As I spend 99% of my time in the middle ring on the crosser (used as what now seems to be called “gravel riding – shudder”) i’m going to lose the big and granny rings for a Narrow-wide in the middle.

But once the front mech and cable is removed, what should I do with the left STI to stop it flapping about now it’ll be “off load”. Was thinking some sort of cable clamp on the cable port, but thought someone on here might have a solution?  105 9 speed “washing line” STI’s BTW.

Cheers!

nothing? Ive got 10spd 105s, actually a pair I got off here cheap as the LH gear unit had broken, so I just hacksawed the release lever off. Main lever doesn’t flap about.
Maybe stick some tape over the hole to prevent excess water/mud ingress, I didnt bother and 5yrs later its not noticeably mucky in there.

If you want to go full grrrravel, take the ratchet out and use it as a lever for the dropper post that’s going to bring your rides alive.

As above, nothing.
Just shift it into what would be the big ring, that will stop any movement in the lever and keep it under a little bit of tension. But you don’t really need to do that.

No need to do anything… It doesn’t ‘flap about’ unless you push it to try and shift… it just won’t do anything.

Ooh nice,. Thanks folks. Will just leave it as is then!  Ta!!

Dropper actuator is the correct answer.

Dropper actuator is the correct answer.

bit unimaginative….

Toggle lights on and off; drop tyre calthrops from the rear; bell?

Against the flow I’m going to say I find the movement in the lever very annoying so my solution has been to buy a pair of those super-cheap Tektro RL340 (or whatever they’re called) for barely more than a tenner on ebay and leave the RH lever in my spares draw.

Or the posher TRP levers on Planet X, £25/pair.

That’s what I’m doing when I go 1x for CX season

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/BLTRPRRLA/trp-rrl-alloy-road-brake-levers

Mine operates the dropper, clever and cool 😎

Dropper post not an option for a 27.0 seat post…

Though I’ve often wondered why no one has come up with a budget dropper that uses all these front shifters that are clogging up spares boxes.  A simple cable actuated 3 position post, running off a front shifter would be neat.  Or not, I don’t know as I don’t own one!

Edit:. I don’t think I could cope with running different levers left & right, at which point I’m looking for a separate shifter unit, and bar end shifters make me fear for my knees!

Since when did a cross bike have a triple chainset? You mean touring bike surely?

Redundant left brifters are for dangling your mug off

Nope.  Cross bike (Kona Jake the snake).  But built up about 15 years ago to serve as a touring, road, commuter and cross bike, with a fairly narrow range cassette.  Has served its purpose well but as it no longer needs to fill the commuter/tourer roles, so it feels like time for a change.

Against the flow I’m going to say I find the movement in the lever very annoying

Dummy cable tensioned against a cable stop is the usual way to stop a lever moving. For external cables this was trivial. You can still do it with hidden cables and a small cable stop with a grub screw. This can be under the bar tape or run to first cable stop instead.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/cables/jtek-cable-splitter-for-gear-inner-wire-black/

Replacing with a dedicated brake lever removes around 100g of weight and means you break something slightly less expensive if/when you crash into a tree.

Indeed, but I like the hoods to match for feel and reach. That’s why I have Gevenale 1×10 on my cross bike.