I recently acquired a truly lovely tandem from a list member. A Jack Taylor from the early 80s with the old graphics, box- lining...white. Really pretty.
I'm just dying to get it together, and ride it, and it's getting there. But I ran into a snag and I'm hoping someone here will have a better idea than I do.
The stem that came with it is drilled for a brake cable, but that stem is too long and too low for my use.. I'm putting a Nitto Technomic deluxe on it instead (no yowls from the peanut gallery: my cervical joint health is more important than looking good on the slopes, 'kay?)
The problem is, the steerer tube is, as it should be, oversized, so a standard head-set fit cable stop will not work. I'd need an oversized one, or I'd have to file one out.. not a big deal on an aluminum one, and I may do that, assuming I can actually FIND an aluminum stop that will work... the part that fits over the steerer would have to be quite thin, because, most unfortunately, the steerer tube has been cut rather short.. (you can see the comedy of errors here)
I could just have the stem drilled, and I may yet, although the idea doesn't exactly thrill me. It's a hassle, and more delay, besides (find machine shop to do work, take to shop, explain problem, explain they have to drill it twice, once for the cable, and again for the casing, to make a stop)..I'd do it myself, but I really don't have the proper tools for the job, like a good drill-press.
I had one suggestion, a good one, from Chuck Schmidt, to have a stop welded or brazed onto the lock washer, which isn't a bad idea, but again, finding the shop to do it might be a challenge, it's a tricky job I suspect. I may go that route in the end.
For now, what I have is an aluminum stop I found at an LBS (these stops are not easy to find anymore, now that cantis appear obsolete at most bike shops) I filed it out to fit, but it's too thick, there aren't enough threads for the lock nut with the stop in place. So, at this point, I'm thinking of just duct-taping it to the top of the lock-nut, and using it that way until I can figure out a better solution. Ugly, but it should work. I will probably end up trying to grind the clamp area of the stop down to a thinness that will make it work clamped into the head-set assembly, but I'm afraid if I do that it'll be too weak for the job, and break. I need to find someone around here with a nice grinding wheel I guess.
Any other better ideas would be much appreciated, and if you just happened to have in your possession a nice aluminum headset cable stop that is quite thin where it clamps to the headset, I'd be happy to buy it from you..<g>
Thanks for any insights you can provide.
Charles Andrews
SoCal