cannondale to-do list

[totient]

Before the upcoming Big Trip, and ideally before this weekend, I need to do the following things to the Cannondale (which is currently sitting patiently on the repair stand waiting for me):

- Mount and adjust new rear brake. I have two possibilities on hand, both of which have issues to be solved before they can be mounted, but I believe I can resolve at least one set of issues.
- New rear brake cable and barrel adjuster. I have plenty of these on hand, too.
- Plug brake boss holes if (as it turned out) the brake I can get mounted is the caliper brake.
- Adjust front brake tension. It's a V-brake, so this is two springs (maybe only one of which needs to be adjusted) and a cable.
- Trim and solder front and rear brake cables.
- New bar tape. I know I have some cellotape, but I don't want to use that on the Cannondale. I can't remember if I have any cork tape on hand or not.Thanks, desiringsubject, the yellow cork tape looks great.
- New bar-end caps. I have plenty of these.
- Two new water bottle cages and hardware. These I expect to buy from Tyler at Paramount.
- New front rack. I don't have one of these, and I'm not sure if I'm ready to shell out $80 for the (very nice) one Tyler has on hand or if I should get one somewhere else.
- Tighten down rear rack screws.
- Do something about the fenders. I'm not willing to spend money on this, but if I have a nicer front fender than what's there now I want to swap it in, and I need to figure out which of the rear fenders I have is the nicest and put it on (there's no rear fender on right now).
- New computer. I have several of these kicking around and one of them might even work.
- Check wheel bearings. I'm hoping these don't need a repack, or at least that the rear wheel doesn't need a repack. Bearings are in fine shape.

One of the brake issues is the lack of a custom Cannondale part. Anyone have or know of a wrecked Cannondale frame I can steal a rear cantilever brake boss from? It doesn't look like they unscrew from the frame, but they do. It has to be Cannondale; everyone else uses a standard M10 thread but Cannondale is Imperial 5/16 x 18TPI. frobzwiththings is right: retapping is the right answer, since I have plenty of M10 bosses on hand and especially since my guiding philosophy on the Cannondale is to make it as easily serviceable on the road as possible. But that can wait another 1000 miles.

Comments

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

I should add that the reason I go to Tyler is that a lot of other places are sweetness and light to their female customers, but then proceed to sell them inferior products and/or stuff they don't need on the presumption that they don't know better. Sadly, enough women are badly-educated about bicycle-mechanics that this works for them and reinforces this behavior. Tyler's an asshole, but he won't charge you extra for substandard work you didn't need in the first place.

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I have had surly service at Broadway when they were busy, but the one time I had an actual problem I couldn't understand and signed up for stand-time with instruction (basically you pay to use their stand, their tools, and a dedicated person to ask questions of) I was completely convinced. I learned more about chains in 15 minutes then I would have in an hour or more of figuring it out on my own. Their parts are not all, always of the highest quality, but I actually attribute a lot of that to the fact that they want to have a range for a range of incomes.

I agree with what you say about a lot of places. I wouldn't go to quad except when srl was working there. Now I can go there because (A) they know me well enough that they hesitate to pull that trick and (B) *I* know well enough to know when I'm being had. I've had some of that treatment at Ace also, and the only thing that has changed that is my own having enough knowledge and bravado to make the gearhead connection and make them respect me first, and then ask my question. It is a strategy that it annoys me that I have to use. First go in and establish cred, and THEN ask for the part, service, or advice I need. What I like about Broadway is that I don't feel I need to do nearly as much of that.