These are reusable multiple times and are rather neat:
https://jagwire.com/products/small-parts/cable-end-non-crimp
(Available in a variety of colours; easiest to see what they look like in red.)
They are surprisingly easy to put on, since the very small hole in the rubber end piece feeds into a cable-width hole within the two piece aluminium shell part. They also stay in place very well, in my experience. And they look relatively inexpensive compared to the 'cable cherries'.
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Thanks - seems like the right idea although I agree about the looks!
I would imagine you can just cut it off with a sharp knife, or it may even just pull off.
Aye; was thinking similar
I can only speak for myself, but I never re-fit cables. I fit them and then a year or two down the line if they are starting to fray at the pinch bolt or at the end (if the end cap has fallen off), or if I'm doing some other work (or having some other work done) and it seems a suitable time then I replace them.
I'm tight as a duck's arse and tbh don't see any point in replacing cables unless they're visibly damaged / degrading as you describe. This brings me on to my subsequent train of thought that I really ought to implement some sort of maintenance / inspection schedule for my gear; apparently cables often fail at the lever end where it's not immediately obvious - so it's probably worth having a squiz at these on a semi-regular basis along with other areas of the bike..
Realistically how many times are you removing and refitting over the finite lifetime of a inner cable, which are pretty cheap to replace in any event??
You cut off maybe 4mm with crimp end, so leaving an additional 20mm will give you 5 replacements, or knock yourself out and leave 40mm giving you 10 goes!
You are searching for a solution to a problem that is purely theoretical and doesn't exist in real life.
That's a "how long's a piece of string" question as I'm currently fiddling with the bike a fair bit, and as a matter of principal I don't like implementing things that are irreversible / require disposal of otherwise serviceable parts / require replacement parts if I can help it.
Also, ideally I'd always want excess on the cable to pull it tight through the clamp so I'd disagree with the numbers you suggest..
Nice work - although being "surgical steel" I think it's likely that they'd be hardened. Also I suspect that the grub screw size would be too small so they'd want drilling out and tapping to a larger size.
I tend to cut the cable with a longer than usual excess of anything up to 8-10cm whenever possible. It's become a bit of a trademark at work. I wrap it around itself on gear cables which has the added advantage I can hook my finger into the loop to pull the cable if I need extra tension for readjusting.
In the short term, or on some hub gear systems where a crimp won't fit superglue on the end of the cable can stop fraying.
Thanks - I was wondering if there was some sort of "self contained" approach of managing the excess cable. My new, uncut RD cable currently has maybe 120mm of excess past the clamp, which I think could be looped back and secured somewhere..
I think I'm going to try superglue on the other cables and take it from there as it's potentially the easiest / cleanest solution so far..