Gear cable help please

Hi Guys & Gals, a quick question from a technically inept MTBer.

I have a Rocky Mountain ETSX & the gear changing on the rear mech especially up shifting to the lower gears is a lot stiffer than on my Stumpy HT. I have decided to have a go at fixing this problem myself as this will help me gain more bike maintenance skills for when I am out on the trail.

Anyway the current system has 3 sections where the gear cable runs through the black outer sleeve & 2 sections where the cable is bear.

I was thinking about running a full outer cable from shifter to rear mech to see if that stops the muck & bullets getting into the outers and causing the shifting problem.

Just a couple of questions please:

1.Will running full outers be better or should I continue to use the current split outer set up?
2.I donít want to start drilling out the cable stops, so what is the best way of securing the outers to the frame, zip ties?
3.Any tips about how I should go about this or any things I should be wary of?

Iím sat at home at present with most of the gear I think I need but Iíve also got the dreaded flu, so any assistance useful, useless or humorous would be appreciated.

I have found full length outers to be a great improvement for shifting performance, squirt GT85 up them occasionally to keep them smooth. I enlarged the cable stops with a dremmel cutting tool, but if you don’t want to do this there are guides that you can buy that attach to your existing cable stops or alternatively zip ties as you say.

Thanks Seamus

I’m a bit weary of drilling out the cable stops in case I have to go back to using them again :o(

I’ll see if I can get hold of those cable guides you mentiones or else it’s zip ties.

Just checked on CRC, Hope do them amonst others.

I’d been looking for those things but I wasn’t using the right phrase until you mentioned ‘cable guides’ – you Sir are a star 🙂

I’ve just bought some off Wiggle so they should be here tomorrow so I can have a fettle @ the weekend.

Thanks once again for your help. I’m Off to the chemist now to get some flu & sore throat tablets – Ahhhh chooo!!!!! 😕

There is also the option of cables with an inner cover as well as outer (can’t remember the name of th ones my mate has – will post later.

They used the outers as normal (in parts) but have a cover on the inner too which protects the cable full length. If crap gets in the outer it doesn’t matter then. Just keep the rear mech end lubed.

Goodridge cables are a bit like that. And there is an avid one that does that. But they have rather, ahem, ‘visible’ plastic joining up tubes. (blue and red respectively.) In theory there is less compression of the outer with cable stops and therefore more accurate inner cable pulls. In practice gore, avid and goodridge outers are pretty much compressionless now anyway.

Les, are you going to be fit for the soggy then?

Apparently the reason that not all gear cables are full length is because the friction from a full cable can screw up the shifting. Before you try drilling anything I suggest replacing the cable and the last bit of outer. Worked an absolute treat on my wife’s bike – went from much worse than mine to better than mine

Thanks Guys for your replies.

I’ve bought enough outer cable to redo the entire household fleet of 3 bikes twice over, plus a few XTR inners & ferrules etc. I quite like the idea of a full length outer first up & if that doesn’t work as I would like then the fallback position is to replace the inners & outers as it is at the moment.

Julian – I am down to do round 2 of the SB & I just hope I can shift this flu in time. This is the first time I’ve had off work being ill for 3 years. One drawback of being home during the day ill is that I’ve managed to spend a fair few quid on various bike bits – only don’t tell the wife :o)

It’s the gore ones my mate is using. Nice set and £32 for full bike.

If you’ve got plenty of outer cable already try this for a couple of quid:-
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Transfil_Gear_Cable_Waterproof_Kit/5360011242/

basically some fancy cable caps and a bit of thin hose for the bits that are just outer cable – it’s suprisingly good – use this on my all-weather commute and it keeps the crud out.

The reason bikes have cable sections held by stops on the frame is because cables work best when they are held that way. Full length outers may seem to work better for a little while, but they don’t really keep the grime out any longer, and your shifting will go to cock sooner. It’s not so bad for cable brakes, and older 7 speed shifters/mechs though. Inners cost what? A couple of quid? change them more frequently…