Originally Posted by Desertrat
The bike I use to commute suffered its first mechanical casualty today since I bought it five years ago....front deraleur cable broke a block away from my house. I was forced to pedal into work on the smallest chainwheel but was able to shift the rear just fine. This bike is a Novarra Alance with Shimano components. I must say I am impressed with a 5 year old bike that has had nothing done to it except routine maintenance and a few tire and tube changes.
Actually cables should be part of your routine maintenance on some level. If you use a lube like GT40, Tri Flow, T9, Finishline, or basically any drier/teflon based synthetic lube, I recommend wiping down any of the exposed cable as often as possible. This keeps mostuire off the cables, which in turns prevents corrosion. Also, typically if you are riding almost everyday or even more than a few times a week its best to replace the cables once a year. Its pretty cheap to do ($1.99/ea cable, $1ft. housing, maybe $10 labor) and then you get your derailleurs adjusted while they are at it. Good to hear it didn't cripple the bike though!