SRAM Red gear cable installation - the easy way

chriscdesign

Hi there
so I managed to snaff up a SRAM Red groupset from a Pro for an absolute song, €600 for everything apart from chainset and BB.

Reading online it appeared to be an absolute nightmare to install the gear cables, 'frustration', 'incandesent' mentioned throughout various forums. So I sat back and took a deep breath. After a few tries I thought what the hell, talk about rubbish design. Then it occured to me, it has to be easy since they are shipped with the cable in place from the factory. SRAM certainly don't spend hours on each shifter trying to get the cable in.

So, ok here's how I did it. WIth the hood rolled back on itself and the paddle showing 'DoubleTap/ZeroLoss lay the shifter in a bright place. Looking from above you will see 3 screws, a large circular hole and a smaller oval hole. This is where the cable goes, not the larger circular one. Down shift the paddle until the red part inside rotates around until you can see the seating lug and hole. It needs to be facing you directly. I'm not entirely sure which gear it would be but I reckon it's in the 8-10 range. Now thread the gear cable into the tiny hole and push. You might need to wiggle a bit but it should go.

My reasoning is this. If you try and go via the larger hole you will NEVER get the cable to go around the corner. I tried to feed the cable outside the red part and it went straight through.

Ah, idiot line up the red part with the exit hole and try again. So I did and it worked.

I hope this all makes sense.

jonathanhuck

Feel your pain and if you can't or don't want to remove the shifter from the bars here's how i managed it.

During my latest rebuild using SRAM RED 2012 shifters I used a pair of pliers to help get some more purchase on the cable without it bending.

Its still not a perfect solution but there were far fewer failed attempts, hope this helps....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GIVTIE17RU

sungod

i've never had a problem threading sram red, the first time i did it i decided the logical thing was to line up the shifter for easy threading, on my (old) shifters it's...

rear shifter at the smallest cog position
front shifter at the trim position (shift to big ring, then one click to drop back to trim)

if the cable has a natural curve, insert so that the tip will tend to move upwards

make sure the cable head is fully seated and there is a bit on tension on the cable before touching the shift paddles, otherwise the head can get caught

...not sure if it is the same on the current ones

ricey155

I'm here mainyl for the frustration of seating the cable and all workign great then you finish your ride and click down the gears to prevent stretch and the dam cable end falls out the red holder in the shitfer.

is there a cure or bodge to solve this strip down all over again issue please?

Matthewfalle

Also remember to use proper SRAM cables - they are 1.1 mm as opposed to Shimano 1.2mm and work better and thread through easier.