Originally Posted by phoebeisis
If worse comes to worse-you can use the long rear cables for the front brake and derailleur.This way you only have to replace 2 cables-not all four(guess you already know this).
I usually leave my cables a bit long-with maybe 2-3" extra-so I can cut and trim the ends a couple of times if I have to pull them.Luck,Charlie
For a while it seemed I was overhauling / changing something on my bike ever other week - usually involving pulling the cables - which created some frayed ends. The idea above saved me more than a couple bucks in cables when the frayed ends got too much to cut off and reuse the cable where it was. Super glue also works well - something I should add to my toolbox and use regularly.