Retrieving the dynamo cable from inside the front fork

[This Wreckage]

I have a Gazelle Esprit bike in which the dynamo is connected at the front axle via a plug; the two wires are nicely hidden inside the front fork up to the lights. However, these wires keep coming away from the plug. When I attempted to refit them, I accidentally pulled them through their hole inside the hollow front fork (see photo). Can anyone suggest a means to retrieve them?

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Pull it out completely.
Now take a bit of sewing cotton (the really thin stuff, and put a length of it in the top hole. Now, from the bottom hole, suck into the hole with your Henry Hoover Suckamobile with some little nozzle that you've improvised. Feed the cotton through with the suction. Now cut the cotton off at the top and carefuilly tape it to the end of the dyno cable. Make it as streamlined as possible and gently pull it through.
Now drink a beer and go for a ride.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Now take a bit of sewing cotton (the really thin stuff, and put a length of it in the top hole

Excellent idea, but I think a length of sewing cotton will rip - unless you double it up, twist it, tie a knot at the ends?
Would it then still fit in the opening on the frame?
Maybe better with a thin ribbon, like the stuff one uses to wrap Christmas presents?

 

[oxoman]

I'm lucky as i just use some thin welding wire and fish it through. I use 4mm airpipe for cables etc through the main frame. Basically anything you can push in the general direction tou want. In the past ive used wire coat hangers.

 

[PapaZita]

The cotton trick really can work very well. It needs to be a light and floaty thread to be carried through by the airflow. If it’s not strong enough to pull the dynamo cable, use it to pull a stronger string first, then use that to pull the cable. I surprised myself at how relatively easily I was able to get a Di2 cable around an awkward Z bend with the method.

 

[88robb]

Try a magnetic retrieval tool, or a hook made from a straightened paperclip. Fish it through the hole and pull gently. If that fails, you may need to drop the fork's star nut and feed a new cable through from the top.

 

[MichaelW2]

Attach some fishing line to the cotton.

 

[Tom B]

Excellent idea, but I think a length of sewing cotton will rip - unless you double it up, twist it, tie a knot at the ends?
Would it then still fit in the opening on the frame?
Maybe better with a thin ribbon, like the stuff one uses to wrap Christmas presents?

I have some kevlar thread which is very strong and objectionably expensive. I used it to fortify stitching on pouches that hang from utility belts. Being a tight wad the next time around I used fishing line, but getting the balance right on thickness was a pain.
I then hit upon the idea of using dental floss. The flat ribbon type works quite nicely with my elongated eye hole needles.
Perhaps dental floss could assist here.... either tied to the cotton or on its own.

 

[Chris S]

Perhaps dental floss could assist here.... either tied to the cotton or on its own.

And if you thread the dental floss through a needle you could drop it through the top hole and let gravity do the rest. It would be a lot easier than using an improvised vacuum cleaner nozzle from the top.

 

[silva]

I support that needle idea, just some strong fiber like nylon or polyester, put an end through its eye, knot it, then gravity.
Ex fishing line is stug nylon. Stug enough to be able to push it through a tube instead of gravity. Can't put a knot in it and also knot would be too big, but you can use a soldering iron, or just a lighter, to melt the end to the other side of the needle eye.
Or, just double it, same length on both sides of the needle eye, longer than the distance to bridge.

And before this, is it possible that the wires were originally cut too short?
Since it's said that they always coming loose from the plug.
On earlier bikes I put an extra length just before the plug, it also served as an initial bend down and back up, diverting rainwater to flow into the plug and corrode the copper, because lost copper made the plug not fit snug.

 

[Oldhippy]

Or similarly, a single strand of solder that should stay straight enough or put a slight bend in if the forks are curved. I used this method and it worked fine.

 

[Tom B]

And if you thread the dental floss through a needle you could drop it through the top hole and let gravity do the rest. It would be a lot easier than using an improvised vacuum cleaner nozzle from the top.

A bodkin might be the man for the job depending on hole sizes.