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How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept

GregW

May 29, 11 15:22

Post #1 of 14 (3442 views)

How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept	Quote \| Reply

Has any one out there re-cabled a Speed Concept? Specifically I'd like to swap out the supplied cables with a set of Gore professional sealed cables. The cables will be anchored to SRAM RED components. I'm particularly interested in the cable outer/housings as I was really happy to find that routing the inner cables is super easy, at least compared to my Cervelo S3. Trek have really thought this part out imo.

Having looked at the bike; replaced the inner cables, and the Trek Service Service Information document; which only really covers the inner cables, I have the following questions:

1. I assume it's best to run the cable housing from the TT opening in to the DT and down to the BB cable guide?
2. Is it necessary to remove the BB as well as the BB cable guide in order to seat the cable housing?
3. If yes, then I guess I should have a spare BB kit? I generally find press fit BBs are less tolerant of subsequent reinstallation.
4. Same procedure for the rear brake cable housing?

Also it would be great to hear of any tips or tricks you guys have picked over the last few months that will make the process go smoothly.

Jimmy C

May 29, 11 16:25

Post #2 of 14 (3399 views)

Re: How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept [GregW] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

i've done it

its not easy and wouldnt do it unless I really really had to again
dont have to take BB out
just lots of patience, time, head torch and swearing
btw cannot redo front brake unless you totally remove integrated stem- weird i know (and other 8-9 bolts involved)
getting cable housing through hbars requires almost complete disassembly- may be a professional method but not obvious
new brake shims make centering easier
not sure that gore cable is going to work with those brakes- why would change whats working- its not a small job

have yet to speak to a mechanic who can put a SC together quick
really nice bike once you have the 99999 thousand bolts all done up correctly and the recalled bits installed

ssphone

May 29, 11 16:33

Post #3 of 14 (3394 views)

Re: How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept [GregW] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

I have popped out my bearings many times the hard crude way, and pressed them with the crank and hammer and have no problems whatsoever with the bearings despite doing so.... On the other hand the bike is a beast to work with in regards to cabling. X2 on why you want to fix something that isn't broken.

drewmc3656

May 29, 11 16:40

Post #4 of 14 (3386 views)

Re: How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept [Jimmy C] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

There is no need to remove the stem to re-cable the front brake. I have done it several times both on customer bikes and my own, no stem removal required. True, you have to remove the base bar from the stem, but there is certainly no need to remove the stem.

To the OP: Recabling the bike is difficult, but not impossible by any means if you are at least somewhat handy with a wrench and have some common sense. If it's working fine now, just re-do each cable the way the old one comes out. No special tricks really, just be patient and use your head. Go ahead and start in on it. If you come up on any specific problems, you can post here or PM me and I'll be glad to help.

GregW

May 29, 11 17:28

Post #5 of 14 (3353 views)

Re: How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept [drewmc3656] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

Cool thanks. I'm working on a Speed Concept 7.0 so thankfully I don't need to worry about the front end:-)

I'm really concentrating on the best way to feed the cable housings from the top tube down to the bottom bracket area and making sure they make a good connection. Is it the BB cable guide that the cable housings connect to? My bike shop has ordered the updated part as mine was showing some movement so I'd likely do both jobs at the same time.

(This post was edited by GregW on May 29, 11 17:29)

GregW

Jun 16, 11 9:00

Post #6 of 14 (3216 views)

Re: How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

Thanks for the help and advice. I've now completed the job and very happy with the result.

As Drew stated it's a job that takes some patience, but other than time; it took me about 20% longer than I expected, the job went very smoothly. I'd experienced some bottom bracket cable guide slippage so took the opportunity to replace and resize the cable housings; based on my final fit data, after installing the new part. The 7 is clearly a much easier bike to work on than the 9, but I still think Trek deserve credit for a decent design that's not too hard to wrench.

I replaced the brake and derailleur cables with Gore's Professional cables. If anyone is thinking of doing the same you'll need two derailleur kits, that is unless you run the cables without housings through the downtube.

oystein

Oct 12, 11 14:22

Post #7 of 14 (2961 views)

Re: How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept [GregW] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

Hi

May I ask what you did with the cables under the bottom bracket? Should these have some kind of housing to keep them from eating through the black plastic?

