imcorn

Hi All,

If this is better suited for the bike wrench forum, please let me know.

I recently came up on an original 80s dirt drop MTB and absolutely love the ride, however, I noticed it didn't have any barrel adjusters to fine tune the cantilever brakes - which we all know can be a PIA to set up, especially vintage ones. Not that there is anything wrong with how the brakes are currently set up, but I just would like to have a little bit more control. The bike is currently running some Shimano Dura Ace non aero brake levers (BL-7400), see attached photo for reference. Of course on a typical road set up, this wouldn't be an issue as there would be a barrel adjuster on the brakes themselves and on a typical flat bar MTB setup, the barrel adjusters are integrated within the brake levers.

I wanted to get the hive mind's opinion on my barrel adjuster options that I could potentially install to get the fine tuning ability I'm looking for.

My current ideas are:

1. Find a barrel adjuster to go on "top" of the brake levers to either slip or thread into the cable hole to have a solution similar to a flat bar set up (barrel adjuster integrated with brake levers)
   • Is this even a thing?
2. Re-cable everything and install an inline barrel adjuster
   • The bike came to me in original condition and I want to keep it in as original condition as possible (I've only changed the tires and will likely change the grips and chain in the near future) - the cables and all the parts work perfectly. Installing an inline barrel adjuster would likely mean me installing new cables/housing, and I can see vintage/period correct guy in me shaking his head .
   • This brings me to a secondary question, barrel adjuster issues aside, if you guys found a garaged vintage bike in great condition, would you change/update anything at all?
3. Mainly regarding the rear - there is a brake boss bridge between the seat stays, but it is not threaded - it's just a cable stop. Is there a barrel adjuster adapter that someone makes that would "slip in" to this cable stop?
4. Buy a headset cable hanger/barrel adjuster
   • I only listed this because I know it is an option, but I likely will not explore it. I feel since the stem is designed as an integrated cable stop it would just be weird if I re routed it.

Would love to hear everybody's opinion. Thanks in advance!

thook

i have seen images of folks install an adjuster in the stem's hole/stop. maybe they tapped it for the barrel threads...not sure. i have though of doing that myself, though, since i have a stem like yours and plan to use it it one day for an early 80's style cross/gravel bike. tapping the hole would be easy to do. easier, i think, then trying to work a barrel adjuster somehow at the lever. perhaps more reliable, too. as for the rear bridge, maybe skip messing with that and install an adjuster at the housing stop on the top tube before the seat tube junction. i have a couple of those type adjusters. they have a "yoke" shaped nut vs the standard round nut that traditional adjusters have. the saddle of the yoke rests against the top tube keeping it from turning when you adjust the barrel itself. hope that makes sense...in lieu of an image of one?

otoh, there are plenty of inline adjusters to choose from that might fit a "vintage" look/match up. no reason you'd have to use new cables and housing

squarenoise 

I added these to a my Shimano 105 non aero levers and they work great! I suspect they would also fit your Dura Ace levers.

Dia Compe Cable Adjuster

John Nolan 

Am i missing something? Simple adjusters that slip into the cable hangers work, and don't need threaded hangers. You just have a nut above the hanger, and the barrel bears against it.

SJX426 

@imcorn - I would shorten the housing for the rear brake. It is way too long and is rubbing the paint off the HT.
I would like to see the whole bike on the DS too!

Jeff Neese

I use these on two of my bikes.

Jagwire PR Cable Adjuster Barrell Mickey

ofajen

Inline adjusters on my ‘88 RockHopper:

Front cantilever:



Rear U-brake:



Otto

Jeff Neese

You can use one of these on the front. Hopefully your steerer tube is long enough and you have a spacer that you can remove to fit this in.
SUNLITE 1" Threaded Cable Hanger

thook

nevermind...... sorry

thook

that's what i was talking about, but couldn't remember what they were called or who made them

Jeff Neese

I've tried those but there's not much room above that rear brake cable stop, at least not on my bikes. It makes for a more severe bend in the housing to get it to fit around the seat tube.

John Nolan 

Ah, too bad.

madpogue 

This is an original setup? Seems odd that Ritchey would spec a new bike with no means to adjust the brake cables.

Off topic, I'm curious about those brackets for the shifters. Do you have any other photos of them?

Hard to say if the rear brake housing is too long as suggested, but it should certainly not be coming out of the lever at that angle.

thook

if i may, i think those mounts are the original WTB's from back in the day. there's all kinds of images on the web. discussed a lot on mtbr.com

fleslider 

The OP bike looks to be a 1987 or so Ascent comp which was an flat bar bike originally. I like the drop bar setup going on it. would just a set of Jagwire Inline Barrell Adjusters work?

https://www.jensonusa.com/Jagwire-Barrel-Adjusters

imcorn

Thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for, but seems VO is currently out of stock. I'll definitely try these out when I can find them.

imcorn

You think the rear brake housing is too long? If anything I was thinking it was too short and routes at a rather unnatural angle.

