Is there a convention for installing inline barrel adjusters?

Question

1. A barrel adjuster consists of two parts, an inner core and an outer part. The outer part has ribs to facilitate grabbing and rotating.

2. If the inner part can also be grabbed, turning the barrel adjuster requires the use of both hands. It may not be possible to grab, or even to see, the inner part. In that case friction will hold and stop it from turning against its end of the cable.

3. Barrel adjusters, for front/rear brakes and for front/rear derailleurs, are meant for fine-tuning. Given a standard way for fitting them on a cable, it is possible to adjust them—with one hand, without too much distraction, and while keeping one's eyes on the road—while cycling. (This requires that the barrel adjusters be installed within reach of the cyclist, rather than too far down near the frame, but their being within reach is the common place anyway.) For example, on a particularly long trip it is quite possible for the brakes to have finally lost enough material for the brake lever to become too close to the handlebar when squeezed. In that case the rider may well fine-tune the appropriate barrel adjuster while riding. Likewise, the appearance of rubbing against the front derailleur cage during a ride may be removed by a skilled cyclist by turning the FD barrel adjuster.

4. If the barrel adjusters are inline on a road bike, they will be more or less vertical. It is then easy to keep a mental note that rotating clockwise screws in the barrel adjuster, decreasing its length, and reducing the cable tension.

Can you first confirm that the four-point summary above is correct? Did I misunderstand anything?

Can you then confirm whether there is indeed, as I feel there must be, a convention for installing inline barrel adjusters such that the direction for screwing in or out is well established and can be performed without looking at each particular barrel adjuster?

This question is prompted by a video describing how to replace a barrel adjuster—as well as by my misfortune in having what appears to be a slipping connection between the lower part of the barrel adjuster and the cable, as if that connection was mistakenly greased at the factory. The presenter seems to know very well what he's doing, but then it appears that he installs the barrel adjuster in the wrong orientation, which complicates maintenance jobs on such a bike because the mechanic, at least the amateur one, will need to think about whether to rotate clockwise or counter-clockwise before every adjustment (which complicates maintenance on a stand, and pretty much precludes maintenance while riding).

Other Worthwhile Notes

• If adjusting from scratch, it is helpful if the two parts are screwed in as much as possible, because cables will not tighten themselves, only slacken.

Answer 1

The one thing I would say about your 4 points is that while one-big-barrel ones can in fact be adjusted one-handed when everything is lubricated and functional, it's very common to encounter them crusty and underlubricated such that both hands are necessary.

I think the convention, to the extent there is one, is for the inner moving bit to be on top in the vertical position, such that looking down at it you'd be rotating the barrel clockwise to tighten the cable. I have some SRAM and Avid ones around with a logo that would be upside-down if it were the other way. A lot of road bikes have them now for their tension-hungry long-armed Shimano front derailleurs, and those usually have a line/writing that would look upside down if the inner part was on the bottom.

To me that also agrees with being able to clearly see the threaded part and just knowing what direction the barrel needs to rotate. If I had to guess, I think that's why, as in the video, a lot of people mentally put the inner piece visible from the top on the common long unmarked ones shown there (which are a Jagwire product).

I suspect but can't prove and don't know that issues from water ingress into the threads are worse when the threaded part is visible from the top like this. It would be nice if the convention was such as to avoid that, because inline adjusters do seize up and become useless sometimes. That said, who knows if having it the other way would funnel more water into the housing and create worse problems.

Answer 2

I'd say that in the video, RJ installs the barrel adjuster in the conventional way. When we have barrel adjusters on shifters, such as with many mountain bike styles, the convention is to thread the adjuster clockwise into the shifter to loosen the cable and vice versa.

An inline barrel adjuster in this upper portion of housing, therefore, follows the same convention when it unthreads away from the shifter in order to tighten the cable, as RJ fitted his. This is the only way I have seen them fitted and they are fitted in the factory from time to time on road bikes.

You can of course get threaded adjusters on the down tube facing the other direction, but I always associate inline adjusters with the shifter itself. You used to see them fitted very closely to the shifter with one inch or so of cable, whereas RJ fits his much closer to the down tube.

As you get more familiar with them you will spot which end is which by the smaller diameter portion and intuitively unthread the knurled part to tighten the cable.