The story was a bit "tongue in cheek" -- the process was not very difficult at all. The point was that the equipment is somewhat overengineered for the application (IMHO).
Kevin "keep it simple" MacAfee St. Paul
>From: Sheldon Brown <CaptBike@sheldonbrown.com>
>To: "K D L D MAC*AFEE" <velomac@msn.com>, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Subject: Re: [CR]Confirmed Retro "grouch"
>Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 23:32:42 -0500
>
>Kevin "viva le friction" MacAfee wrote:
>
>>This past Sunday, I held my first annual Velo and Vino get together and
>>had my less mechanically inclined cycling friends over for a little
>>pre-season bike maintenance, food and fun. Everything they ride was built
>>in the past 2-3 years and most of the maintenance they needed was cable
>>replacement, handlebar rewraps and new chains.
>>
>>After spending what I consider a ridiculous amount of time replacing
>>cables on a Shimano 9 speed STI lever, I am convinced now more than ever
>>that bicycle components, like modern cars, are being designed so as to
>>make on-road maintenance nearly impossible. They may shift more precisely
>>but unless you have a shop and more tools than I would want to carry
>>riding, basic maintenance is going to be challenging.
>>
>>They were all extremely impressed by how fast and easy gear and brake
>>cable replacement was on the bikes we all favor. There might even be a
>>convert in the bunch, who knows.
>
>This is a rather peculiar example. Replacing the inner cable on any
>Shimano brifter is trivially easy, and the only tool required is a 5 mm
>Allen wrench.
>
>It's true that if you want to replace the cable housings, you'll need a
>cable cutter as well, and to re-tape the bars. Some sort of grinder is
>also needed if you want to do a first-rate job of finishing off the housing
>cuts.
>
>I really don't see your point here, unless you tried to remove the cable
>without first shifting into the slackest gear (good policy with all types
>of shifters.)
>
>Indexed (rear) shifting is an unalloyed Good Thing. Sturmey-Archer had it
>100 years ago.
>
>Sheldon "It's Not That Hard" Brown
>Newtonville, Massachusetts
>+-----------------------------------------------------------+
>| If you only know Mussorgski's Pictures at an Exhibition |
>| from the Ravel or Stokowski "colorized" versions, (with |
>| orchestra) seek out the original piano solo version. |
>| I think it is much superior! |
>+-----------------------------------------------------------+
>--
> Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
> Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
> http://harriscyclery.com
> Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
> http://captainbike.com
> Useful articles about bicycles and cycling
> http://sheldonbrown.com