How do you get the cable to come out the other end of the internal routing on this bike? I tried a shop vac and a magnet with no luck. What a dorky design.
Put a slight bend in the end of the cable and try to get it to slide down so that the bend foces it out of the hole. Praying, holding your tongue just right, closing your eyes etc are also common methods.
If you are using a vac put string through - will suck out more easily and then you use it as a guide for the actual cable.
Mine was a frickin’ nightmare to do … so bad that it took me over an hour to get both der. cables through. The problem I had was that the housing stops on the upper part of the downtube would not hold and would slip into the frame causing shifting issues. So what I ended up doing was routing housing all the way through the frame. This is what took me so long to get them through. I ended up having to pull the cranks and bottom bracket off to get them through.
And we’re talking an experienced bike mechanic here (5 years managing the service departments in shops), not just a weekend tweaker …
Bend/kink, rotate and pray …
There seems to be something disconnected on the lower part of the housing. I just routed the cable on the outside of the frame with zip ties until I can figure out a way to attack it–will pulling the BB out give me access to that area?
Pulling the bb won’t help much. I use tape to hold the cables flat to the frame at the upper stops so they won’t go anywhere while I finish the build.
Are you trying to route the inner cable into the hole or into the cables that come out of the lower stop? I also cross the cables internally to get better routing under the bb (no big loops) and it makes it easier to get the cable out of the bottom hole.
Pulling the bb won’t help much. I use tape to hold the cables flat to the frame at the upper stops so they won’t go anywhere while I finish the build.
Are you trying to route the inner cable into the hole or into the cables that come out of the lower stop? I also cross the cables internally to get better routing under the bb (no big loops) and it makes it easier to get the cable out of the bottom hole.
Hey John…
Didn’t I just do this for you a couple of weeks ago at the shop??
Trial and error, unfortunately, is the only way to do it. I’ve had luck using a hook pick. Put a good bend/kink in the end of the cable, feed it through the top hole and fish it out with the hook at the bottom. Much easier if you have a work stand.
If you still can’t get it, bring it back into the shop.
The string/shop vac thing is a great idea.
jaretj
I use small diameter plastic tubing, I install that over the old cable before I remove it then when the old cable is out of the frame the tubing is still routed internally then I just run the new cable through the tubing, takes all of 10 minutes to do a complete recabling of a bike.
You have to use a very strong magnet - it works like a charm.
As for the housing slipping inside the frame - it’s due to a stupid design, but if you use metal housing caps (instead of the plastic ones) and hold the housing parallel to the frame until it’s tensioned up properly it will stay. If the housing moves too much out of parallel too often then it will slip inside the frame. Other frames with internal routing have a cylindrical hole (completely bounding the housing) rather than a flat tab on the inside of the frame. It’s a defect and Specialized won’t admit to it.
I second (or is it third?) the strong magnet. Was quick and easy.