#MeToo
cutting outer gear cable
- Thread starter autolycus
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
#MeToo
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
If the "metal parts" look spiral, the outer is for a brake cable: "this is [NOT] a gear cable outer". The effect of such misuse will be poor shifting up the smaller sprockets.
Brake cable outer is typically 4.9mm diameter: gear cable outer is 4.1mm diameter. HTH
And as @T4tomo says: "you do need a a decent loop at the rear derailleur". For 'guidance' I (by eye) have a semi-circle diameter 90mm (have just measured 3 and taken average!).
Last edited:
Thanks for all the replies. There's a lot to digest here but i'm midway between having a tooth extracted and buying a new car! I'll reply in more detail later, but here is a pic of the old gear cable and the new gear cable. Both ODs are approx 4.3mm; the new (Shimano) cable is slightly smaller and AFAICS spiral.
Attachments
Proto
Legendary Member
- Location
- East Devon/West Dorset
Takes 10 times as long and result is half as good, but if it works for you, great, and good luck filing the ends of outer gear cables.
numbnuts
Legendary Member
- Location
- Gone over the hill and far away
Side cutters, been using them all my life, if it ain't broke.......
Just because it is in Shimano branded packaging it doesn't mean that it is Shimano, there's a lot of counterfeit stuff about, specially consumables. I can't see any part number in the label, which isn't a good sign.
Same here. I've never understood all the fuss about getting dedicated cable cutters.
It's certainly not "the only way to do it properly".
A decent pair of side cutters does the job just fine. Probably not a great deal cheaper than the dedicated Park tool for a good pair, but more useful.
I think you're spot on. I didn't examine the packaging properly and it's not the same as on the amazon webpage that i bought it from.
I bought this
And received this (if it's even genuine, which i doubt)
Which is 2.99 in Cycle Store at the moment. B******s! I'm returning what's left of the set to Amazon
Having said all that, it's not causing the problem with my shifting; it was showing the same symptoms before i fitted this cheap rubbish.
Both amazon marketplace and the bay are notorious for counterfeit stuff. I got stung on the bay with a fake shimano chain that rusted badly after the first wet ride. When I went to complain about the seller they had already packed up and closed shop.
Hopefully the store gets a good smackdown.
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
Another vote for the Draper cutter mentioned above. I usually poke the end of a scriber in the cut end to open it out a bit it if it's gone out of round.
Last edited:
Greasy Gilbert
I know nothing so feel free to contradict me.
- Location
- Rotherham sur la Don
Just my addition to other folks methods, cut with cable cutters then use a gimlet to open up any squashing . An alternative is a small woodscrew wound in with a screwdriver. Works for me👍
Nibor
Bewildered
- Location
- Accrington
I have a dart in my toolbox for this job
