My Kuota came today. I am setting it up and need to cut a little off the cable housing. I did NOT realize it is wire underneath the outer sheath. How the hell do I cut this stuff? Should I just mark it off and ask a LBS with whom I do business to cut it? I may have already messed one up. I feel dumb but at least its a cheap mistake.
Brian
With a cable housing cutter. These are available at your LBS. Shouldn’t own a bike without one, especially if you’ll be doing your own maintenance.
you could blow 35 bucks on a Park tool cable cutter.
To make a clean cut, you need a cable cutter like this
http://www.parktool.com/products/detail.asp?cat=14&item=CN-10
However, other cruder instruments also work but it may end up fraying the ends.
Hell yeah I’ll buy that. I totally crimped the end. This is the first time I’ve done anything more than adjust a RD or stem height etc. I just assumed it was some kind of poly housing.
I have no ties to them other than being a regular customer, but I have found “Build Your Bike”, an eBay company, to have the best prices and I always receive the tool within about 2 days. Highly recommend for bike tools (including Park).
For example, the Park CN-10 cable cutter is $25 plus $2 shipping from them here.
Hell yeah I’ll buy that. I totally crimped the end. This is the first time I’ve done anything more than adjust a RD or stem height etc. I just assumed it was some kind of poly housing.
A crimped end isn’t the end of the world. Just use a thin awl or other small instrument to make the hole round again. You can also then file the end to make a little smoother.
Rik
You can also use an angle grinder or dremel with a cutting wheel if you happen to own one already.
My Kuota came today. I am setting it up and need to cut a little off the cable housing. I did NOT realize it is wire underneath the outer sheath. How the hell do I cut this stuff? Should I just mark it off and ask a LBS with whom I do business to cut it? I may have already messed one up. I feel dumb but at least its a cheap mistake.
Brian
Echoing what Rik said. The best cable cutter in the world will still leave the cable somewhat crimped and with a burr hanging down. Open the hole up as much as possible and file the burr down. The bike will shift and brake much smoother once you do this.
I like really clean cable housing ends so I use a Dremel with a cutoff wheel. Then I use an awl to open the inner housing hole up. Then I get the end really nice and finished on the 1" stationary sander, with a 400 grit belt. I’ve always done housing ends this way. Takes longer, but the end result is perfection.
~ AB ~
Another trick if you do not have the correct cable cutting tool is to insert a piece of cable into the housing and then cut it. This helps reduce the amount the housing will crimp at the end.
Peace,
RF
x2 for dremel tool.
It is much faster than trying to fix a cutter hack job.
To echo others - Use dedicated cable cutters (Park, Pedros, Shimano,…) and put a piece of cable inside the housing to reduce or eliminate crimping.
David K
the only annoying thing is the bike was already built up with the aerobars high. I lowered them a few spacers so I have to unravel all the ball tape. not then end of the world but one more thing to do.
Hell yeah I’ll buy that. I totally crimped the end. This is the first time I’ve done anything more than adjust a RD or stem height etc. I just assumed it was some kind of poly housing.
A crimped end isn’t the end of the world. Just use a thin awl or other small instrument to make the hole round again. You can also then file the end to make a little smoother.
Rik
X2
Some are coiled flat wire underneath, the better cables are built like shift cables with linear run wire strand. unless you go for nokons.
sometimes pushing the cable through from the other end works too.
I like the dremel idea.
I ended up using a Dremel tool also. The Park cable cutter crushed the cable housing and I had to use a Dremel tool to fix it. By the time the last cable was worked on, just used the Dremel tool. Much cleaner.
Or you can buy something better than a Park Tool cable cutter.
Park is definitely the all-around standard in bike tools, but in my experience the cable cutter is one of their weaker pieces. I went through a couple different generations before “downgrading” to a no-name knock-off that actually does a cleaner job.
Dan used to have an article on cutters (that I wasn’t able to find - did it get lost in the move?) where he recommended Felco as the best cutters out there. I’ve tried both Park cutters and wasn’t too happy with either - I do like my Felcos though.
A Dremel works great as well, and a grinder is a nice thing to have for finishing. Also, try heating up the area where you plan to cut with a lighter for a few sec just before you make the cut - it seems to help make it cleaner.
I use a sander to clean up the ends of cables, both brake and shifter. If you have a tabletop disc or belt sander it is the perfect thing. coarse wheel on the bench grinder would work too.
You have to start with decent cable cutters though.
I have a Dremel but mostly only use it to trim the dog’s nails. Which attachment works best for cutting cables? David k