ficklampa

hello. I am new to the forum and registered because i need help with an issue that arised today on my commute to school.
The right shifter( for the rear derailleur) mid ride stopped shifting and all the tension in the cable went away so now it is stuck on the smallest cog on the cassette.
The bike is a Pinnacle Arkose 4 from Evans, And i dont live in England so i recon the warranty claim will be a bit complicated.


The brake is still working but the shifter doesnt seem to interact with the cable.
I dont understand what kind of issue would cause the cable to lose it's tension.

Very grateful for any assistance regarding maintenance or simply in dealing with evans.

Regards//Michael

jimc101

You say you don't live in England, but not where, Evans would cover Wales, Scotland & NI not just England, you really need to give info like where you are if it is relevant.

Have you taken it to a LBS if you can't diagnose yourself? Have a look here for how toos Rear Derailleur Adjustment | Park Tool

Could be as simple as a cable has come out of it's housing/a bolt (thinking at the RD) has come loose.

For warranty, the Shimano parts have a 2 year if they are the issue Shimano | Brands | Madison.co.uk

JonathanGennick 

Check whether the cable is still attached at the derailleur. Then follow the cable back to the shifter. Watch for housing stops in the frame. Possibly the cable's housing has come out of one of those stops. If there is no obvious problem, then visit a bike shop. Is there a bike shop near you? Any shop would be able to diagnose the problem. You might need to pay for a repair, but there is no need to ship the bike back to England.

ficklampa

right.
I live in Stockholm.

Yeah i discovered that the cable was loose, it had warn through somewhere in the the shifter end of things.
still the shifter doesn't feel right but maybe it doesn't work without tension?

normally you can downshift two cogs with the big lever but now it gets stuck.
I'm thinking maybe there is some residue of the cable left or maybe it got stuck somehow.
That might be the reason it broke i guess but it doesn't really feel reasonable considering how strong they are.

about the service, yeah i guess i can take it to an LBS but i dont really feel like paying for the service since i'm not out of warranty yet.=/

Andrew R Stewart 

Worn parts are not usually covered by warranties. If the cable has frayed through and broke that is generally considered to be a use/wear condition. Cables are well known to wear and fray on all brands and designs of shifters. If this is what has happened just replace the cable and ride on. Life is too short to be chasing a simple solution being paid for by others. Andy.

ficklampa

yeah i wasnt expecting to have the cable payed for. . . i said i still thought the shifter felt wrong. but also said it might be because of the lack of tension.
It doesn't go as far as it should though, which is why i dont think its as simple as only a broken cable but hopefully i'm wrong.
I intend to try simply installing a new cable before doing anything else. . . off course.

ficklampa

fixed it!
okay so in case this happens to someone else i'll write down what had happened and how i fixed it so it can be found.
The old nut on the cable had come off and logded itself inside the shifter thus preventing the wheel from spinning.
basically i removed the shifter from the handlebars and carefully removed the small screw holding the bottom cover in place, then removed the bottom cover.
It was then easy to just remove the piece of cable.
Then i had to rotate the mechanism using the levers so that they where in the right position to insert the new cable into the shifter.
So happy i managed to fix it=)

dsaul

Nice job on fixing it. It seems like a common problem with modern Shimano shifters. There are numerous threads about cable breaking off inside the shifter and various methods of getting the broken piece out.

jimc101

Yes, pretty common issue, have caught cables failing a few times myself, but the shifting goes really bad before this happen, giving you a clue something is wrong, so have't had one actually break in the shifter yet.

ficklampa

its a strange because i didnt have any shifting problems before and the bike isnt old.

At what lenght did you have problems, i mean how far from the nut did the cable begin to break?

for me it was roughly 2 cm, i'm thinking that maybe there is some edge or some tight bend in the construction making the cable wear in that spot.