Sadly it is pretty common with post 9 speed shifters that the cable will fray where it bends inside the shifter body. The good news is that it is usually a pretty quick fix to remove the broken cable, I just hope there aren't any cable strands loose to muck up the inner workings, that could take a bit more to get out.

rich

It's not a warranty issue, it's a failure of maintenance issue.

There is a little plastic cover on the bottom and side of the shifter that you can remove and get the pieces of the cable out.

http://si.shimano.com/.../EV-ST-5800-3711.pdf

Parts 10 and 11

Not to be argumentative, but could you explain?

For one year and the mileage, it couldn’t be due to maintenance neglect. Right? How?

I also took it in twice for inspection the first year to the shop where it was supposed to cover looking at this kind of thing.

We’re talking 1yr and less than 3k miles.

Some Shimano shifters that route the cables under the tape are infamous for breaking cables inside the shifter. The cable is bent at such a sharp angle that the strands start to shear. Some mechanics I know think you should swap your rear shifter cable once a year with these shifters. This is true for 7900, 6700 and 5800 but I've had it happen with even 6600 (which routes the cables externally). Fishing the cable end out of the shifter is a pain. The problem is apparently fixed with the current generations.

Can happen on any generation of shifters, really depends on the individual cable routing. Had this happen to me on 7800 dura ace before.


if you took it in twice for inspection that's your shop's fault then. but then again AFAIK unless I were paying for a full service most shops would not be stripping the bike down to the level of inspecting individual cables. I make sure to change my shift cables at least once a year, especially if the cable routing is particularly complex. proper install is also important.

If you aren't checking over your cables once a month you are neglecting maintenance.

Sounds like a good survey question. How many people pull the rubber boot and unscrew the cover off the bottom and shine a light inside of 5800 shifters monthly. You can’t see this without doing that. I inspected the rest, visible stuff, often.

The shop didn’t look at their inspection in November then. Why did I bother taking it in then?

I could see twice yearly after a year or 3k miles. But not a year.

That’s pretty ludicrous. That’s less reliable than my POS big turbo tuner Volkswagen I used to drive.

The obvious question would be who made the cable?

As everyone has said modern Shimano shifters are reknowned for chewing through the inners, especially on the right-hand shifter, but 3k is still extraordinarily quick so I'd say it's either (1) a dodgy installation (e.g. housing not seated in the shifter correctly?) or (2) a cheap OEM or defective cable.

Obviously no one in their right mind is stripping their shifters apart to check for fraying every month, but for future reference, changing the inners every year is prudent.

Edited to add: it should be a 10 min fix for your shop, do I wouldn't stress out about it.

It's more than just mileage, it's shifting habits as well. If you ride on a lot of rollers and are constantly shifting that will wear out the cables faster. However, the 5800/6800/9000 series has had a lot of complaints about wearing cables quickly. I think that was the point of the running upgrade to the 9001 shifters. I have a bike with 5800 and a bike with 6800 and I change inners once a year regardless of mileage. Doesn't cost me much since I do the work myself, although it is a pain on my bike with internal routing.

Shimano shifters are well known for shredding cables. I was on a group ride once where two guys had RH shimano cables snap (One DA and one Ultegra) and we had to tie their remaining sections to the cable boss and make their bikes 2 speeds in a climbing gear.

Ok, I totally get now how it isn't a "warranty" thing. Just feed a new cable and clean it out for shavings. Since the shifter is fine.

Sure, I'm the 1000th person seeing this, old news. Whatever. Just if it's that widely known, I'd prefer someone saying something and I would have paid in-advance to replace cables earlier or known to pull the cover off every 3 months to check. And gone ahead and replaced at 2k miles. FWIW, 2k miles is under a year by far for many riders.

Reminds me of the plastic window clips in 4th generation Volkswagens. People "in the know" were aware they fail all the time in cold weather and colder climates. But people not "in the know" had no idea to replace them with the metal version until on a freezing cold day their window drops into the door.

Yes, this has been an issue with the 11speed generation Shimano stuff and on. Has happened to me twice. I notice when shifting gets inexplicably funny. Luckily both times I caught it before the cable totally broke and lost the head inside the shifter. It can be a pain to get all the metal bits out. Happens even with the polymer cables.

JesseN wrote:

I notice when shifting gets inexplicably funny.

This is important to note. As soon as a cable starts fraying the shifting will deteriorate a little - often seeming a little harder to move the lever - and/or the cable will seem to be stretching.

Change the cable right away, or at least check it! Preemptive maintenance is probably better, but if the shifting gets the slightest bit worse at the lever, watch out.

davidalone wrote:

if you took it in twice for inspection that's your shop's fault then. but then again AFAIK unless I were paying for a full service most shops would not be stripping the bike down to the level of inspecting individual cables.

