Winter Projects ~ Re-String:

A continuing series on winter bike maintenance.

Re-string means to replace all of the cables on the bike.

In our last edition (the post from 19 January)   we covered wrapping your bars.  We did that because a good re-string is going to mean trashing the existing bar tape.

Today we have another “before we get started” post.  Some of you (an increasing number) may have bikes with “through frame” cable routing.  This means that some of the cables are run through the frame of the bicycle, rather than in housing and stops on the outside of the frame.  If that’s the case, you will want to pay special attention to this post.  Below are the instructions for dealing with most through frame cable replacements.

NOTE:  If you have a “through frame” cable routing, read this post, then wait one more week, and catch the re-string post.  The rest of you, please be patient, we’ll do the final on the re-string project next week.

WARINING!!!!  READ THIS FIRST!!!!

Look closely at your bike.  Do any of the cables vanish inside your frame?  If so you are the proud owner of a bike with the dreaded “through frame cable routing.”  If this is the case, you probably should not attempt this re-string yourself.  But if you insist…  Do the following first!

Here is a "through frame" cable emerging from the frame.

1}  Do not disconnect anything!!!

2}  Go and get some suitably stiff tubing, of a small enough diameter to fit inside your frame, but large enough to go over the naked cable.

3}  Go to the end of the cable, the derailler, or rear brake, not the control lever.

The cable pinch bolt on a rear derailler.

A cable tip.  These are crimped onto the end of the cable.

A rear brake, showing the cable attachment.

Cable pinch bolt.

Cable end tip.

Four}  Clip the tip off of the cable, leaving as much cable as you possibly can.  Note:  if your cable end is frayed, just stop right there and take your bike to a competent mechanic.  You are already in deep doo-doo, and you need professional help.  Pay the nice mechanic whatever is asked to get you out of this nasty situation.

5}  Loosen the cable clamp and release the cable.

Here the cable is free (end tip clipped off) and the housing is ready to be removed.

6}  Slide the cable housing (if any) off of the cable.

The housing comes off...

...leaving the cable in place.

7} Start feeding the tubing over the cable housing.  Do this gently.  You do not want to push the cable up inside the frame!

Free end of cable (It's still attached to the control at the other end.) Ready for sleeving.

Starting to slide the sleeving over the cable and into the frame.

8}  when you have a foot or two of tubing fed inside the frame (two is better!) go to the other end of this particular cable, grasp the housing where it enters the frame, and gently pull it out of its stop.  You will see exposed cable going out of the housing and entering the frame.  Expose only an inch or two of this cable.

9}  Now continue sliding the tubing over the cable from the other end.  Keep doing this until the tubing emerges from the frame at the control end.

10}  Now you can relax a bit.  Feed the tubing until you have at least three or four inches exposed at each end.  Then Tape the tubing in place.  (Believe this one! You want to tape the tubing to the frame before you do anything else.  We skipped this step in the illustrations for clarity's sake.)

11}  Now you may carefully withdraw the cable from within the tubing.

Sleeving shown in place (without securing tape).  The cable has already been withdrawn.

12}  Now remove the front section of housing (if any) from the cable.  Remove the cable from the control and replace it with the new one.  Slide the cable through the forward housing.  (We'll cover these steps in more detail next week.)  

13}  Slide the end of the cable into the sleeving.  Be careful not to dislodge the sleeving.  You do not want to lose it inside the frame.

Beginning to feed the new cable into the sleeving and into the frame.

Cable emerges from the sleeving at the rear.

14}  We're going into the home stretch now.  Remove our securing tape from the sleeving, and slide it off of the cable and out of the bike to the rear.

15}  Begin to slide the new housing over the cable, and into the frame of the bike.

New housing about to enter the frame.

16}  Be very careful as you install the new housing.  Again, you do not want to push the cable into the frame and lose it.

17}  Once the housing is in place, you are ready to attach cables and begin the adjustment phase.

One last note:  Some frames do not have the housing run completely through the frame.  In these cases there is an internal stop for the cable housing.  If this is the case, there will be two cable housings, one on the front of the bike, and one on the rear.  The procedure is almost the same as above, but both housing sections will need to be removed and replace.

Next week:  The Re-String