OK so probably everyone is thinking, "Everyone knows that, but I didn't till today!"
I would have prefered to have replaced my Campag Record front and back mech series 1 pre 67 with the correct models. The rear has a lot of play on the parallelogram and tension spring housing and the front has adjusters that are seized and bent. (Correction one broken off in situe!) But having looked for a while it appears that the price for mechs of this era is more than I can afford whereas a Nuvo Record or Super Record can be bought fairly reasonably.
So I got a Nuvo Record(1980) for the back and fitted with no problem and also got a Super Record (Black anodised version) for the front. The problem was how to cable it as my old version of course had the cable stop. I toyed with the idea of getting a 626a clamp to run the cable although my frame already had a brazed channel on the bottom bracket top to run the cable to the rear mech. Then someone told me that all they used to do was run some outer under the bottom bracket and connect the cable.
So I just used my old cable. Rerouted the existing outer which already has a nice curve under the bottom bracket and up through the gap in the frame and simply connected the cable without it being in a cable stop. The result, it works perfectly, nothing else needed. Didn't even need to tape the outer in place. In fact and this may be the mech or I've just pulled the cable tighter but the change is faster and requires less lever movement than the original setup.
Just one thing though. I notice that if I adjust the stop so that the change is good and smooth that the crank rubs slightly against the front plate of the mech. Is this just slight differences between the series? (Chainset is Record Strada BCD 151 with 170 cranks.) Still I can probably live with that or just nudge the lever back after changing but would be nice to know if there is a better solution. The bottom bracket is still the original which may form part of a further question.
So if you have an old frame designed for a front mech with a cable stop you may still be able to fit one without.
So having found the info helpful I thought that I would pass it on.
I would have prefered to have replaced my Campag Record front and back mech series 1 pre 67 with the correct models. The rear has a lot of play on the parallelogram and tension spring housing and the front has adjusters that are seized and bent. (Correction one broken off in situe!) But having looked for a while it appears that the price for mechs of this era is more than I can afford whereas a Nuvo Record or Super Record can be bought fairly reasonably.
So I got a Nuvo Record(1980) for the back and fitted with no problem and also got a Super Record (Black anodised version) for the front. The problem was how to cable it as my old version of course had the cable stop. I toyed with the idea of getting a 626a clamp to run the cable although my frame already had a brazed channel on the bottom bracket top to run the cable to the rear mech. Then someone told me that all they used to do was run some outer under the bottom bracket and connect the cable.
So I just used my old cable. Rerouted the existing outer which already has a nice curve under the bottom bracket and up through the gap in the frame and simply connected the cable without it being in a cable stop. The result, it works perfectly, nothing else needed. Didn't even need to tape the outer in place. In fact and this may be the mech or I've just pulled the cable tighter but the change is faster and requires less lever movement than the original setup.
Just one thing though. I notice that if I adjust the stop so that the change is good and smooth that the crank rubs slightly against the front plate of the mech. Is this just slight differences between the series? (Chainset is Record Strada BCD 151 with 170 cranks.) Still I can probably live with that or just nudge the lever back after changing but would be nice to know if there is a better solution. The bottom bracket is still the original which may form part of a further question.
So if you have an old frame designed for a front mech with a cable stop you may still be able to fit one without.
So having found the info helpful I thought that I would pass it on.
