Hats Off To You

Further to yesterday's post and Mario Cipollini, a commenter commented thusly:

Doc Sarvis said...

Tried and convicted in the court of public opinion 
We'll all be there soon

March 12, 2019 at 9:58 PM

No we won't.

In other news, this morning I went to adjust my fancy new Shimano Dura Ace front derailleur, partially because it felt like maybe it could use some adjusting, but mostly because I didn't put the bike together and I wanted to understand how the thing worked:

The latest Shimano front derailleurs work a little differently than the ones you're probably used to, in that there are basically more adjustment screws.  Typically what I do when learning how to work on a new component is dive right in and screw it up, but this time I was determined to do my homework, and so I not only read Shimano's service instructions but also watched endearingly soporific tutorials on YouTube. 

By the time I actually confronted the thing I had a good idea of how it worked and was able to adjust it rather easily.  However, true to form I did manage to screw something up anyway.  Now, it's hard to tell from the stock image, but the new Shimano derailleurs wear a plastic hat:

The purpose of the hat is to tuck in the end of your cable since the routing works a little differently than the old ones.  Basically you just pop it off, but of course I managed to break it in short order:

Without the plastic hat there's no way to secure the excess cable short of cutting it off, which I wasn't going to do since that would make any future adjustments a major pain in the ass.  Like any terminal Fred my first impulse was to list the compromised bike for sale immediately, but after taking a few deep breaths and blotting my tears I was able to engineer a solution by tucking it into the braze-on tab:

Not only did the cable remain tucked neatly in place for the duration of my ride, but I also figure I'm enjoying some serious weight savings by omitting the part. Nevertheless, I can't help suspecting this is Shimano's way of nudging everyone towards Di2.  Also, as someone who prefers Shimano, I'm disappointed to see their increased reliance on tiny plastic covers, which began some years back on their shifters when they re-routed their brake cables under the bar tape.  I shouldn't have to look down while I'm riding and see something this ugly.  (I've already got to see the lower half of my body when I look down after all.)

Anyway, flimsy cover notwithstanding, I'm greatly enjoying my new plastic bike, shown here in one of my preferred trash-strewn urination spots:

I still have yet to change a single thing on the bike, nor do I plan to in the near future--partially because it feels great as is, but also because if I do change anything I'm bound to break it in the process.  Also, I'm not even remotely a weight weenie, but it's pretty amazing how light a "mid-level" out-of-the-box bike is these days--though of course I am running the front derailleur without the plastic cap, so there is that.  And yes, I realize I'm probably risking my life in doing so, since the excess cable is liable to dislodge itself on a descent and the whiplash could throw me from the bike.  But don't worry, I'm going to reach out to a custom bike company and commission them to make me a replacement out of titanium.  (I'm budgeting $500 for the job.)

And if you're nonplussed by my preponderance of boring monochromatic bikes, rest assured that when you look at this one up close it sparkles like a disco ball:

("My God, it's full of stars!")

So there you go.