What's new at sheldonbrown.com
John added photos and a quite a lot of additional information to our page about cables, and the page got too long — so we have split it into two pages. The original cables page now includes more background information — why use cables, the different types, and a video showing how they work. The cable installation page has many new photos, added details, and tricks and tips.
As of 2018, fatbikes and disk brakes have led to several new axle-length standards. The problem of disk brakes’ pulling the hub out of the front dropouts has been addressed with thru axles, which insert into a fork with a hole rather than a slot at the end of each blade. Our chainline page and cribsheet as well as our frame spacing page and cribsheet are now updated to cover these developments.
We have a major update to our page on upgrading older bicycles to index shifting. This can be done at a lower cost than you may expect, because there is usually no need to replace the rear wheel! Shifter choices, parts compatibility issues.
Our article about cassettes has been updated to include information on 11-speed systems. Interesting — all major brands of 11-speed casettes now have the same sprocket spacing. Most rear derailers and shifters are not compatible, though. We can tell you which ones are.
We do minor updates on an ongoing basis and often don’t announce them. Latest is to the cribsheet on cable-pull adapters.