I forgot to check what it looked like when I started the job.

GregW

Oct 12, 11 14:45

Post #8 of 14 (2930 views)

Re: How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept [oystein] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

In short I did nothing.

You just need to run the cable outers down the downtube and in to the cable stops. The inner cables don't need housings once they reach the bottom bracket cable guide. I've heard some people don't bother running cable outers in the down tube.

This is how the bike was shipped from Trek's main European warehouse.

(This post was edited by GregW on Oct 12, 11 14:46)

oystein

Oct 12, 11 15:18

Post #9 of 14 (2904 views)

Re: How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept [GregW] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

Thanks!
That picture was great help.

Any hints on adjusting the rear brake? I end up having some slack in the cable so the brake lever has 5 mm + movement before putting tension on the brake cable.
Said in a different way. The triangular thing is not getting pulled far enough back after brakes are pulled.

GregW

Oct 12, 11 15:27

Post #10 of 14 (2892 views)

Re: How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept [oystein] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

Nothing more than trial and error I'm afraid. To make life easier next season I'm going to buy some training wheels that match the width of my Zipp Firecrests, and replace my SRAM 900s with the new 990 as it has 8mm of adjustment.

brewerbry

Oct 12, 11 15:28

Post #11 of 14 (2891 views)

Re: How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept [GregW] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

As a 7 series owner that has re-cabled my bike (and ditched the inline adjusters) I can tell you that you have to have the housing in the downtube - there are no stops between the shifter or brake lever and the bottom bracket cable guide. The job takes some time, be patient and it will be fine.

The way you adjust your rear brake is loosen the nut on the triangle part, push the cable out more, tighten the nut and then cut the excess cable. Pretty easy.

Good luck.

GreenBoy

May 2, 12 8:31

Post #12 of 14 (1999 views)

Re: How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept [GregW] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

Hi everyone,

I know this thread is a year old but I thought this might help others googling this topic. I just re-cabled my SC and thought I'd share a couple tricks I used to make it much easier.

First, and to make things much easier, remove the back brake caliper. I know that sounds intimidating, but once you get into it it's pretty simple. You need to do this to get to the housing guide under the brake cable and rear caliper. You'll see it - don't worry.

Second, there's a housing guide that is removable after loosening the bolt. Take this off and out. The housing for the RD and FD will be held by this guide and will come out with it. This also assumes you've loosened the cables at the derailleurs and shifters.

Tips/Tricks:

To make life easier you can:

1. Tape the new housing to the old housing and pull it through. You�ll just need to push the new housing into the guide and put everything back together. Or...

2. Put the housing into the guide and then push it up from the bottom � downtube up to toptube. This made it much easier to pull through (for me at least).

3. After you�ve got the housing in place (in the guide and through the tubes) the cables just slide right through and are pretty simple.

Insidious

May 2, 12 12:21

Post #13 of 14 (1903 views)

Re: How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept [GregW] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

Classic way to put new housing in an aero setup is to Reverse feed a bare cable into the housing so it comes out the other end. Remove the old housing, retread the new housing onto the cable that now acts. A guide, send it down and then remove the reversed cable. You can also try getting a hold of a set of the plastic threading tubes the manufacturers/builders use. Most shops that do a lot of tri bikes will have a pile of them somewhere. Great for retreading and recabling the aero bar as well as they thread really easily and don't require you to mess up a derailleur cable fishing them through. They will accept a standard cable once threaded so you can just fish your cable, remove the plastic tube and use your routed cable to get the housing in.

With speed concept you don't even need to reverse thread. the housings shoot right down the downtube to the back of the bb shell. Ie getting them on blindly is not a big challenge. Remove the brake and bracket and they are right there. You do need to remove the bracket I think because the housings really have to get pushed into the bracket thoroughly.

Insidious

May 2, 12 13:36

Post #14 of 14 (1867 views)

Re: How to re-cable my Trek Speed Concept [oystein] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

That particular problem is usually a result of the housing not being flush with the stops somewhere. Could be in the bar but also could be where the housing meets the cable bracket at the BB ( pictured above).

Unless you just dont have enough tension on the cable (sorry, I know obvious but if the bike came to my workstand I'd check there first).