Urgent! Front derailleur guide?

[slowride]

I am in the final stages of assmbling my Monkey. I've discovered that the only way to run the front derailleur cable seems to be under the BB shell. Is this correct? There's a hole under there, and no other cable stops or anything...



Can I just use a standard Shimano guide, like this one?

[Carbon_Angus]

slowride, that's kinda what i have on an 857, it's routed under the BB.....bottom pull. you can use a nail head to adjust the in/out screws or butcher a screwdriver or buy an offset screwdriver, 'cuz your swingarm may get in the way.. good luck

[smiley=beer.gif]

[RED5]

Yes you can use that guide. That's exactly what I have on my Monkey. Just screw it on and your set. Weird that there isn't one on there?? This wouldn't happen to be an Ediscount frame would it? K2 seems to leave out a bunch of odd stuff on some of there frames they off load to discounters like Ediscount ands Supergo.

[slowride]

Thanks! Yeah, it's an eDiscount frame. For the price, I don't mind having to buy it myself, except that I'm supposed to be riding the bike in Utah in 2 weeks and I'll have to order that part... Oh well!

[jimbo]

You should be able to jury rig something from the hardware store.  Copper or brass tubing and some thin sheeting.  Cut a short piece of tubing, just enough to bend around the BB.  Take some thin metal cut about an inch to an inch and half long and half inch wide.  Fold it in half.  Drill a hole in it. Put the tubing on the folded side and screw it on.  Maybe use some epoxy to keep the tubing in place.  This should work till you get the real guide.

[Matno]

Any bike shop ought to have what you need in stock. Probably charge you a couple of bucks. Good luck!

[slowride]

Yeah, they ought to, but of course they don't... the bike shops around here really suck! I had some other stuff I needed anyway, so I ordered it from aebike.com (great site, BTW). You wait 3 days for them to get it in stock, but then it takes 1 day to get to me.

[Carbon_Angus]

slowride, you really need to suck up to your LBS like i do.

at least you got the part.... [smiley=beer.gif]

[slowride]

This is going to be very long, but you'll understand why I refuse to go to any LBS near me anymore.

A long time ago, I guess about 1987 or so, I was riding a Schwinn Super Le Tour. I would bomb through town on it, jumping curbs, etc. Eventually I tweaked my rear wheel, leading me to try a new bike shop that had opened in town. It was by far the closest shop to me, and at that time that was very important, since I was 13 and I couldn't drive.

The people were young... I would guess mid 20s. They were very friendly, etc... eventually I bought a new bike from them, a mountain bike. Nobody really knew what it was... most people thought it was a beach cruiser. I rode that for about 5 years, until I was in between the 1st and 2nd years of college. Every break, I would go down to the shop and just hang out. I bought all my parts there. We rode together, etc. They had all the high end parts, and I wanted all the high end parts. So it was a mutual relationship.

One night, I parked my bike near the train station and rode the train to Bluesfest (a great time here in Chicago). When I got back, my bike was stripped... all I had was a frame, fork, and front wheel (the rear was bolt on, which tells you how prepared the thieves were).

I traded my parts in for a new Bridgestone MB4, which I took to college and rode the crap out of. Eventually, I wore out the race on my rear Shimano hub, so I had some new ones built by the shop near college (I really had no choice). They were beautiful... red white and blue Bullseye hubs, Sun CR18 rims... great stuff. When I got home from college, I went down to the local shop. Believe it or not, they got pissed at me for not driving 5 hours home to get new wheels from them. They proceeded to tell me how crappy the wheels were, etc. I was suprised, but I still dropped coin on Cooks Bros. RSR cranks and a bottom bracket.

As that summer went on (we're up to about 94 now) my LBS friends continued to go all surly on me. They even told me to stop hanging around because I was "discouraging customers". So I did...

After I landed my first "career" job (May of 95; I graduated college in Dec. 94) I decided I wanted to get front suspension. At that time, Supergo was just introducing their Alu frame, and it got a good write up in MBA. They had a special... frame, fork and headset for I think $350. So I got that, and swapped my parts over from the Bstone. I recall some surlyness involved in some of the work from that project too, since I couldn't do a whole lot of wrenching myself back then.

I started riding with some people who raced. As I got faster, I was thinking of starting to race. Otherwise, I was just having a blast on my bike.

On July 4, 1996, my dad opened the garage to unload a cooler. My bike was in there. It was about 8:30 AM, and the garage was open for about 10 minutes. In that time, someone walked in and rode out. My bike was gone.

I had the LBS do an insurance write up for me. They agreed on the terms that I would give whatever settlement I got to them to build me a new bike. I thought this meant they wanted to win my business back or something.

When I got the settlement, they pretty much told me what bike I was getting...  a Norco Team Issue frame they had on the wall, plus parts. I asked what size is the frame, "Your size". I asked what parts, "Good stuff!"

I was apprehensive, but at that time I didn't understand business the way I do now, and I thought I was "obligated".

I got the bike and I hated it. I never felt right on it. It motivated me to stop riding for about 3 years. I mean not one ride at all.

Eventually, I found MTBR after reading "The Gathering" in an old Mountain Bike mag I had. I found some local people, got invited to ride, etc. Eventually I like it so much I decided to upgrade my bike (even though it still wasn't quite right) and discovered lots of stuff, like: the fork they told me was new was actually an OEM takeoff with a dangerously short steer tube (came to between the clamps on a 2 clamp stem). The frame was a "factory second" as told to me by Norco. Basically it all left a bad taste in my mouth.

So I went to another LBS that was recommended to me to have my fork and headset put on. They installed the headset without grease.

Later I went to another LBS to get a King pressed into a new frame. They only did it half way, and told me that was all they could do.

So that was it. I have since learned how and purchased tools for everything except reaming, facing, and chasing. I spent a huge amount of money in the first shop, and they screwed me. The other 2 got their shot, and fumbled. I haven't been in a LBS in a couple years. There's a Performance, a Galyan's, and an REI near me for anything I need right away. Otherwise it's all net/mail order for me.

[Matno]

Your experience sounds similar to mine here in the Bronx (except for all the money you spent). I have gone to the two shops closest to me several times intending to spend money and left after being treated like crap by managers who didn't know nearly as much about components as I did. In my opinion, the ONLY reasons to go to an LBS are either 1) for their superior knowledge, 2) in an emergency, or 3) when I'm feeling extremely lazy. Since they don't have superior knowledge, rarely have what I need in stock, and I'm never THAT lazy, they lose. Too bad. I don't feel bad for them at all. I knew a couple of really cool shops back in Utah that always treated me well, and I loved to go in there. I made it a rule to never go in without buying SOMETHING, even if it was small. I miss those shops!

On the bright side, I went to a shop here last week and they treated me very well. Didn't have what I wanted, but at least the manager was really nice. I did buy a couple of small things from him, and he wrote out directions to some of the best trail systems in the area, and even invited me on their regular group rides. Maybe we have a winner. He did think I was crazy when I told him I made my own disc brake adaptor though...