Here's a photo of the bike, a likely ~1987 Ritchey Ascent Comp (Odd I could only find Ascent Comps in the 88 and 89 Ritchey catalogs, but this specific colorway and spec does not match either of them. The spec exactly matches my 87 Ritchey Ultra, minus the dual canti vs rear U brake), after I swapped the tires and a seat (sorry for blurriness, the photo was taken at night as all I have on hand right now). The original/previous owner ordered the WTB dirt drop setup straight from the bike shop.

zukahn1 

For this one you will need to put an in line adjuster between the cable and stem for the front and one between the cable and front boss for the rear.

imcorn

Not original as in directly from the Ritchey catalog, but the previous/original owner asked for that spec when he ordered it from the shop. It's original as to how he received it.

​​As ​thook mentioned, they are WTB thumb shifter mounts as well on a WTB x Specialized RM2 dirt drop. I don't have any additional close ups of the shifter mounts at the moment, but you can take a closer look here on another bike https://www.cxmagazine.com/salsa-cyc...t-eric-rumpf/2

imcorn

From my research the "Ascent Comp" was only made in '88 and '89 based on the available catalogs. However, my bike does not fit either the '88 or '89 spec and colorway. My bike came with full M730 XT and dual cantilever brakes. In both '88 and '89 the Ascent Comp had a M732 spec - the '88 ran a rear U-Brake. My colorway is similar to the '89, but has yellow accents in the Ritchey logo and the Ascent Comp logo is on the non drive side vs white accents and drive side. The bike oddly is specced very similarly to the '87 Ultra with the difference being the rear U-Brake.

The WTB x Specialized RM2 dirt drop, and WTB mounts, were the main reason I picked up the bike. The bar/stem combo is very comfy. I didn't quite hit the trails, but did a 36mi pavement route a few weeks ago and had zero discomfort. I think Nitto has reproduced this bar, or something very similar, as the RM3.

The Jagwire barrel adjuster is something I'm definitely going to explore.

79pmooney

I use in-line adjusts like these on several bikes. (I believe mine are Shimano. A few years old. Same idea as those below.) I googled "in-line cable adjusts" and saw these plus several others.)

thook

i was thinking the cable housing for the front brake was too short, as well. perhaps those lever top mounted adjusters would help in that dept. a bit. maybe even reroute the cable to the adjacent side of the stem to give it some more loop support and shorten the travel distance to boot

madpogue 

Well then, I'm surprised that the shop that put this bike together did so without a provision for adjustment. Myself, I would consider adding adjusters a correction for their oversight, not a deviation from an original build.

​​ Thanks, yeah, I did a search and found some more images. Neat idea; I had no idea until now that these existed. Shame there's nothing like that sold nowadays.

imcorn

I'm absolutely in love with these thumb shifter mounts. I definitely prefer them over DT shifters or bar ends. I'm really surprised these never caught on.

SJX426 

@imcorn - Here is my observation on the cable length. The prevailing guidance is to keep the housings as short as possible while minimizing the bends and trying to maximize the radii.

The profile picture shows the front of the rear brake housing dropping down from the front cable stop and not heading up to the bar until well past the head tube. The housing is routed to the left or NDS of the head tube to maximize the radius to the brake lever, which is good. My suggestion is to reduce the length of the housing to avoid the drop without jeopardizing the length needed to turn the wheel to the right or DS.
Inverse condition in the back. The housing takes leap up before coming down to the cable stop. I avoid the housing rubbing on the seat cluster and keep it a few cm above.

The objective is to minimize the friction induced by transitions in the change of direction. Every change in direction the cable travels, when actuated by the lever or front wheel, causes it to rub on the cable housing liner where the friction is. Maximizing the radii and minimizing the transition changes improves performance.

There actually may be the right length of cable but there is a problem with the interface between the cable housing and the brake lever. The housing liner may be broken and/or the ferrule is missing. This is often a problem with the old style brake levers.
In this example, the housing map be too long but the housing looks like it is dropping straight into the brake hood.
P9201295 on Flickr

The other end of the housing has a pretty good transition to the cable retention braze on
P9151224 on Flickr

This shows how the cable avoids the head tube entirely.
P9151235 on Flickr

And this is what is not good. In this case, this is what happens when the wheel is turned. the cable slides and pulls the housing down to this state.
P9161251 on Flickr

There was a lot of fiddling around in the set up until reaching this state where the rear is not as bad but still suffers from the cable sliding.
1983 Colnago Superissimo on Flickr

I know some of you think my levers are backwards but that is the way they were when I first got into drop bars. There is no right or wrong. I use to ride motorcycles too so having the front brake controlled by the right hand is what I am use to.

Really cool bike! I would like to have a TR in the stable.