This will be the 2nd time I will endeavor to re-route my cable wire after having re-positioned the bike for whatever reason. The current situation has my basebar and clip-on setup changed enough that I will need to cut both the cable housing and the cable itself. Last time I did that I attempted to re-use the old cable to semi-satisfactory results but the cable(s) were old and easily split upon re-entry.
The current setup uses nearly brand new housing and cable(s) so I think they’ll re-route fairly well. The other concern is how difficult that bloody housing is to cut. Should I invest in some Park cable housing cutters or is there something DYI or household that’ll work. I have already considered taking it into the LBS but soon or a later I am going to have to figure this out as I imagine it won’t be the last time I tinker with my position and/or swap out a component/accessory.
Yes, get a specialized tool for cutting the cable, unless you already have a Dremel tool as Dr Doom has. The tool will enable you to cut the cable housing without crushing and collapsing the end of the cable housing you cut. However, this will still leave a burr at the end of the cut and a file will not remove the burr. I use my bench grinder to “clean-up” the cut and a toothpick to “re-open” the end of the liner that gets crimped during the cut. The specialized tool will also enable you to cut the cable and retain its round shape rather than flattening the cable as happens with wire or side cutters. This will make it much easier to run the cut cable through the housing without strands of the cable getting hung up on the inside of the housing.
Lastly, don’t use the cable cutter for cutting other things such as nails, screws or anything else as it may ruin the jaws so it will no longer cut bike cables and cable housing properly.
Get the Park Tool cable cutters. There is no other way to cut the cable as fast and as clean! They’ll last forever.
I ALWAYS put NEW cables in housings, anytime I pull the old cable out. The new cables have a soldered end. The heck with the old cables, the darn things are cheap as hell anyway!
No experience with Nokon - tried Aztec Powerlines, went back to Shimano after 3-weeks! Something to note - last year all the big teams had Nokon cables on all of their bikes. This year it is curious to note that most of the road bikes are now using more traditional cable housings yet some of the TT bikes (T-Mobile for example) still use Nokon. I am thinking it is due to the extreme bends the cables are making when internally routed for aerobars/frames but I will leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions!
I am going to hit REI after work for the Park Cable Cutter/Trimmer. However, I will see about a soldering iron for the existing cable to alleviate fray upon re-entry into the housing. REI sells the Shimano steel internal cable for $3/piece so for 4 you are still going cheap. On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind seeing if the soldering will enable you to re-use fairly new cable in the event this should occur more often.
Anyone attempted soldering the ends of a cable and running it through your housing?
I agree with this wholeheartedly. Last summer I went through the task of searching for the best cutters out there after having a severely unsatisfactory experience with the Park cutters (the top end model - not the cheapo ones). I posted the question here and got answers ranging from Park to Dremel to someone who used Ferrari wire cutters (I’m not exactly suer how he got those). In the end I got a pair of **Felco **cutters, which came recommended by none other than Dan E himself. They truly are the best in my opinion. Failing that, a dremel tool with a cutting wheel does a pretty nice job as well.
Other tips I picked up here were to heat up the spot where you want to cut with a lighter for a second or two immediately before the cut (works very well!) and to cut FAST (none of these slow cuts).
I haven’t ever tried to solder the ends, but JB Weld does a very nice job on them.
PS - the uber-hardcore will never use their cutters for anything other than ***cable housing ***- not even cable itself, or anything else. So far I haven’t found a need to use my cutters for anything other than the housing, as my wire cutters or tin snips do a decent job on anything else I’ve needed to cut to date. "I wanna be like Tom Dem-er-lyyyyyy".
I have the nokon housing/cables. They are a pain in the ass. The housing is not one piece, but about a hundred smaller pieces that you string together on a plastic ‘cord.’ The cable runs through the cord. Insane fast shifting, but da is pretty good anyway. They are not worth the $.
I wouldn’t mind seeing if the soldering will enable you to re-use fairly new cable in the event this should occur more often.
Anyone attempted soldering the ends of a cable and running it through your housing?
Ryan in GA,
I have never soldered the cable end after cutting it with a cable cutting tool. Soldering is for the esthetics of a “clean” cable end that was not a safety hazard vs putting a cable end cap on the end of the cable and “disturbing” the esthetic line of the cable end. This was far too artsy for me. I have never felt there was any need to do this. The cable cutter maintains the round shape of the cable. I use the little crimped cable end caps you frequently see on cable ends. A more accurate description would be that I re-use the cable end caps.
If you do intend on soldering the cable end, you should feed the cable through the housing first and then only after completing the cable reassembly should you solder the cable end to prevent/lessen the likelihood that the cable end will puncture skin should the cable end come in contact with your skin. Soldering the cable end is a safety issue, not a means of eliminating fraying while threading the cable through the cable housing. In fact, after soldering the end of the cable, the diameter of the cable end will actually increase making it more likely that threading the cable after soldering will more likely result in damage to the inner core of the cable housing.
Hope this helps explain the issues more accurately.
