Do I need a new gear cable outer?
alihisgreat
Posts: 3,872
My rear-derailleur cable snapped today - luckily we were almost home and doing a reasonable speed anyway so my 39x11 wasn't too much of a grind!
Can I just put the new cable in? The old-outers are 2 years/10,000+ miles old. What's the worst that could happen to a £2 cable?
Can I just put the new cable in? The old-outers are 2 years/10,000+ miles old. What's the worst that could happen to a £2 cable?
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Nothing bad will happen to the cable cause its in an old outer but your shifting might be better with new ones. I renew mine at least once a year as a routine.0
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You might as well change the length that runs from the chain stay to the mech. That is the bit that gets the hard life and is a few moments work to change. After 10,000 miles you should see some benefit there.
The question is whether your shifting was perfectly good before the cable broke or not. And if it was perfect, was it really perfect or had you not noticed that it wasn't as good as it once was?!
Incidentally, I have come to the conclusion that it is a lot easier on my head and the cable to unwrap the bar tape when I replace the cable anyway - whether or not I am replacing the outer. Campags routing is a bit nasty for the gear cables. In that case, there is less to be lost by replacing the bar section of outer as well.Faster than a tent.......0 -
I've replaced the inner shifter wire twice on my 105 equipped bike. 6000 miles and still using the original outers. I generally only replace stuff that's broken.0
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Re: having to ride 39x11, this gcn video has a useful botch to avoid having to ride in the smallest sprocket.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=obUkL-Ya8dE
I recently had a rear cable snap (wish I'd seen the video before hand). I just replaced the chain stay outer, as it was convenient and I didn't fancy redoing bar tape. Feeding the cable through the shifter was a bit of a faff though.
If you're on Campag, I'd do what Rolf said, as the routing is a pain compared to shimano.0 -
If you drag the old cable through the outer before giving it a wipe, or if it's got a frayed end then you can bugger the liner a wee bit.- - - - - - - - - -
On Strava.{/url}0 -
Jon_1976 wrote:Re: having to ride 39x11, this gcn video has a useful botch to avoid having to ride in the smallest sprocket.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=obUkL-Ya8dE
That's a neat trick that I didn't know! Thanks for that....
Faster than a tent.......0 -
Great tip - thanks0
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Yaaa.. had the RD cable snap a couple of times while out on rides. Generally I find replacing just the cable is fine.
If you decide to pull it out through the handlebar housing for some idiotic reason, ahem just like I have recently, it might damage the liner in the outer and cause horrendous shifting afterwards - happened to me recently. The effect is very similar to having a load of dirt in the outers! What really puzzled me was that cable will slide fine when you check without tension - only when you clamp it in the RD and try to shit will you get that effect.
EDIT: wow that video is really good. the limit screws crossed my mind but did not think it'd allow to move two cogs! The knot idea is great, especially if you are in really hilly areas!0 -
Aye, the gcn solution is very good. Watching the video, Daniel says there is no fine adjustment but surely the cable adjuster would index it a bit. Next time I change gear cables, I'm going to keep a short length of the old cable for this purpose. Keep the ball end and put a bit of heat shrink on the other end (to prevent fraying and allow it to pass through mech).
When I had my cable snap, i didn't know about that fix so just wound the limit screw in as much as possible. I live in a hilly area so it was a tough ride home. Last climb ramps up to 12% so walked that one
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Last time my 105 ate it's cable inside the shifter I was about 6 miles from home with a few little hills to go. I was glad of my triple chainset! Came home in 30 x 12 with a bit of standing on the pedals, grunting, and wondering why any sane person would choose to ride singlespeed / fixed.0
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Valy wrote:EDIT: wow that video is really good. the limit screws crossed my mind but did not think it'd allow to move two cogs! The knot idea is great, especially if you are in really hilly areas!
I think it only got me one cog up when I tried it.Jon_1976 wrote:Aye, the gcn solution is very good. Watching the video, Daniel says there is no fine adjustment but surely the cable adjuster would index it a bit. Next time I change gear cables, I'm going to keep a short length of the old cable for this purpose. Keep the ball end and put a bit of heat shrink on the other end (to prevent fraying and allow it to pass through mech).
Maybe just superglue over the end of the cable piece would be enough to stop fraying? Good idea to keep a piece to hand. Not sure I really want to be pulling the cable through - on Campagnolo it usually fails in the shifter and is a bit of a mess. I'd rather MTFU than trash the outers in that circumstance!Faster than a tent.......0 -
I experimented one time with dipping cable end into some glue. Now it's what I mostly use! Try it guys!0
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Ok... so turns out my cable snapped in the shifter, and since there is no tension it won't shift down into a position where I can get the cable-end out?
