posted by Floyd Moore on december 21, 1997 at 12:05:39:
in reply to: re: re: Brake cable/head tube contact posted by norman leong on november 27, 1997 at 04:30:15:
: As an aside, '98 Merlin road frames should be
: coming with the stops on the side of the head-
: tube. Mine's got them there, and I guess as
: long as I don't want to go with dt shifters I'm
: OK.
: I wonder if you can try Shoe-Goo or clear
: silicone on the offending housing?....
: Norman
:
: : I have the same problem on my Merlin as well. I just switched to STI and the shifter cables (it can't possibly be the brake cables) rub. I put some clear tape on the head tube, but I'm afraid it will wear out soon.
: : I think it's a problem with all frames that use STI. The only solution I have ever seen is from Seven Cycles (the guys that used to make Merlins). They put a shifter boss on the head tube instead of the down tube. This cuts down on the amount of housing and gives crisper shifting. It also doesn't wear out the frame.
I have a Merlin road with "old" STI and have successfully ignored the chafe (purely frame surface and cable housing wear), but a solution might be to use some semi transparent teflon backed tape (Mystik Tape Gurnee, Il), used at least, in the aerospace industry for wire bundle chafe problems.