Can I change bars without re-cabling?

luv2ride

Hi. Looking to replace some drops on my winter bike with my preferred FSA wing bars. Question is, can I do this without re-cabling everything? I presume the slack in the cables I introduce when taking the shifters off the original bars will simply get taken up again when put on the new pair? Running SRAM Apex which I think have front derailleurs sensitive to cable tension, and it runs sweet as a nut at the moment! :?

drlodge

Removing the shifters won't introduce slack in the cables, so yes, you can change bars without re-cabling. Easy.

luv2ride

Excellent. That's my rainy day project then as the kids have just settled down to play Minecraft for the afternoon

drlodge

I've got the same project to do...and my kids also play minecraft :-)

The most difficult bit I find is (a) getting the correct amount of tilt on the bars (b) positioning of the levers.

Monty Dog

Only issue might be if planning to change to wider / deeper drop bars / longer stem - if going shallower, narrower or shorter - not a problem.

drlodge

Good point, its the length of the cable outers that will be the limiting factor.

luv2ride

They might be ever so slightly narrower. I'm going from some old Spesh shallow drops, to the FSA Wing Compact. Both are 42cm centre to centre, but have read that the Wing bars are slightly narrower at the tops/hoods (the ends flare out by 4 degrees. Should be ok?

drlodge

Should be fine...its makes no difference what happens the bars below the shifters.

smoggysteve

I have just swapped my stem and bars recently. Job was pretty straight forward with changing shifters over.

One thing to check before finishing and taping up bars is to check the cables are in places that are not going to snag or catch other cables. If you are changing stem length or anything that will effect the distance from the point of entry to frame or frame clips move the bars about and check by shifting the steering to its extremes to make sure they run smooth and don't pull.

I have had a problem on an older bike where because the cable was on a longer stem the steering would pull on the brakes on the rear wheel. It was only slight but was still a concern.

Monty Dog

The lesson for every bike builder - cut the rear brake cable outer too short, turn the bars and wonder why the bike slows down?

smoggysteve

Monty Dog wrote:

The lesson for every bike builder - cut the rear brake cable outer too short, turn the bars and wonder why the bike slows down?

Was the original cable and at the time it didn't look that different in length. Was a few years ago and not made same mistake since.

mitchgixer6

Monty Dog wrote:

The lesson for every bike builder - cut the rear brake cable outer too short, turn the bars and wonder why the bike slows down?

If you need to turn the bars that much then you'll be going too slowly already for it to make much difference!