Cresta GT: Cabling the Brakes

When I cabled the brakes and shifting on the Motobecane Grand Touring it went quickly and I think that was my expectation for the Cresta, but I was wrong.  Threading the brake cable for instance, I probably had 20 to 30 tries each side before the cable threaded through the small hole inside the lever body so it could come out the back of the grip portion of the lever onto the bars.  Its an awkward angle and I am sure there is a better way to do it but it was pretty much blind chance for me.  In the end the brake cable got threaded and I could then run it through the housing.

I would have upgraded the canti's to something newer that was easier to set up and adjust but with the narrow fork of a mid to late 80s Japanese touring bike you can't use modern Canti's as I found out with the Schwinn Passage.

There are lots of moving parts with old Canti brakes one of which is the straddle cable, I was wise enough to keep one of the old cables (top above) to use as a template for the proper length.

And then there is the positioning of the brake cable and straddle wire carrier to get correct.

And then finally you have all the pieces hooked up and you can begin adjusting them.  I have them about 85% of the way to where I want them, enough for a test ride.

For the shifting I can get to 14 of 15 gears, the small/small combo won't work yet, but the main issue is that shifting to the inside -large rear cog - the chain will over-shift and go into the spokes, or in this case -dork disc.   I have adjusted the limit screws but no joy yet.  I tried index shifting briefly but I could only get 3 of the 5 gears with it and I quickly moved to friction mode.

As you can see there is lots of room in back with just the 5 speed FW and if you remove the chain protector, dork disc, then there is even more.

So I impulsively dropped over $60 and ordered an IRD 6 speed freewheel, a 13-32.  I would have tried a 7 speed but no one had them in stock.  14-28t Freewheels are everywhere but to get a 30, 32 or 34 low end you have to pay more.  In addition to helping with the over-shift issue (I hope) I also get more gears and a lower granny.   I will likely do some short test rides to see how it fits and if it really does stop but to do any real rides I will need to sort the shifting.

Ride.Smile.Repeat.