I concur with Steven with almost all of his post. I've been using the Campy bar ends for over 30 years on a bunch of bikes and derailleur combinations, much smoother than the Suntours set up as lightly as possible and still not slipping. I've stopped using grease in mine though years ago. I find that the lined housing works best for me, preferrably the hard plastic (Teflon?) liner. I use Triflow, usually in the small bottle dripped through the housing, which seems to last most of a season. It seems to me that the drip bottle has a higher concentration of teflon than the spray, although I've got a little fitting (from a New York bike show in the '70's) that allows me to pump the Teflon into the housing with a couple inches of slack cable. It works with the needle attachment to the spray can.
I have also shortened the bar by about an inch on those bars using barends. Keeps your knees from shifting when you're standing on the bike. Its a shame about all those narrower Cinelli bars I'm not using any more with the ends too short for other types of shifting. I also keep the number of bends in the casing down by exiting the casing below the brake levers so its just basically one bend to the cable stops. I get more positive shifting that way.
I've never grooved the bar or drilled the shifter body, but I do shave the coating of the housing for an inch or so on the side that goes against the bar.
Happy Trails,
Dan, Shiftey, Artley Parkton, Maryland
Hi Peter,
I'll post this to the list for others also. There are undoubtedly other ways
to do this, but this is mine: Shorten the bars 2cm. Use a rat tail file and
groove the bottom of the bar to hold the cable and allow it to center on the
control (the groove should be 1.5 to 2" long, deeper toward the control,
shallower toward the bend). Drill out the hole that the cable goes through
(on the body) and hourglass shape the hole. The reason you want a larger hole
is so when you regrease it later, you can get more grease through to the
cable housing. These two combined steps, eliminate wear on the cable where it
goes through the body. If you skip this, the cables may break there, or at
least lose a few strands, and that pretty much gums up the works and requires
recabling. Get your outer housing length right. Tape the housing (Campagnolo
stainless please) to the bare bars (with the leverless bodies installed on
the bars). I go all the way up the bend to the bulge or ferule, depending on
the make of bars. Place the cable so it becomes part of your grip under your
fingers. Make sure you can turn the bars lock to lock. After getting the
length right, you CAN untape the housings, finish installing the levers and
cables into the bodies and then put the housings back on, greasing the heck
out of them and then retape the housings to the bars. The first time you do
the installation you can do this. Once the bars are fully taped, you won't
want to. Use a lot of grease when assembling the lever and washers into the
body. This holds the washers in place so you don't lose the "timing" when you
insert the long keyed screw holder. It also allows you to adjust enough
tension into the assembly so they hold well, but still move easily. For the
first few rides, take along your Campy T wrench and a short screw driver (I
use a swiss army knife), to fine adjust the friction for the levers. This is
important, I've done a lot of these and it's not likely you'll get it right
in the stand. If you do, that's great, but it's pretty easy to get it right
stopping a few times on a ride. You want to work from a tad loose (this means
it seems to hold, but slips a little over time) to just tight enough that it
won't slip. Any tighter and you lose shifting performance. It's best to use
braided cables. Suntour or Shimano cables will work, but you have to file the
cable end as it's bigger than the Campys. After they are clamped, braided
cables fly apart past the clamp point when you cut them. I like to solder
them rather than use the little crimp on deals. Also! keep the derailleur
itself lubricated (all pivots and spring contact points) with the smallest
drop of lube you can manage. Lube the bb cable guides, and if you aren't
using the bike, let the tension out of the derailleur springs while it's
parked, between rides. They keep their strength longer that way. I
periodically change springs, and it DOES make a difference. If you are using
a Campy front derailleur, unclip the spring, remove the cage/arms assembly
and grease the posts, then reassemble. Yes, with these controls you do have
more cable and potentially a LOT more friction. If you use enough of the
right grease, this is completely minimized. It's hard to use too much grease,
it's better to be wiping it off after assembly. If you ever need to change
cables, you'll be really glad you made those little grease wiping holes in
the bodies larger. If I had a grease injector, I'd fill the housings
entirely, and hold a finger over the open end to keep as much grease in there
as possible while I fed the new cable through the body into the housing.
Lacking that, I get as much grease as I can and work it into the new braided
cable, leave a healthy smear on the cable and get as much through the
enlarged hole as possible.
So that's all, nothing to it!
Stevan Thomas
Alameda, CA