Internal cabling route - so stiff it broke my shifter

Brian B

I have a brand new Van Nicholas Astraeus and have only ridden it 5 times and my Ultegra 6800 shifter internals have snapped due to the force required to shift the front derailleur.

I was concerned after receiving my bike that I took it to my LBS who are an excellent shop and the mechanic there told me the stiff change was due to the angles in the internal cable had to take and really my bike was made to for Di2. This rings true as the frame is billed at using Di2 or mechanical shift. The LBS was not at any angle to sell me anything. He did point out that he reckoned the shifter would not last long.

He was dead right and it broke on the next outing.

What should I do now in regards to going forward. I want to contact the shop I got from and see if they will make me a deal to swap to Di2 and hope they will help. The cheapest I can get it online is £1000 from Merlin.

I have had another problem with this bike also and have already returned it before.

ElectronShepherd

Brian B wrote:

What should I do now in regards to going forward.

Take it back to the shop you bought it from and get them to either fix it or refund the money.

There's no way you should have to pay another £1000 just to get a working bike. Everyone else manages to get Ultegra working with internal cables - why can't Van Nicholas?

NewTTer

All sounds like total nonsense to be honest. As above back it to your retailer

Brian B

Thanks for replies. The shop was going to be my first point of contact but did not know if I should contact VN directly and see what they say about the internal routing.

mamba80

the angles taken by the cables under the handle bar tape will be more extreme than anything inside the frame, you say excellent LBS/Mechanic... hardly!!!!

Steve O'C

I also think this sounds odd. If you thread the gear cable through the housing without attaching it to either the (now broken) changer or the front mech does it move freely? if so the problem must be elsewhere as others have suggested.

I had a similar problem when I clamped the cable incorrectly to my (different model) front mech by routing it inside the tab next to the clamp instead of outside the tab. Looking at the online shimano guide for this mech it looks like there are several opportunities to make a similar mistake.

patrickf

Steve O'C wrote:

clamped the cable incorrectly to my (different model) front mech by routing it inside the tab next to the clamp instead of outside the tab.

This seems to be such a common problem with SRAM front derailleurs and it's really easy to miss when installing. I've done it before and it does result in extremely heavy shifting.

As for internal cable routing in a shifter breaking the shifter? Strange how manufacturers are still all making them this way if it's such a design flaw.