The rear gear cable outer on my ’10 Orange 5 has worn through at the lower cable guide on the downtube. It is held in position (or not) by a cable tie which also holds the brake hose. Because the hose is a larger diameter, the gear cable is not gripped by the tie, so it therefore moves with the rear suspension, wearing out the cable, rubbing the guide and also wearing through the grommet in the swinging arm. Anyone else noticed this and/or done anything about it? I’ve put a piece of rubber on top of the cable and used a smaller, more flexible cable tie to hold it in place, but I suspect that the cable will now destroy the rubber grommet faster then attack the hole in the swinging arm. Thoughts anyone?

Yes – i have an 09 frame & noticed the both the same things. My solutions:-

1. For the cable guide on the DT that also holds the brake hose alongside I wrap a Park glueless patch around the cable outer making it a more similar thickness to the brake hose and also use a pair of thinner cable ties together and then both hose and cable are held (I noticed complete bikes from Orange use 2 thinner ties like this)

2. At the grommet in the swingarm I have slid a split piece of plastic pipe over the cable and held it in place with a a small zip tie – this is recent as noticed the grommet had worn through (hardly surprising when you think about it !?) It has held good for 6 rides so far so looks promising. It is 6x4mm air pipe.

As item 2 looked good I have tried the same at the DT cable guide but I’m not convinced it’s better so will probably go back to the park patch. Your piece of rubber sounds fine – check the cable holder on Fox forks.

email marcusstart@hotmail.co.uk if you want pics which may explain it better !

I’ll try the plastic pipe through the grommet – although it will need to be a tight fit to stop any movement from the cable, I suspect.

Why do you have a guide holding 2 cables? There is one for each is there not?

There are two grooves of equal depth side by side with a slot for a cable tie at either side so only one cable tie can be used to hold both the hose and the cable. Beacuse the hose is a greater diameter the cable is free to slide in and out as the suspension compresses. I think that probably explains it betterer.

can you put 2 small zip ties on the gear cable, one on each side of the guide, to stop it moving ? maybe numpty suggestion as I have an 08 ‘5’ with different setup

I’ve had this issue too on the downtube, my latest bodge is thus;

One cable tie through the guide on the DT, then a small cable tie on each hose/cable outer looped through the one attached to the frame. Probably not perfick but seems a bit better.