Snapped Rear Gear Cable

[summerdays]

Annoyingly it had been on my list of things to do, but it was acting weird this morning (mental note to fiddle with it when I arrived at work), then it went. Anyway what I want to know is what is the fix to get me home.... I know that I could fix it in one gear at the back but how do I do that? Or is it better leaving it alone and fixing it properly rather than having to undo a bodge of my own creating?

 

[summerdays]

Thanks I may have a go later ...

 

[The_Weekend_Report_Guy]

Aaaah the story of the snapping cable... What @User said is my advice as well..

It reminds me of a time I got stuck in the 50/12 combo..!!! fun day!!! Was on my way home and "mostly" flat.... 20 km of painful memories..!!

All the best.. and good luck with the fixing..

 

[Tim Hall]

If you want one gear mid block, leave the limit screws alone, they won't go far enough. Pull the inner cable out from the shifter. Set it with the nipple in the adjuster at the derailleur and a short length to the clamp. A bit of trial and error will get you a gear. If you can't cut the excess, coil it up.

This assumes the cable hasn't broken at the nipple end. If it has, there are tales of fixing leaving the "normal" end in the mech and anchoring the broken end under a bottle cage screw, after hoiking the mech into a usable gear. . You don't get the fine adjustment available in @User's method though.

 

[potsy]

Just ride in top gear Summerdays, think of the leg muscles you'll have by the end of the week

 

[Tim Hall]

Just ride in top gear Summerdays, think of the leg muscles you'll have by the end of the week

Have you seen how hilly Bristol is?

 

[beeblemaster]

I'm sure I saw a bodge on a GCN video where someone wedged a twig in the parallelogram in a way which locked the rear mech in a useable gear for the same purpose.

Might be worth a go!

 

[fossyant]

Pop to bike shop and change the cable at lunch !

Same happened to me, cable snapped as I got to work. Luckily I was due to pass a bike shop on the way back from a meeting so was able to change the cable at lunch.

The lucky bit was, the day before I'd been off MTB'ing in the middle of nowhere on my own (in the Peaks) and it would have been a long slow ride home had it snapped then.

 

[summerdays]

I've dashed to the LBS before they closed for their lunch hour, and grabbed a cable but I always stuggle to pull the cable through strong enough, hence why I recently bought cable pullers. I'm just about to start work again so can't look until after work now!

 

[Sharky]

If you want one gear mid block, leave the limit screws alone, they won't go far enough. Pull the inner cable out from the shifter. Set it with the nipple in the adjuster at the derailleur and a short length to the clamp. A bit of trial and error will get you a gear. If you can't cut the excess, coil it up.

"Mid block" - you sound as old as me. I still call them blocks, but I bet a lot of CC's have never seen one.

 

[fossyant]

Nothing wrong with the term "block" !!!

 

[KneesUp]

I've dashed to the LBS before they closed for their lunch hour, and grabbed a cable but I always stuggle to pull the cable through strong enough, hence why I recently bought cable pullers. I'm just about to start work again so can't look until after work now!

Is your local bike shop somehow located in a village in Mid-Wales in the 1950s?

(Mind you, good job it didn't happen on early closing day)

 

[derrick]

screw limit screw in as much as possible should get you up about three gears, then use front mech if you have one will get you home.

 

[summerdays]

Pop to bike shop and change the cable at lunch !

Same happened to me, cable snapped as I got to work. Luckily I was due to pass a bike shop on the way back from a meeting so was able to change the cable at lunch.

The lucky bit was, the day before I'd been off MTB'ing in the middle of nowhere on my own (in the Peaks) and it would have been a long slow ride home had it snapped then.

i could have done with seeing that message earlier... My LBS are lovely and might have tried to squeeze it into their lunch hour, though they were shut last week so there is probably a bit of a backlog so unfair to ask them however nice they are. And I went on a borrowed bike so they couldn't fiddle with it!

 

[summerdays]

Is your local bike shop somehow located in a village in Mid-Wales in the 1950s?

(Mind you, good job it didn't happen on early closing day)

That's Wednesday , no I'm not joking.... It is an old family shop! And they don't shut early they are just closed! The number of times I forget!