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Pieces arrived here today. I snapped a couple quick pictures, and then whisked them away to the anodizer. I will have them back later in the week, so hoping to ship units out on Friday.
All the hardware is in stock, and I started assembling that today.
The rotating bearing was upgraded a couple weeks ago. We had several racers want to run this shifter with longer levers, so I first increased the original bearing from a single row-to a double row and thought it would be good enough.... but I still had some internal reservations. So, I started hunting for a bearing that I knew would hold up to just about anything.
I ended up settling on an Enduro bearing. It a two-row, angular, pre-loaded bearing. The races are cryoed, and they are often used in higher performance bicycle applications. If these things hold up to to the weight of a grown man, going down a mountain at speed... they should be good for any shifter.
The central pivot cartridge then has precision ground stainless shoulder bolts installed. I baked the bearings at around 150deg and froze the bolts to tap them in. There is absolutely no play at all in the center sections.
I will freeze the bearing assemblies and heat the housings when they come back for a similar shrink fit on the outer-race.
Looking forward to seeing what you guys do with these things. They should be almost bomb-proof.
Action is really nice. There is no play in the lever, upgrading the double-row bearing was definitely worth it. When using the pivot clamp instead of the front rod, a precision shoulder bolt is used for the upper axle. The Igus bearings have the largest deviation in tolerance, so I machined the shifter to use a 30mm shoulder, which is just at the low end of the Igus tolerance. Snugging up the shoulder bolt takes ALL play out of that axis, but there is a bit of drag around that axis. This is by no means too much drag (it is considerably less than what you will feel from the trans, but it will break in to a zero clearance fit with use. If you want a super fluid shift out of the box and willing to accept a bit of play for it, shims are available from McMaster:
I recommend going through the break-in period. You will be rewarded after the increased shifting effort for a short period of time. Think new jeans or boots. It was the best way to take all the slop out of the system.
04-10-2017, 02:04 PM
