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Novara Fusion Update

The internets work in mysterious ways. Since my last post on my new bicycle, interesting things have been afoot. Steve Gluckman, the Brand Manager for Novara, dropped me a line about my blog post. I'm still not 100% sure what Brand Manager means, but it seems to be a corporate liase-type thing with the ability to send neat toys to customers in the mail to fix problems with bicycles.

Steve sent me a SRAM Flak Jacket, which is a interesting cable-enclosing system designed to "keep crud out." The system includes a pair of steel cables (for front and rear brakes), a long run of cable housing, and assorted flanges for the cable. The flanges are like typical cable ferrules, but they have long thin tips that stick through the cable stops on the frame. A solid plastic shield fits over both these new ferrules' tips at the top and bottom of the cable run, keeping out water and other junk (the wire cable runs inside the tube). I'm sure that no cable brake system can ever be 100% watertight, but I think that with the Fusion's fenders, there is minimal possibility for water to get into the Flak Jacket (or similar sealed cable brake system).

The installed system...

It's been kind of an interesting experience for me. This blog is down to about 600 unique visitors per day (not even a C-list blog), but somehow I've ranked pretty high on a google search for the Novara Fusion. What has been more interesting is REI -- I got an email only a couple of days after making the blog post, so REI must have some folks scouring the interwebs for information on their products. I've got to say that I'm pretty impressed with REI's response -- there is no legal disclaimer in their email saying that I'm not allowed to repeat what I'm told, no NDA to sign, nada. A free cable kit to try to fix things is never a bad thing, either. My hope is that REI offers the kit to everyone that owns a Fusion, as it could save quite a few irate customers, and maybe even a life.