Following the failure to get the SRAM shifter working for Hornsby (although it had never been a problem with Dionysus), I took a couple of days to track down a replacement at a reasonable price. Since then I’ve been compulsively reloading the package tracking site and drumming my fingers on the desk loudly enough to bother the neighbors.

Finally, after several false signals from various trackers, Nana let me know the package was delivered this afternoon while I was at the office.

When I arrived home I wondered if there’d been some mistake — the package was large enough to hold a dozen shifters. But it was mostly empty, even with the shifter itself wrapped up in an excess of bubble wrap. When I eventually untangled it all, the contents were just what I was expecting.

On thing I noticed right away was the cover over the opening on the shifter — the old one was missing and I’d never even noticed its absence.

Geek with a screwdriver

That wasn’t the reason a replacement was needed, though. When I’d originally run the shifter cable I’d missed out an important routing guide, and so the cable ended up pulling in the wrong direction, with the derailleur not budging a millimeter. And when that happened, I thought if I just kept pressing on the levers then whatever was stuck would pop loose. What had popped loose was obviously the inner bits of the shifter.

Geeks should not be trusted with screwdrivers

An old friend

The new shifter came with a cable installed, so I used that instead of the one José and I had installed just two weeks ago. It all went very smoothly, apart from me dropping the retaining bolt and spending several minutes searching about in the mess in the Workshop in the Sky. I eventually found it tucked under one of the legs of the work stand.

With the cable properly installed and the shifter not being munged, I was able to adjust the gears in just a couple of minutes. It shifts up. It shifts down. It doesn’t go past the limits. There’s a bit of brake rotor rubbing I need to sort out — probably a shift in wheel position when I was replacing the skewers (which means I should check the shifting again once I sort that out).

Debut?

So when is Hornsby’s debut? It’s a season at work when I can take off pretty much any day I like, but I already promised a coworker I’d take care of something tomorrow. Apart from that commitment, it’s down to the weather. It’s hot enough that any ride will be abbreviated, with an early start. Right now there’s some rain in the forecast, so I’ll be looking for the first opening.

Composition correction

I’d previously reported that there were no bits and pieces carried over from the original Ol’ Paint. While waiting for the shifter delivery over the past couple of weeks, I realized that’s not quite true. With that in mind, here’s an updated list of the ancestry:

From Ol’ Paint

• Handlebar stem spacers

From Dionysus

• Headlight
• Bottle cages
• Pedals
• Crankset, including the bottom bracket
• Hubs
• Brake levers
• Derailleur
• Saddle and seat post
• Minitool
• Garmin mount

Apart from the stem spacers coming from Ol’ Paint, I’ve updated the Dionysus list to remove the shifter as a carry-over item. And I’ve bought a new pump. The new one is essentially the same as the old, but has some color (not purple, I’m sorry to say). The previous, all black, one is moving to Kuroko.

To do

• Handlebar tape