Help - Boardman internal routing issue

Garryboy

Need some help guys,

Replacing my FD cable as it had become badly frayed - first time ever doing it and first time on this Boardman team carbon 2010.

Got it through front shifter etc ok, but I can get the cable to route through the frame from underneath, it seems to hit a block - I've tried fair bit of force but no luck. Old one came out ok, if a little sticky at that part.

Is it likely to be gunk and should I flush with wd40? Cable wont go in from top either (i.e. wrong way round) - help!

father_jack

Do not use WD40 on your frame.

Garryboy

OK thanks - what should I try?

bails87

Father Jack wrote:

Do not use WD40 on your frame.

Why not?

OP: Where abouts does the cable enter the frame? Near the headtube? Or are you talking about the little cable guide on the bottom of the BB shell?

Garryboy

HI,

It's where the cable enters from underneath at the bottom bracket (just past the guide) - I get it in about an inch (ooer) and it's hitting something solid, no amount of wiggling, re-poking or pushing will move it further

keef66

I'm wondering if you'll need to whip out the crankset / BB to see what's going on in there?

Bit extreme for a cable swap though...

Garryboy

Had same thought myself, in fact went out and bought BB removal tool. Have only had quick try, but cant get bleedin crank arm off (sram). Will research and try again.

Wish id just left it alone now, only went to change it because it was hetting frayed! Grrrrr

southdownswolf

Have you tried to get some cotton thorugh and pull the cable through after?
When routing cables through a frame, I normally attached the cable to some cotton, put the end of the cotton into the frame, then use a vacuum cleaner to "suck" the cotton through along with the cable. Obviously make sure that there is more than enough cotton to get through the frame before the cable enters the frame.

Garryboy

Will try the cotton trick, not confident it will work as the hole is tiny and it feels like it needs some force to come through. Have got crankset andd BB off, but didnt really help as you cant see whats going on due to internal threads bit. Will post some pics later. Gutted

Garryboy

Arrrgh - have tried everything - bottom bracket off, didn't help couldn't see what was going on
Cotton & vaccumm - nup wouldn't pull it (cotton) through...
Will be taking a trip to Halfords in the morning (frame still within 2 yr warranty, I think!) - just know it's gonna be painful and weeks without my bike :-(.

Thankfully have another bike, not really roadworthy but will keep me on the turbo at least...

southdownswolf

Garryboy wrote:

Arrrgh - have tried everything - bottom bracket off, didn't help couldn't see what was going on
Cotton & vaccumm - nup wouldn't pull it (cotton) through...
Will be taking a trip to Halfords in the morning (frame still within 2 yr warranty, I think!) - just know it's gonna be painful and weeks without my bike :-(.

Thankfully have another bike, not really roadworthy but will keep me on the turbo at least...

Hope you have one of the "better" Halfords near you. Feel confidant taking my Boardman Pro MTB into my local Halfords, but I know a few Halfords that I wouldn't.....

Garryboy

:?

southdownswolf wrote:

Garryboy wrote:

Arrrgh - have tried everything - bottom bracket off, didn't help couldn't see what was going on
Cotton & vaccumm - nup wouldn't pull it (cotton) through...
Will be taking a trip to Halfords in the morning (frame still within 2 yr warranty, I think!) - just know it's gonna be painful and weeks without my bike :-(.

Thankfully have another bike, not really roadworthy but will keep me on the turbo at least...

Hope you have one of the "better" Halfords near you. Feel confidant taking my Boardman Pro MTB into my local Halfords, but I know a few Halfords that I wouldn't.....

Hmm, have feeling it will need to go back to Boardman for checking, no idea what else Halfords can do that I didn't try today. I would take it to another LBS, but again my gut tells me they will have no luck and hence it would need to go back to Boardman via Halfords anyway...

