Steph's bike 3

steph's metro now has the deer-head derailleur

which was the precursor to the

deore, which became shimano's top-of-the-line

mtb gear system

it has partially resolved a sticky gear problem with the old

SIS/Altus rear derailleur

but part of the problem is in the indexing ratchet of the shifter.

so that will have to go.

been finding in my research that 

early mtb indexed shifters 

even of the deore group

-supposed quality-

were notoriously prone to not working properly.

and the integrated shifter/brake assemblies are also unreliable, 

expensive and rare (because so few survived in working order?)

anyways
a bit of soft focus for you to enjoy
inspired by the clement weather

Gary's new cluster

first it was the crabon cadex

now I have a bike with more than 12 gears

the 650b rear wheel on the HKII fits an 8 speed cassette

so now I look down and I can hardly count all the cogs

Deore hack

after looking around for a front derailleur that had a flat outer plate and

a big enough clamp for Gary's massive tube

I realised that there was nothing for it

but to do some home surgery

here is where the kink used to be before I hammered it flat
look away old skool MTB purists.

now the derailleur can move the chain to the big ring
without clipping the crank arm as it goes around.
twas never made for such narrow tread cranks as these Stronglights

the other thing was to reattach the front and rear derailleur plates

to take up the slack — easily done by bolting the return of the outer plate to the opposite side

of the inner one.

you can also see a small amount of kink remaining in the outer plate.

oversized tubing requires an unusual clamping method.
trawled through a lot of old front mechs and never saw another
with a steel band like this.
attaches like a brake lever with an allen bolt ratcheting down the band
so that it cinches tight.

Gary Fisher - touring version

gary has his gears back
and a new crankset
and a better handlebar position
such a heavy frame needs at least a double ring at the front.
now he just needs mudguards to be the complete tourer.