Internal cable entry cover slipped inside frame

deadly radish
deadly radish Posts: 13
edited March 2015 in Workshop
Howdy all,

When installing my rear brake cable on my internally cabled bike, as soon as I pulled the lever the cable slipped and the little boss / entry-cap at the headset end slipped inside the frame. See the picture for a better idea, the arrow shows the cap's new residence:

OKgURTu.jpg

As you can see I have an inner tubing still in there so for now it's just freely moving around on that within the frame.

It must not have been correctly sized to have slipped in like that, but it is very close to the right size for the hole and as such removing it will be... tricky.

Any ideas on how to get it out? I've tried grabbing it with a little pick but it just moves away as soon as I make contact with it.

Comments

  • ElectronShepherd
    ElectronShepherd Posts: 227
    How about a bit of wire (e.g. straightened paperclip) with a tiny blob of superglue on the end? Poke it into the frame and hold it in contact with the inside of the cap until it sets (shouldn't be more than a few minutes) and then you might be able to drag it out.

    Once it's out, removing the superglue and cleaning up the inside of the cap shouldn't be too much trouble, but I would think you wouldn't want to reuse the cap anyway.
  • deadly radish
    deadly radish Posts: 13
    Superglue was a great idea - I have been able to glue a bit of cable offcut to the cap which works but doesn't provide enough force to pull it out of the frame, the cable snaps off before it comes through the hole. Will try and get a paperclip from work tomorrow (for the life of me I cant find any in my flat, I don't know where they're hiding) to use as a hook and help pull it through.

    I am beginning to suspect the hole flexed to allow it through in the first place, in which case I may not stand a chance of getting it out and it will be a case of sending it to the LBS to remove the BB and take it out that way. That would be tremendously frustrating (and, I fear, expensive) as I just finished a full groupset replacement and I had literally just taken it off the stand to take it for a spin when this happened.
  • trailflow
    trailflow Posts: 1,311
    Have you tried tweezers ?

    Does your frame have an internal cable guide under the bottom bracket, is it removable it might give you access.

    or cant you just remove the fork and headset from the frame and reach inside ? or is it unreachable ?
  • deadly radish
    deadly radish Posts: 13
    After a bit of wrangling this evening I was finally able to get it back - I had to completely remove the fork and headset like you suggested but I was able to get my fingers in, pull the cable out and grab the thing!

    Thanks for all your help guys :)

Categories