I can't really put any tension on the cable in any meaningful way since there is so little of it left in there... any ideas?0 -
Er, missed the shifter model. On 6700 you can takeoff a panel on the inside to get better access. Also had it with 5700 to take shifter off and tweezer it out. Just managed it. If it's really wedged in without any or potential routes then do whichever way you can with the least damage. Don't be afraid to be a bit rough as it might be the only way. Good luck0
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Yeah its 5700 - I've tried my best but looks like it'll have to go to the LBS tomorrow. Apparently you can drill a hole on the other side of the shifter as a last resort but I don't have the tools with me at Uni.0
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Aw naw. I gotta say I was really relieved to have taken the frayed bits out of my 5700 as I thought it might not happen, hopefully they will be able to get at it!
I've done I think around 10000k with the 5700 shifters on one bike and the cable only snapped once, albeit in the shifter.
With 6700 though I've had 3 cases that I can remember for sure and maybe one more that I'm not sure about - all over ~14000k! With the last 3 almost regularly over ~ 2.5k. To clarify though with 6700 it does not snap but mostly fray as you really start to feel it with shifting - kind of ghost shifts, or not enough cable pull after two shifts up the cassette without tension spike. To go on some more, I briefly read that it happens with DA 9000! :O
Don't know how it came to be a feature but eh, I don't mind as long as I manage to keep an eye out for RD cables around 2k mark to catch any fraying in the shifter.
(k = km!! :P)0 -
It's interesting that it causes so much problem with Shimano. On Campag, you just shift down on the thumb shifter until you see the cable end and pull it out. Then you peel back the top of the hood to get access to the rest of the cable. It's barely more time consuming than extracting an unbroken cable.Faster than a tent.......0
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Rolf F wrote:It's interesting that it causes so much problem with Shimano. On Campag, you just shift down on the thumb shifter until you see the cable end and pull it out. Then you peel back the top of the hood to get access to the rest of the cable. It's barely more time consuming than extracting an unbroken cable.
The problem with Shimano is that the extraction hole is on the wrong side - if it were on the inside of the shifter then you could just force the shifts to get the cable end into the right position, as it stands it just gets stuck when you try and shift the other way - I can only get about half way down to the smallest gear.
Really bad design.. but I also neglected my cables from 2 years/10,000+ miles so what did I expect!0 -
ALIHISGREAT wrote:really bad design.. but I also neglected my cables from 2 years/10,000+ miles so what did I expect!
Indeed - good design should really be pillock proof! Faster than a tent.......0 -
I had a narrow escape with the FD cable on my 9 speed Tiagra. Came adrift at the clamp bolt on the mech and the resulting slack meant the nipple became unseated and jammed between shifts in the shifter. Could see it and reach it with needle-nosed pliers, but it wasn't budging. I'd taken the lever off the bars and had it on the kitchen table and about to attempt some kind of dismantling when I decided to have another go at frenzied pushing of the shift levers. This had the surprising result of releasing the jam and I was able to reseat the cable end.
Twice the RD cable has frayed inside my 105 5600 shifter, the second time snapping completely. Luckily both times I was able to downshift all the way and carefully extract the pesky remnants. I can imagine the agony of thinking the £ unreasonable shifter might be buggered just because of a duff £1.99 cable0 -
I am currently trying to replace the inner wire for my Ultegra 6700 rear derailleur.
Any tips on how to insert the new inner through the shifter? I can't seem to get it through at all as it immediately gets stuck when I try to slide it in.0 -
Mine snapped inside the shifter. I'd been given a lot of warning as the shifting progressively got more ropey (after the initial sign of trouble). Stupidly, I thought it was the shifter malfunctioning so carried on shifting and the cable broke 10-15 clicks later. Should have just left the chain mid cassette and not touched the shifter.0
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Cost me less than £10 to get it sorted by the LBS - probably should have just given it to them in the first place!0
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Fair enough, a tenner isn't that much. I like to do any repair work that I can do myself as I really enjoy it and saving a bit of money is a bonus.0
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fermion wrote:I am currently trying to replace the inner wire for my Ultegra 6700 rear derailleur.
Any tips on how to insert the new inner through the shifter? I can't seem to get it through at all as it immediately gets stuck when I try to slide it in.
it should be at the bottom of the shifter. good thing to try is stick the cable in through the top to see where it comes out and that should give you a good guide, but still can be fiddly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 3aX5w#t=440 -
Jon_1976 wrote:Fair enough, a tenner isn't that much. I like to do any repair work that I can do myself as I really enjoy it and saving a bit of money is a bonus.
I'm planning to re-cable in a few months, so will do that myself... 3 days without working gears wasn't ideal though! Definitely would have been worth the £10 straight away.
But lesson learned and I'll know what to look for next time!0
