Bicycle Mechanics - Kestrel Talon Internal Cable Routing...

My '03 Talon was road-equipped, and I'm switching to TT/Tri. I had to pull the cables and housing. I've managed to get the rear brake cable/housing routed, but can't get anywhere with the FD and RD routing.

Kestrel on line is pretty much zilch. Are there any publications or tricks? I gave up tonight after about 2 hours.

Thanks.

Can't remember the specifics, but on the many Klein aluminum bikes with internal routing a helpful trick is to use a strong magnet, usually a cateye computer magnet in my case, to catch hold of the cable inside the tube to guide it to the exit. A hook made with wire can be helpful for fishing as well.

Thanks. LBS, since Kestrel started selling on line, has decided not to help much. Not as if LBS ever sold many Kestrels, just being childish.

I'm going to try a pipe cleaner in the back end to try and trap the feeder cable, and will also try some solid wire to see if I can get it to where I can even see it coming.

This same problem came up in the thread about internally wiring a bicycle frame and here is one technique I posted there too:

"One way to internally thread cables through frame tubes is to seal all but the entrance and exit holes and place a vacuum cleaner hose at the exit. Feed a piece of sewing thread into the entrance and let the vacuum "pull" it out the exit. Use the thread to pull a piece of heavier, stronger string through the holes and use the string to pull your wire."

I'll try that, too. Thanks. So far, nothing much is working. Can't see very well in there. I can get a piece of brake housing to go from one hole past the other, just can't capture it....

1-Removed the crank arm from the R side, the FD, also.
2-Removed the bolt-on cable guide for the FD (a piece of housing bent about 180 bolted to the frame)
3-Found a 3' piece of fairly rigid cable housing (clear outside a spiral core)
4-Straightened a nice, thin guage coat hangar, and left the spiral end intact, but straightened some.

For the FD, I inserted the coat hangar, looked in the bottom opening until I saw the end, took it out once, bent it, and re-inserted until I got it to come out the bottom. I pulled it gently through about 3", spun the cable housing onto it about 1", then slowly fed both back up through so I had housing coming out both ends of the frame. Then I pulled the hangar out, inserted my shifter cable, and ran it through, then pulled the housing out. The actual routing/mounting to the FD is a real pain on a Kestrel, but there's a reason for it: positive shifting.

For the RD, I basically repeated the process. No problem. Entire ordeal included 2 hours of fumbling, a couple nights of thinking about it, then 2 hours today and the bike is now outfitted with a Cervelo TT/Tri package and works just fine.

Thanks for the tips, guys.

the bike is now outfitted with a Cervelo TT/Tri package and works just fine.

Why did ya put such crappy parts on a Kestrel? LOL :roflmao2::roflmao2:

as i posted to another thread on the same subject, to get the rear derailleur cable through the down tube & chain stays, i inserted a cable housing through the outlet ports & it fairly easily found the inlet ports. i had no luck going in the other direction.