Yesterday, I was doing some work on my 08 Kestrel Talon that required me to install new cables to the front and rear derailleurs. I had never done this before on my Talon, and I had the bike professionally built up when I bought it, so I went into it a little blind, which is why I am sharing this advice. This is for the other Talon owners out there…
DO NOT pull the old cable all the way out. The easiest way to re-route all the internal cables is to use the old ones as a guide. A little bit of masking tape to fix the old cable to the new cable seems to do the trick. You can then easily pull the new cable through the frame.
This is not what I originally did, however. I made the dumb mistake of stripping the old cables out completely, thinking I could fish the new ones through without a problem. This is practically IMPOSSIBLE to do. The down tube is completely hollow, so sticking a cable in there and hoping that it will find its way to the exit hole for the front or rear derailleur is unlikely. After a couple of hours of frustration, I finally came up with an idea that worked well. I tied a few pieces of thin yarn about 6" long to the end of the cable that I was trying to install and then inserted the cable into the down tube. Then, I used a shop vac and applied some suction to the exit hole. The power of the shop vac was strong enough to suck up the strands of yarn, which I could then delicately pull to get the cable through the hole.
In review, NEVER pull the old cables out completely before installing new ones!
P.S. I’ve been loving my Kestrel Talon since I bought it about a year ago. I’ve got it set up as a tri bike and absolutely love it.