My shifter cable for the rear derailleur pops out of its enclosure from inside of the lever. I have attached a picture of the end of a short ride today, in red is the ball of the cable popped out of the green enclosure. Normally I would think it's the tension of the cable but I adjusted it and works and shifts well after adjustment and for the first 30 min of a ride. should I change the cable? Is it the shifter that need changing? It's a Shimano 105 shifter, about 6 years old,13k miles on it. Cable is about 1 year old.

It may or may not have anything to do with your problem, but it looks like part of that fixture just to the left of the red and green is broken off. But, odd that it works OK for the first part of your ride and then malfunctions.

Dan

You are right, I didn't even notice. I don't usually look under the hoods so the first time everything looks normal.

My first thought given the info is that the cable has too much friction somewhere along its path, a sure sign of fraying inner cables. Can you detach the cable from the der, or a length of housing from a frame stop, and then pull the cable out of the lever a couple of inches? The #1 location for a shift cable to break is just inside the lever and out of sight unless one does what I suggest to expose that portion of the inner cable. How often do you replace the shift cables? For some riders, once a year is suggested. For others every few years. Mileage, conditions and rider dependent but replacing a cable is cheap insurance from problems happening during a ride. Andy

I think you are right. I detached the cable from the rear derailleur and took out the housing and the back stop and there is some fraying there. Inside the lever everything looks ok. I will replace the cable and see if the problem gets fixed. Thank you Andrew!

You might need to replace the housing as well. But I agree that the most likely situation is that when you shift and there is too much cable friction, the cable goes slack and that allows the cable end button to pop out of its anchor point.