# Cap or Plug for Downtube Shifter Bosses?



## Dr.Kildare (Oct 20, 2005)

I've just acquired a rather tired Lemond Zurich frame that I will initially run as a singlespeed.
Eventually I will strip the frame and paint, but until then what do I do about the ugly downtube shifter bosses where the shifter outer cable used to termnate?

Does anyone make a cap or plug for these bosses that will tidy them up or have any suggestions?


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

Dr.Kildare said:


> I've just acquired a rather tired Lemond Zurich frame that I will initially run as a singlespeed.
> Eventually I will strip the frame and paint, but until then what do I do about the ugly downtube shifter bosses where the shifter outer cable used to termnate?
> 
> Does anyone make a cap or plug for these bosses that will tidy them up or have any suggestions?


I got the idea from this forum recently - get some colored dice from the dollar store (I got 4 different colors in one pack) and drill them out and hot glue them in place.


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## dodger150 (Feb 15, 2005)

*Why don't you...*

Put downtube shifters on them... give people something to think about


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## dogmeat (Sep 26, 2005)

*My recent experience...*

Wow- those naked shifter braze-ons are UGLY. Knowing myself, I'd probably forget I was clipped in and fall over, sticking one of those suckers in to my thigh or knee-- depending on if I fell in front of kids or pretty women. So...

1) Easy, looks OK... get out your Dremel tool (mine's a Hitachi, but same thing) and use the cut-off wheel to whack down the shifter boss close to the downtube. Better a lot too little than a little too much! Get out a file, and take the square portion down nice and flat and square (tangent to the tube)... stopping 2 mm from the tube. Sand and prime, paint it a cool contrasting color. Black Testors Black Glossy gives you a black diamond, which looks ok. It won't gouge you, and it's quick and easy.

2) So... I look at that thing for a while, but it's just not right. Get out the file, and spend a couple of evenings filing all the shifter boss and brazing metal off the frame, ever so carefully. When I got tired, I went away and came back another day. It took me 3 days. When I painted, you could see I was off by 0.003 inches or a little more, so I carefully filed the high points off and finished with 400 grit wet/dry. It then painted perfectly. By mixing two spraycan colors, I actually got a pretty good match! It took 3 trys, carefully sanding off my first two attempts with 600 wet/dry. OK! That looks pretty good.

3) Get the bike decals for your bike! OK, it's not always easy to find them- but hey! LOOK what I found! For a LeMond, I bet you can get exactly what you need pretty easy. LeMond... that's a pretty nice frame you got- may as well do the job right! Clear-Coat over the decal,,,

OK, you could also paint the whole thing flat black with Rustoleum, but it's still winter- what else are you going to do to avoid time on the trainer?

'Meat

ps- the wheel builing gods have my frame- they are building Velocity Aeroheads on to my IRO 28 hole 126mm flip-flop hubs with SS double butted spokes they cut in the shop. Pics in about 10 days of the final build...


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