This is true. But if the shifting has deteriorated to wear the cable needs tightening, a good mechanic should ask why the cable needs to be tightened, and consider that it is fraying. Beyond the initial "stretching" when housing beds in right after installation, cable shouldn't stretch much.


The first time this happened to me the cable seemed to have "stretched" so I tightened it quite a bit at the rear derailleur. Then it stretched more, so I tightened it. Then it broke while shifting.

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http://www.jt10000.com/

The shifting will deteriorate long before it breaks.
Fix it then, not afterwards.

The biggest problem here is installation.
Use the proper Shimano cable ends at the shifter that key into the slot in the shifter body and have the cable protector extension molded in.
Don't make a loop of cable and snap it in when replacing the cable, this sets up the stress point and makes it break.
Push the cable directly through the body and into the outer in a straight line.

Do it properly and you will easily get a few years out of the cable.
Do it the wrong way and it can break anytime.

They fixed it yesterday.

The cable had frayed and broken about 1/2 inch down from the head of the cable.

I feel like there's a bit of pious folks in here on this one. Kind of like "well you know, everyone knows you should be doing XXX and if not then it's you're own fault".

If it's that bad, and it isn't a common item, then Shimano needs to be putting a little piece of paper with their stuff stating there is a tech bulletin that customers should inspect/replace every so many miles or date range.

That's how it works on automobiles.

Yes, it's a consumable part and not a durable good, but there should be a reasonable life expectancy.

I'm not sure we'd have dissent on "maintenance negligence" if someone had bearings or a star ratchet fail in a $2500 wheelset after the same time or mileage. Both being wear items in wheels.

We're talking life ranges here in my case close to it only being able to complete one grand-tour length race. The 2017 TdF, the bike would have crossed the line and then broke the shifter cable.

Maybe before I have to replace it next year I'll just convert to Di2.

Am I color blind and missing the pink-font? I hope so.

...If not: Good lord! What are you doing to your cables that necessitates such frequent inspection!!!??? Shifting all 11 cogs without pedalling? Leaving your bike at the beach by the ocean (...if so, I'm actually jealous)? Sweating acid?

I've noted the same issue in the industry.

I'd come to a shop and say "this strange thing happened/broke here" and they would say "yep, everyone knows that".

Well what the shit, make a TSB for it. I wouldn't complain even if I had to pay to replace with a newly redesigned part. I'd rather not have something fail while riding.

Yes!

This is the gist. I don't mind having to do maintenance, but if your product doesn't follow industry norms, you need to be recognizing it and saying something.

I'll gladly do it if I know. Nobody said a word when I bought the bike, nor dropped it for the routine inspections, or anything else. I'd even ask "hey, is there anything the next little bit I should look out for". "Nope, you should be good a while longer".

I'm the guy too that probably replaces chains, cassettes, and disassembles to clean/lube jockey wheels more often than necessary. Same with shoe cleats, etc...

Make sure your cables are moving freely thru the housings. I shredded a cable on a 6600 shifter, but it was due to a corroded housing segment causing increased cable tension-- oddly, the bike had shifted fine prior to breaking even though it took a substantial pull with my hands to move the cables through the housing.

I don't replace cables every month, I look at them and see if there are any problems. It basically take two minutes.

burnthesheep wrote:

I feel like there's a bit of pious folks in here on this one. Kind of like "well you know, everyone knows you should be doing XXX and if not then it's you're own fault".

Fair point.

Part of the problem is simplistic repair advice: Oh, your derailleur no longer shifts well? Hey, the cable is pretty slack! So tighten the cable!

No, the first step should be to understand why the cable is slack. Did it slip in the pinch bolt? Is something bent? Is the cable fraying? Is the housing collapsing? Etc.

It's like back in the day when people worked on wheels more: Spoke is loose? Tighten it!

Which is not good if the spoke is loose because the rim is bent - tightening it may exacerbate the problem.

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http://www.jt10000.com/

This would be my guess as well. My 5800 shifter hasn't given me any issue on my CX/commuting bike...but then again I've probably only got 6k miles on that bike and changed the cable 3x due to all the mud and dirt they are exposed to. No signs of damage when I pulled the old ones out. I've gone as long as 8k miles on my road bike with SRAM 10 speed shifters before replacing cables, but I do it far more often now that I know how simple and cheap it is to replace them more often.

The "fraying" problem that people mention here tends to happen inside of the shifter housing, close to the end. For the latest generation Shimano It takes quite a bit more than two minutes to inspect that.

I have only had one cable Frey on me before and it was at the rear derailleur where it touched the derailleur body and made a sharp turn before getting screwed down. Now, I put a thin tube of plastic there and run the cable through it. It stays still from cable tension. Never frayed a cable since.

Maybe you can adopt that technique somehow into what your doing. Also, run high end cables. Dura ace, gore, or something stainless and durable.