Bicycle Mechanics - Question on replacing shift cables

I'm trying to replace the cable on my road bike that's equipped with Ultegra 10 indexed brifters.

I can see the cable head on the brifter. My question is how to access it so that I can pull the old cable out. From my Zinn book, it sound like after I disconnect the cable from the derailleur, I can "push" the cable out of the brifter. Does that sound right? Can you actually push a cable out of the housing?

One more question. On the shift cables and about an inch from where they enter the brifters are silver cylinders about 1.25" long. What are they for and do I have to do anything with them? A while back I thought that they were some kind of tension adjustment, but when I turned them nothing happened.

thanks for your help,

Cliff

yea you got the idea. just hold the break lever down, maybe with a rubber band or something, and then just try to push the cable through the housing so that it comes out even just a bit. then you can get some pliers and pull it out. to put one in you just have to push it though that same hole. nothing should have moved. at worst...you might have to unwrap your bars, but i doubt it.

those metal things just go on the ends of the housing, not for adjustments or anything

The shifter has to be in a certain position (the position where the cable would be at the lowest tension) to be able to push the cable end (head) out of the brifter. Otherwise, the ratcheting mechanism is rotated such that the cable end is trapped inside of the brifter. Also, You'll probably need to have the brake cable disconnected to be able to have the top of the brifter rotated far enough to easily get at the cable end.

The cable slides inside of the housing so yes, you can push the cable out of the housing. Not sure if that answers your question or not.

The silver cylinders sound like tension adjusters. If you don't have tension adjusters mounted on your frame, then those must be inline adjusters. Small adjustments typically won't make much of a different if your bike is shifting properly anyway. Turn the adjuster a full turn and you'll likely cause some problems, or fix them if you know what you are doing :)

those metal things just go on the ends of the housing, not for adjustments or anything

If he didn't say they were 1.25" long I would have responded similarly.

Thanks, guys. I'll try it out after my ride tomorrow. Not that I don't have confidence in myself.

As joe said, you have to be in the lowest gear position and there may be a plastic cover held on with a phillips head screw that has to come out first. Pretty easy job.