able to get 3-d
printed replacements. Shimano's doubtlessly got a computer solid model
of the piece they could release. There are thousands of "maker"
hobbyists who could then get their printer to squirt you a new one, and
maybe in the future bike shops could do the same. (Is Andy listening?)
Tolerances wouldn't be wonderful, but for something like that, they
might not be critical.

It's probably possible without the solid model, but I think it would
first involve some sophisticated 3-d scanning, and those machines are
way less common.

This is now SOP with the constant product upgrades from Shimano. One
pines away for the days when nothing worked that well, but it didn't
change from year to year.

:-) Most of my equipment seems to top out at about 1990s level of
technology. It's as reliable as a hammer, and personally I'm fine with
it. Except for index shifting (which I still mostly live without) I
think it's all been diminishing returns since then.

To put it another way: Lower your expectations! You'll be happier!

--
- Frank Krygowski