Gear cable snapped inside lever on road bike. Easy way to fix it?

[Orang Utan]

It's the back derailleur cable. I'm not very handy but i have to try and fix it myself or else my racer will be a two speed bike for the foreseeable future. I'm having to stand on the pedals to climb steep hills!

 

[Cid]

You'll need to replace the cable (obviously) and set up the derailleur. Er... Lazy answer:

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/shift-levers-shifters
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/rear-derailler-adjustments-derailleur

 

[weepiper]

Is the end still stuck inside the lever?

 

[Orang Utan]

You'll need to replace the cable (obviously) and set up the derailleur. Er... Lazy answer:

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/shift-levers-shifters
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/rear-derailler-adjustments-derailleur

Cheers, i feared that i may have to replace the cable. There's no way of fixing it with the present one?

 

[weepiper]

Cheers, i feared that i may have to replace the cable. There's no way of fixing it with the present one?

Nope. A single gear cable inner should only be a couple of quid though.

 

[Orang Utan]

Is the end still stuck inside the lever?

No, the end has snapped away from the lever and shrunk inside the cable housing. There may be the end of the cable somewhere inside the lever but i can't see.

 

[Orang Utan]

Nope. A single gear cable inner should only be a couple of quid though.

Arse. All I need right now is having to spend money. I shall have to be content with just two speeds for the time being.

 

[Pickman's model]

Arse. All I need right now is having to spend money. I shall have to be content with just two speeds for the time being.

go and stop?

 

[Orang Utan]

No, two speeds on the front cog

 

[peterkro]

You could buy a stainless Campag one for about £40 or a perfectly adequate no name for a fiver.

 

[Orang Utan]

Ta, but I can't afford either right now

 

[weepiper]

No, the end has snapped away from the lever and shrunk inside the cable housing. There may be the end of the cable somewhere inside the lever but i can't see.

The end is probably inside the lever still, you'll find a little bit like this stuck in there

release the shifter all the way as if you were shifting to the smallest cog, then pull the lever as if you were braking, you should see a little round window with the cable end in it (ignore the words, this is just the only picture I could find)

they can sometimes be a bit of a bugger to get out but with a lot of turning the bike on its side and shoogling/poking with a spoke end or similar it will come out so you can slot a new one in.

 

[Orang Utan]

I can just see a tiny wire sticking out. Not sure how I can coax it out!

 

[Orang Utan]

I've never heard the word shoogle before but I think I get what you mean!

 

[gentlegreen]

You could buy a stainless Campag one for about £40 or a perfectly adequate no name for a fiver.

Or even less from Wilkinsons ... though it may be annoyingly stretchy ...

 

[weltweit]

OU you will need to buy a new cable and fit it.

Unless you can re solder the nipple onto the cable and adjust for the fact you now have a shorter cable.

 

[Boycey]

You could buy a stainless Campag one for about £40 or a perfectly adequate no name for a fiver.

the 40 quid is for a full cable set, inners and outers (the gear cable end is a slightly different shape/size, essential on some ergo levers). OU should be able to get away with a single inner for 2 quid, a fiver will be for inner and outer.

 

[peterkro]

the 40 quid is for a full cable set, inners and outers (the gear cable end is a slightly different shape/size, essential on some ergo levers). OU should be able to get away with a single inner for 2 quid, a fiver will be for inner and outer.

I misread the prices,I know Campag aren't cheap but thought $60 for a cable was a bit much,it was actually for a pack of ten.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

No, two speeds on the front cog

at the risk of sounding dumb here and they may of course not be the same length as they'll terminate at two different points on the frame but could you not swap em over so the front cable now does the rear gears and at least then you'd have half your gears for a bit til it's repaired?

 

[weltweit]

at the risk of sounding dumb here and they may of course not be the same length as they'll terminate at two different points on the frame but could you not swap em over so the front cable now does the rear gears and at least then you'd have half your gears for a bit til it's repaired?

Good idea. (obv.if they are the same length)

 

[Boycey]

you'll have issues running an old cable that's been crimped through the outer, it'll most likely split inside the outer and fuck the lining up. not recommended.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

you'll have issues running an old cable that's been crimped through the outer, it'll most likely split inside the outer and fuck the lining up. not recommended.

true but presumably we're talking about a get you home fix rather than a decent repair here... in which case this should be ok...

 

[Addy]

Remove the outer so you can grip the inner wire and have a gear selection by hand tugging and luck until you can get a new cable.

Go to your local houhold waste site / local scrap iron man and beg one off a bike destined for scrap metal.

 

[Boycey]

true but presumably we're talking about a get you home fix rather than a decent repair here... in which case this should be ok...

if you can get the cable through the outer at all.

 

[weepiper]

Gear cable is about the only bit of a bike where you really can't use a secondhand one. They're so sensitive to little kinks or snaggy bits or bits of grit that the shifting just won't work accurately (at least not on a modern road bike like OU has got... you could get away with it on an old friction shifter)

 

[stuff_it]

No, two speeds on the front cog

Is the cable to the front cogs long enough to reach the back? You could use one of the front ones as static then and use all your back gears....

 

[weepiper]

Is the cable to the front cogs long enough to reach the back? You could use one of the front ones as static then and use all your back gears....

It'll be way too short.

 

[stuff_it]

It'll be way too short.

I know naff all about these geared bikes.

*shrug*

And that's what your mum said.

 

[DownwardDog]

OP: Find a suitably sized pebble or nut and wedge it into the parallelogram part of the rear mech to hold it in a lower gear (2nd or 3rd gear) until you can afford to get it fixed.

Everyone Else: Stop calling them fucking "cogs". They are not "cogs".

 

[weepiper]

Everyone Else: Stop calling them fucking "cogs". They are not "cogs".

Technically no. But do a google image search for 'cog' and see how many of the pictures are of bike sprockets. People (especially non-cyclists/people who come into bike shops with problems) call them cogs, like it or not