Mercx EMX-5 internal gear cables

ashryan91

Recently bought a Mercx EMX-5 frameset. Built the bike up and everything was fine until it came to fitting the gear cables. The bike uses internal cable routing, which I've never worked with before. There seems to be a few different ways that different manufacturers route the cables through the frame so I can't really find any information on how to do this. The hole for the cable is quite large and I'm pretty sure the outer cable is supposed to run the length of the downtube and stop in the recess underneath the bottom bracket.

The problem is that the hole where the cable should exit the frame seems very difficult for the outer cable to come through so I can't put a ferrule onto it. While it's like this, the outer cable moves back up into the frame when the bars are turned and that can't be right. I've added some pictures to show the entry and exit points for the cables but I can't really work out what I'm doing wrong. Can anybody shed any light on this?

Thanks, Ash

ElectronShepherd

This is just a guess, but the two threaded holes between the two exit holes and the plastic cable guide look a bit suspicious. Is some sort of ferule supposed to screw into the frame to terminate the outers before the cable feeds into the guide? Maybe it wasn't supplied with the frameset or it's still in the bottom of the box somewhere.

ashryan91

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19684866#p19684866]ElectronShepherd[/url] wrote:

This is just a guess, but the two threaded holes between the two exit holes and the plastic cable guide look a bit suspicious. Is some sort of ferule supposed to screw into the frame to terminate the outers before the cable feeds into the guide? Maybe it wasn't supplied with the frameset or it's still in the bottom of the box somewhere.

Thanks for the reply, yes there is a cap with a groove on the inside that goes over each exit hole, I took them off for the photo. The outer cable or a ferrule fits into this groove but the cable doesn't seem to want to come out of the frame to sit in it.

fortyone

I recently built a new EMX3 and only the inner cables went through the frame, with the outer cables remaining on the outside. I think you say that the outer cable should exit the bottom bracket and that there should be a "stop" fitted there to prevent it pulling right through, allowing only the inner cable to emerge from the frame, which seems reasonable. However, as you said, when the bars move it pulls the outer cable through, which can't be right. It would all work if a shorter outer cable stops at the entrance to the frame. Could you fit barrel adjusters to the larger top holes as stops, and feed the inner gear cables through them? The inner brake cables are normally fitted only through the frame as well.