pepperbelly

I have a 2014 or 2015 Specialized Roubaix that I bought used. I recently replaced the front derailleur cable after the old one broke. It is very difficult to move the front lever-maybe why the old one broke. The previous owner had changed the left lever because it broke, but he never said how or why it broke.
I have an idea but I need to compare my cable routing to another Roubaix. I need to see if mine is supposed to have a guide on the bottom bracket that extends to the hole through tje frame or an insert in the hole. If you could take a pic of how your bottom bracket and how the cable is connected to the front detailleur I would appreciate it.

Andrew R Stewart 

One could experiment with a low friction housing liner slid over the inner cable where it contacts the frame to see if this will reduce the lever pull effort.

Der cables often break near the cable's head. Due to the bending back and forth with the shifting. The cable is wrapped around the spool and is played out or gathered in as the lever/spool gets shifted. Think of what a paper clip does after being bent a bunch, it breaks. With the advent of brake lever mounted shift levers and also the smaller size of the cable it's no surprise that what was an uncommon problem (broken cables) now is quite common and Shimano has published cable replacement time/mileage guidelines. If the cable does break the head can become jammed in the internals of the lever and cause the lever to not work well. I wonder if this is what happened to the first owner. Andy

Iride01 

I think the internal cable guides are replaceable. Have you looked at the one going around the bottom bracket out and looked to see if the cable hasn't worn a deep grove into it?

You've watched these haven't you?



https://www.google.com/search?q=2015...&bih=918&dpr=1

pepperbelly

I think I watched when I first started but they don’t apply to my bike. My cables are routed externally until the front derailleur cable goes through the bottom bracket. I think the cable is binding on the edge of the hole in the frame.

Iride01 

Oh... I went back and found the pic of your bike.



I had to go back to 2012 to find one on Specialized's site that showed external routing. But some of those models may have carried over to newer model years with lesser tier components.

Is there an access cover that lets you see in the BB shell? I'd expect there to be some way to check and replace the guides, but since I never had a bike with a cable on the inside of the shell, maybe I'm just expecting too much.

I am understanding correctly that the cable goes into the shell and then come out of it running below the chainstay?

It might be some trouble, but I'm wondering about your cable routing under the bar tape. If you detach the cable from the DR and then pull a little slack on the bare cable running along the downtube, then pull on it to put some tension and work your shifter up and down several clicks to see if it's any easier or not. That way you might be able to eliminate the BB guides or stuff on the rear.

pepperbelly

pepperbelly

The hole is drilled straight through. It seems like there would be a lot of friction where the cable enters. If the guide was a little longer it seems like it would be smoother.

Iride01 

In my area the bike shop mechanics would come out long enough to look at it and tell you what they think about it for free. Then you can decide if you want to or know anymore about it to do yourself or just give it to them to fix.

pepperbelly

I will go talk to them tomorrow. They are all closed on Mondays.
I would really like to have another Roubaix owner look to see if his ir hers has a guide in the hole or if the plastic piece like on mine extends further.

SoSmellyAir

Well, is it difficult to shift the lever when the cable is not fixed in the front derailleur's pinch bolt?

SoSmellyAir

pepperbelly You may need a bottom bracket cable guide that extends through the hole in the frame:

Specialized Bottom Bracket Cable Guide (Black) (w/ Top Cap, Bolt) - Performance Bicycle (performancebike.com)

Specialized 2013-16 Roubaix Bottom Bracket Cable Guide - Performance Bicycle (performancebike.com)

Still not sure which model year your bike is, but at least these are not parts which are so expensive that trial and error is cost-prohibitive.

Note: Not too sure about the above after read Iride01 's post #12 below.

Iride01 

I believe those are for the cables that route internally around the BB. They say for SL4 models in the advertisement. And SL4 frames had the cable running fully internal in the downtube.

The OP's bike appears to be an SL2 model frame. There are pics of SL3 frames and SL4 frames that have the cables enter the downtube just behind the headtube. However it's still reasonable that the OP's bike might have been a SL2 frame that they sold as a low tier component version even when the SL4 frames were debuted with the top tier components. Specialized does the same thing today. Lower tier components get put on the previous model frames and the highest tier components are put on the latest and greatest S-Works frame.

pepperbelly

My bike has the rear brake cable that enters the frame behind the head tube and exit at the rear. The shifter cables are external.
I took it to my local bike shop. The mechanic made several adjustments and it shifted correctly. The rear derailleur did bind up when shifted to the largest rear cog. He said the chain was 2 or 3 links too short. I had a new chain and he installed that correctly for me with the correct number of links.
I will be on it in the morning. It was too late by the time I got home.
He didn’t seem concerned about the bare cable going through the bare frame so I guess it’s not needed.

SoSmellyAir

Glad to hear that your LBS mechanic got it working. It is better for the chain to be slightly too long than slightly too short.

That aspect of the cable path does not seem conducive to cable longevity.

pepperbelly

That and damage to the frame, but I guess since it’s the front derailleur it doesn’t move much.
I will keep looking to be sure. It really seems like there should be something there.

Andrew R Stewart 

More that the frame is softer and more wear prone then a steel cable. I've seen very few cables break at the BB port, and seen very few frames with serious damage from a cable. What we do see often enough are grime getting onto the cable and causing more friction and in time BB guide wear. But cables and guides are fairly low cost and easily replaced. I do agree that this cable routing isn't the best. Some frames have some sort of liner or tube that contains the cable as it goes through the BB area. Andy

SoSmellyAir

Generally, I would agree that the softer material would be more wear prone, but here, it appears that the cable would have to take a sharp bend right at and against the edge of the hole in the frame, leading to premature fraying.

Andrew R Stewart 

I agree with your concerns but I don't see this being born out in the field. Other cable issues are far more common. Fraying at the anchor bolt, fraying inside the STI lever, auto carrier produced cable kinks, grime on the sliding surfaces, housing blow outs, housing end caps punch through are some examples. While you and I both don't like this cable routing it hasn't proved to be enough of an issue for many others to be aware, bothered or hindered by it. Andy

pepperbelly

I followed your link. My bike has the rear brake cable running internally. It enters the frame behind the steering tube and exits at the rear of the top tube. The shift cables run externally under the downtube.
I really wish I could I could figure out what year it is. The seller said 2014 or 2015. That may be when he bought it but not the model year.
It has Ultegra groupset. The rims were changed, not sure about the hubs.
The year really only matters when I need to order parts. Whatever year it is I really like it.

mschwett 

someone on https://www.******.com/r/specialized/ will probably know exactly what year and trim it is.

lol @ censor. That’s r e d d I t