Gear adjusters?!?!?!

[migrantwing]

I have 2 points of adjustment on my gears and wonder why. A lot of bikes I've had in the past, and a lot of bikes I see only have 1 main barrel adjuster.

I have an adjuster about 3 inches from the shifters (shown in pic), one on the downtube, and then the barrel adjuster/5mm Allen adjuster for the cable at the rear mech. The left shifter (front mech) has this same long barrel adjuster again, a few inches from the shifter, 1 at the downtube, and the Allen adjuster at the front mech.

Can anyone tell me what the purpose of the first, long barrel adjuster is? Is it necessary to have this longer barrel adjuster or can I just run a gear cable straight from the shifter to the downtube without having this fitted? What are the pros and cons?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Alien8]

If you already have barrel adjusters on the downtube cable stops then I guess they would be superfluous because you could adjust tension there whilst on the move.

I assume they are more relevant if you don't have downtube adjusters or perhaps on a frame with internal cable routing (dunno - never had a frame with internal routing).

But I don't think I would bother removing them if they were already there until I need to change the cables.

 

[goody]

I have those on mine but no barrel adjusters. I suppose they are quite easy to fiddle with whilst on the move. I suppose you could get rid of them if you are happy with the barrel adjusters.

 

[migrantwing]

Thanks for your replies, guys. It would make sense that their purpose is to make adjustments whilst on the move (completely overlooked that point) But as you say, Alien8, it's just as easy to make adjustments at the downtube.

I AM actually changing my cables/housing so, I think I'll just run the cable and housing straight from the shifters to the downtube, without the adjuster at the shifter. That way I can run the gear cables under my bar tape. At the moment I have only my brake cables running under the bar tape, as with aforementioned adjuster, it makes it difficult to bend an arch smoothly enough to get it under the bar tape.

Thanks guys, once again