Brake and gear cable left over. What to do?

[Cyclopathic]

Has anybody got any ideas about what to do with bits of cable off cuts. Somehow I can't bring myself to just throw them away so they are piling up in a drawer. It seems such a waste to throw away these pieces of perfectly good, shiny wire, which can be quite long if they have come from a front brake. You end up using less than half of it.
What do you do with your bits?
What could I do with mine?
Any suggestions welcome.

 

[Venod]

I too have kept these pieces thinking they may come in handy, only to throw them away when having a tidy up, so my advice would be bin em.

 

[Rob3rt]

Inners go in the bin. Bits of outer, if they are long enough to be used at a later date for say a rear brake run from boss to brake, or rear mech run, keep them, if not, bin!

 

[HLaB]

If they're doulble ended cables (road cap one end, mtb cap the other); I've used them as emergency front brake cables before but like Afnug I too have kept cables which turned out to be useless; so if they don't have end caps you might as well bin em.

 

[deanE]

What do you do with your bits?
What could I do with mine?

I keep my "bits" safely tucked in, thank you. I suggest that you do the same. As for ends of cables, thread some beads on them and turn them into necklaces. We'll need them when the money supply totally collapses.

 

[Cyclopathic]

The problem is that I can't bin em. It feels so wrong. I know they aren't worth much but they are pristine, never been used for anything. Each time one gets thrown away somewhere a Native American cries into his moccasins. The problem for me is that stuff is worth so little and I seem to have fixated on this one particular example of first world waste. It has to be sourced, then dug out of the ground and made into metal and then cut and shaped and worked and stretched and spun and distributed and stacked and stored and displayed and sold just to be thrown away back into the ground. I have at least put it in a recycling bin to be taken to the tip when full o' metal but still...
I need a bit of a lie down and a hot malty drink. Find my happy place.

 

[Boris Bajic]

Put them carefully back in the neatly-piled plastic supermarket trays where you keep all your other gubbins, parts and tools.

That way, the next time you're rummaging for the right cable you will:

1. Pierce the end of your finger on an exposed cable end and say a bad word because you already have oil on your finger and it hurts.
2. Be unable to find the cable you're looking for because there are so many off-cuts littering the disorganised chaos you call a parts tray.
3. Never be quite sure how many servicable cables with which nipple type you actually have - and will be certain not to have the type and length you need on a Sunday when everything is closed.

I do this and it has never held me back.

 

[Mile195]

I put mine in the recycling box with the tins. Metal is relatively easy to sort at recycling plants, so I don't feel it's going to waste. I also throw worn out cassettes and chains in the recycling too. Our council's fairly quick to stick big notes on the box if you're throwing the wrong thing in the wrong bin, and I haven't had one yet, so I guess it's fine.

That said, I've kept one bit by, because I intend on using it to repair a broken bird feeder my other half wants sorted. But unless you have a large stock of broken bird feeders to do the same, I'm not sure you'll find this a particularly long-term solution...

 

[summerdays]

Knit them into a string vest so that you can feel you are doing your bit....

 

[MontyVeda]

put 'em in the recycling/

 

[beastie]

Have two bikes, one road bike and one hybrid. If you use double ended cables then you get bot bikes off one set of cables. ie front and back, then vice versa.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I think Night Train mentioned in another post that he uses them as zipper replacements in a figure of 8 with a crimp in the middle...
have to confess mine found the bin as well after the recycling men returned them to me.

 

[PaulSecteur]

Use the inners in a strimmer. Bit of a bodge but works.

 

[ianrauk]

Now thats a good idea....

 

[PaulSecteur]

Now thats a good idea....

It was my Dads idea, he is a bodge expert. He works in accordance with this...