Colourful cables?

Lisa101

Hi ppl,

Quick question- Nothing wrong with them at all (new bike) but how easy is it to change the cable casing to a different coloured ones? And what would I need to buy- just the casing or replace the whole gear/brake cables? How much would u expect to pay for someone to fit- Ain't got a clue about bike mechanics!
Please help ^__^

The Rookie

If you haven't a clue (at all) about bike mechanics, then it's hard, otherwise it's easy.
1/ Remove the old outers, if the inner cable has frayed it will need replacing as well
2/ Cut (you need good cutters, either the right ones (expensive) or sharp side cutters and use an old inner cable to stop it collapsing where you cut) the new outers to length
3/ Fit new outers and new inners if required, cutting new inners with sharp side cutters to stop fraying.
4/ re-index gears (see park tools or youtube for how to guides) on completion, you would only need to set cable tension as high anf low stops won't need touching.

felix.london

Lisa101 wrote:

And what would I need to buy- just the casing or replace the whole gear/brake cables?

You may have hydraulic brakes which obviously don't use cables at all!

YeehaaMcgee

People also commonly use coloured heatshrink on their brake hoses and gear cables - it's cheaper and you can get it in loads of colours.

cooldad

Cables (and hoses for the pedantic) can be any colour as long as it's black.