Hi Everyone,

I'm a new cyclist and have resolved to learn how to maintain my bike myself, but I've come across my most baffling challenge yet. I am replacing the gear cables on the bike after one snapped on a ride, but I don't know how to get the cable that sits in the shifter bars out from it's housing.

The bike is a Specialized Allez, and the cable seems to have a cap on the end, or something stopping it from slipping out. What will I need to do to remove it from the hole it sits in in the shifter and replace it with the new cable?

I was hoping to post some pictures explaining it, but it seems I can't until I've posted at least 10 times on the forum, and this is my first post! Hope to become a regular!

So assuming a lot (like you have Shimano STI levers) and that the break point of the cable is inside the shifter... There are, maybe by now, hundreds of posts, threads and vids of various attempts to extract the cable end from the shifter. I suggest you search a bit more as this (assumed) issue is a regular topic.

Still assuming that the cable broke inside the lever... the first attempt is to click the shifter to the highest gear position. This is the position that a cable is most easily removed or installed as the shifter's spool lines up with the lever body" access ports. Then a poker can push the cable end out of the seat and out of the body.

Sometimes the broken off cable end can entrap it's self inside the lever body. That's when things get harder. This can restrict the shifter's movement down to the high gear position. It also can mean that the cable end is no longer going to easily line up with a lever access port. One can remove the lever (and attached shift pod) from the body and have more access. Do keep track of the lever pivot bushings and spring

Let us know how things go. Andy