Stuck barrel adjuster

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cloudnine
Posts: 34
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:04 pm

by cloudnine

Thanks for all the help guys, appreciate the suggestions. I have finally given up and lost my patience, i'm gonna go buy a dremmel today and drill that sucker out!

I totally agree with you lechat, I do not see why they would have to resort to using ferrous metals. I mean a pair of aluminium barrel adjusters on ebay is less than 10USD, I was expecting a little too much from Storck I guess. I love the bike, but it really irritates me to have to be stripping my frame and finding awkward ways to align the frame into a cup of coke and all the other methods I tried.

One way or another this bolt is coming off, I will report back when it has been removed! :beerchug:

by Weenie


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artray
Posts: 1347
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2011 2:08 pm

by artray

Very annoying .But entertaining all the same and we hope with a good outcome
:popcorn:

sungod
Posts: 1702
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:37 pm

by sungod

hope all goes well with the dremeling

a few months ago i had to take a hacksaw to put a slot in a rounded-off hex bolt on my shiny bike (came that way from new, but i only noticed after a couple of years when i needed to undo it), real butterflies in the stomach time, but it was ok in the end

when you re-fit, put some anti-seize on the threads, the park tools one is al-based, i use it on all dissimilar metal junctions

BobSantini
Posts: 292
Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2011 9:03 am

by BobSantini

I've used vinegar on stuck al zippers with great success. It dissolves any al oxide. You just have to soak it for some hours.
r o y g b i v

cloudnine
Posts: 34
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:04 pm

by cloudnine

Hi guys, sorry for the delay but it's been hard to get things done when you've just recently been shot in the abdomen. :?

Well my patience wore off and I tried some vinegar as suggested and it started eating into the aluminium hanger.. some potent vinegar they have here in Thailand. :lol:

So I bought a dremel and drilled the bolt out, I tried to get it re tapped but it's at a difficult angle so I gave up on that.

Now the problem is how do I get the cable to hold still without a barrel adjuster? After a few days and nights of thinking of a solution I went off to the local machining shop. Now bare in mind that this is Thailand and water jet cutters and CNC machine's are rarer than hen's teeth.

I gave the apprentice at the shop the barrel adjuster on the other side (the one that isn't stuck) and told him to make me one like this but without the threads. 15 minutes later he came out and it was stunning!
The only thing is it looks mismatched with the other old barrel adjuster and I didn't want to risk having history repeat itself on the other side, so another 15 minutes and the kid comes out with another one just like it. This 17 year old kid used a 30 year old lathe to make it, so all credit goes to him. :beerchug:

I haven't weighed the two new cable stops yet but I can definitely say the 2 combined are lighter than the single bolt that came with the Storck.

Total costs:

Dremel = 100 USD

Getting the cable adjusters made = 6 USD (materials and labour combined)

Knowing my bike will be usable again = priceless :D


Thanks to everyone here for the suggestions and input, truly appreciate the helpfulness here.

Cheers

Victor

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artray
Posts: 1347
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2011 2:08 pm

by artray

About time. I have not been sleeping to well thinking about this post :lol: .
Very pleased it has been put right and it looks much better as well
great stuff :thumbup:

cloudnine
Posts: 34
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:04 pm

by cloudnine

Hi again fellas :D

I just got a phone call a few minutes ago from a good friend, he asked me if I managed to remove the rivets from my bike or not. I just explained to him that I choose not to go that route and I asked why.

He said he was just putting his front derailleur back on after installing his new cable set and thought it would be nice to give the hidden corners a good clean and polish. I know this guy uses a torque wrench more often than his fork and spoon so I don't suppose he over torqued it.

He said it just fell apart in his hands while torquing the bolt. :shock:

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What a strike of bad luck huh? Just when issues with my bike are solved now he's gone and managed to snap off his front derailleur clamp.

:noidea:

Cheers

Victor

mrfish
Posts: 1749
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:49 pm
Location: Near Horgen, Switzerland

by mrfish

Great that the machine shop could help you.

But personally I'd email Storck and ask them to send a replacement hanger, barrel adjuster and two appropriate pop rivets. It's literally a 5 minute job then to drill the rivets and pop rivet the new hanger on. Since the hanger looks like it was added after the paint, there should be no paint complications.

cloudnine
Posts: 34
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:04 pm

by cloudnine

mrfish wrote:Great that the machine shop could help you.