On the plus side, I learned how to take my crankset & BB off today :?

father_jack

Use a angle grinder, cut length ways along the tube, then remove the blockage.

essjaydee

Well there must be route through as the old cable came out :!:

Bit late now, but I always tie some strong cotton thread to a cable then pull it through, so you can then tie it onto the new cable and pull it back through

Have you got any thin rigid wire that you could try and poke repeatedly to find the routing. Probably find some crud has blocked the hole and just needs a bit of persuasion to clean through

essjaydee

Father Jack wrote:

Use a angle grinder, cut length ways along the tube, then remove the blockage.

Is that better than using WD40 then :roll:

Garryboy

essjaydee wrote:

Well there must be route through as the old cable came out :!:

Bit late now, but I always tie some strong cotton thread to a cable then pull it through, so you can then tie it onto the new cable and pull it back through

Have you got any thin rigid wire that you could try and poke repeatedly to find the routing. Probably find some crud has blocked the hole and just needs a bit of persuasion to clean through

Yep, if I had thought it through I would have done similar. Just assumed it would be simple job of feeding it through the channel

Have booked it into Halfords, 48 hr turnaround apparantly - so we'll see.........

father_jack

essjaydee wrote:

Father Jack wrote:

Use a angle grinder, cut length ways along the tube, then remove the blockage.

Is that better than using WD40 then :roll:

Better than using a solvent on carbon / laquer.

Garryboy

So, quick update.

Bike has been with Halfords since Friday morning and in fairness they have been friendy and I do believe they have tried their best to fix it.

However, got call tonight - they've tried everything and cant fix it - suggesting I perhaps take it to another shop who specialises in road bike (!). They also mentioned that one of their specialist said sometimes the channel gets kinked.

Given that Halfords are sole distributor for Boardman bike, and I bought it there - I'm not for taking it elsewhere. I also want the issue resolved properly so I dont have same problem next time I change fd cable!

Have asked that they send back to Boardman to resolve (frames have 2 year warranty) although they did try to resist this and have gone off to see what the correct process is.....knew this was gonna painful...!

southdownswolf

Halfords are not the sole distributor of Boardman bikes, they sell the "lower end" bikes, but there are several shops that sell the "high end" bikes. Maybe you could try one of those?

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/buy/index.html

Bozman

I had the same problem on my Izalco. Have you tried pushing the cable up from the FD end?
I couldn't get the cable in by more than an inch, I tried from the FD end to see if the cable would get stuck at the same point, it did, I forced the cable through and the internal plastic cable tube had some how been squashed flat.
I was able to open the plastic tube up and the cable flew through.

Garryboy

Bozman wrote:

I had the same problem on my Izalco. Have you tried pushing the cable up from the FD end?
I couldn't get the cable in by more than an inch, I tried from the FD end to see if the cable would get stuck at the same point, it did, I forced the cable through and the internal plastic cable tube had some how been squashed flat.
I was able to open the plastic tube up and the cable flew through.

Sounds identical to my issue, did try from the opposite direction and hit same problem, wouldnt go in far. To be honest I didnt try as much (or as hard) from that end in case I somehow made things worse (!)

Waiting for update from Halfords this morning, will see where we go from there....

Garryboy

Sorted!

Fair play to Dougie in Halfords East Kilbride for sheer perserverence - turns out there is/was a small plastic sleeve in the channel that runs through the frame and it had gotten completely blocked with, I assume, mud.

They managed to get the sleeve out and clean it - all seems to be working fine now! Phew.

GhostFaceKilla

Is this front derailleur cable routing where is passes up through the bottom of the frame? Did the fix require removing the BB?

flatcaps_n_whippets

I have done many of these and the usual problem is the guide gets chewed up as you pull the old frayed cable through it. Trick is to put a clean cut on the old cable under the downtube and pull it through from the top. The new cable then in my experience pushes up through the guide with maybe a squirt of gt85 to clean the tube out.

gavbarron

Where are you based? As said, plenty of other places stocking Boardman, my local lbs stock the Elite range so there are other options