This is a shameless attempt to save the the most advanced civilization in
history from imminent self destruction by eliminating carbon emission,
dependence on foreign sources of fuel,obesity, hypertension and diabetes.
Cycling accomplishes all those things at once and helps us develop a better
understanding of ourselves, each other and our relationship to the cosmos.

Oh, horse puckey!
I like to ride bikes, have been doing it all my life.
The rest of that crap is just a fringe benefit,
and the blogosphere gives me a chance to share my interior
monologue with virtual rather than imaginary friends.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Misleading temperatures

For those of you who hang on my every word, read every post expecting enlightenment, and dispel my wisdom upon your friends; don't tell me about it.  That is creepy.   Keep tellin' your friends, but lighten up a bit.  If you are one of those, you might remember a problem I experienced with the Nuvinci hub freezing on my hero Byron.  A couple of winters ago,it was freezing up and I assumed it was the shift interface unit.  Recently a reader commented on that post and said he had experienced a similar problem with the unit and found water freezing in the cable housing.  With my usual sense of humility, I dismissed that as irrelevant and then placed a space heater near my cables.  Hmm, there was an immediate improvement in, or elimination of, the problem.  So I took the time to look at the cable housing, found, what looked like a small crack, removed the cable and housing,

and watched it explode as a mass of corroded braiding.
Obviously that needed attention.  I bought some more housing,
 a couple of cables and replaced the whole mess.
I recommend following the directions carefully if you do this because the double cable shifter, although a brilliant design, can be confusing and intimidating.

After havimg replaced the cables and the damaged housing, I routed them over rather than under the bottom bracket.  That should prevent a low point to collect moisture as well as potential damage from debris and obstructions.  I waited a few days, let the bike sit in the cold (>-10 windchill), and guess what?  It shifted beautifully, it wasn't the shift interface at all, just water in a housing.
It's hard to believe but, I might have been mistaken in my original hypothesis.
Posted by Marc at 2:31 PM
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3 comments:

  1. UnknownJanuary 27, 2014 at 1:19 PM

    I had the same issue with my Nuvinci--except that it also turned out to the water in the cable. I feel very bad b/c in the process of trying to fix it, I called Nuvinci and they sent me a free new shifter, cable, and the little plastic unit that goes on the outside of the hub. I had been convinced that the latter was the source of the icing. At any rate, just rode to work the other day at -15 F and everything was working beautifully!

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  2. MarcJanuary 27, 2014 at 5:45 PM

    You are right, Fallbrook was very nice to me and replaced what I thought was a faulty shift interface also. I feel bad now, but at least can advise people of the problem correctly.

    Marc

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  3. UnknownFebruary 18, 2019 at 2:59 PM

    Thanks..I bought an Origin8 with an n360 a couple months back and up here in denver the dude freezes solid within a few mins. Not the case when new ..it shifted fine. Now I have the same issue in the cold.. easily gets to zero degrees here if not below. Anyhow bro Im happy I found this topic online..I got all bummed out here for a sec thinking my bike sucked and got all prejudice with it.good advice ..damn housing.I forgive Fallbrook now.

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