But personally I'd email Storck and ask them to send a replacement hanger, barrel adjuster and two appropriate pop rivets. It's literally a 5 minute job then to drill the rivets and pop rivet the new hanger on. Since the hanger looks like it was added after the paint, there should be no paint complications.


Thanks for the suggestion, I have tried to e-mail Storck before in the past and they have been non-communicative. It could possibly be that my e-mails are stuck in their junk box? I don't want to impose that they are purposely ignoring me, it could be many other factors.

The only response from them I ever got was in regards to the seat tube decal replacement, they just forwarded me to their Singapore dealer and he wanted an arm and a leg for just 1 seat tube decal so I kindly declined, I can live with a faded seat tube decal.

In regards to the rivets I have e-mailed them twice, but there's been no reply from them at all. I could post it on their facebook fan page but I don't want to call them out on their own page, I was thinking of getting the Fascenario 0.7 in the future but with the non-existent service I now have reservations.

I love the bike itself, it's a wonderful frame no complaints about ride quality at all.

But I'm not rich and it did take a long time to save up for this 10th Anniversary frame and honestly I had expected the service to be in relation to the price of the frames.

I suppose i'm spoiled by the likes of Chris King, where I had an old 90's no logo headset that had developed some roughness, true to it's age. I shot them an e-mail asking if I could service it with new bearings and they're reply was that they would send me a brand new headset on the house, sent over the pond to Thailand. It arrived in 9 days. Now that's customer service!


Cheers,
Victor

artray
Posts: 1347
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2011 2:08 pm

by artray

I would Call Storck on the phone . If not contact another Storck dealer. I am sure they could help or You could just get the rivets out and use a clamp fd. It really is a bad design . You have to keep us posted about this . I'm not going to get any sleep again. :beerchug:
Last edited by artray on Wed Sep 26, 2012 5:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

mrfish
Posts: 1749
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:49 pm
Location: Near Horgen, Switzerland

by mrfish

That's unfortunate. Perhaps someone here with the right contacts might PM Victor a personal phone number or better route to get in contact with Storck?

I completely agree re. working with companies who help you out when things don't work out. Parlee appears to be one of the bike companies that gets consistently excellent service feedback, so if you're looking for a nice carbon bike that's where I'd put my money. Of course there are probably others, but Parlee does seem to get it right consistently.

cloudnine
Posts: 34
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:04 pm

by cloudnine

artray wrote:I would Call Storck on the phone . If not contact another Storck dealer. I am sure they could help or You could just get the rivets out and use a clamp fd. It really is a bad design . You have to keep us posted about this . I'm not going to get any sleep again. :beerchug:


I might send a message to the Storck fan page on facebook regarding my issue, as i'm in Thailand i'll have to wait till early morning if I was to call them due to the time zone difference. But i'll see how it goes with these Thai made cable holders. Worst case, I could probably order an external cable adjuster of ebay.

The cracked FD hanger is on a friends Cannondale Evo, my apologies for forgetting to mention that.. I'm not sure if the local Cannondale dealer will agree to look at it or not because he brought it with him from the States. My Storck FD hanger is still fine (knock on wood) but it is a similar design :?

The unfortunate part is this frame is pretty special to my buddy is because of this:

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Cheers

Victor

artray
Posts: 1347
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2011 2:08 pm

by artray

That has become almost the norm for Cannondales and Scott addicts . They both seem to suffer from the same issue . Im sure once Storck know your problem they will help . Can you tell us who has signed the frame . Im sure there will be a way to fix it without losing the signatures . Keep us Posted
:thumbup:

cloudnine
Posts: 34
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:04 pm

by cloudnine

artray wrote:That has become almost the norm for Cannondales and Scott addicts . They both seem to suffer from the same issue . Im sure once Storck know your problem they will help . Can you tell us who has signed the frame . Im sure there will be a way to fix it without losing the signatures . Keep us Posted
:thumbup:


Very disturbing to hear that this is a normal occurrence on Cannondales and Scott addicts, how have the others managed to solve this issue?

In regards to who signed the frame I cannot verify this myself, but my friend has always been proud to mention it was signed by team Liquigas riders. Seeing he carried it back himself from the States when you could buy the same thing here for cheaper could be testament to how much he's attached to this Evo. :)

Cheers,
Victor

timzcat
Posts: 315
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 5:50 am

by timzcat

A Cannondale dealer should be able to get a FD mount for you. Installing it is not difficult.

by Weenie


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Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

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