I followed the directions, mounting the computer bracket THEN routing the cable to the bottom of the bike. Turns out the cable has about a foot of slack. SO...I need to try again, from the bottom up, right??? Or is there some secret way to make extra cable disappear without making the bike look terrible?

Another, really wierd consideration, the comp cable is a REAL hassle to wrap around the brake/shifter cables...suggestions there????

The whole situation is making me want to get real happy with the nearest hot glue gun.

Try to open the sensor or the computer (which ever is easier), cut the cable to the necessary length, and resolder the contacts. Piece o' cake.

On closer inspection, I CAN take the sensors apart! I can run a soldering iron pretty well, too. So if ANYBODY has a different suggestion, better speak up quick...the iron is (figuratively) in the fire!

The standard procedure is to wrap the wire in a neat coil fashion around the brake cable housings that is the closest in proximity to the direction of travel of the wire. This should be quite obvious. (which one)

Wrap as tight as needed to take up the extra slack.

See the instructions on page 3 of this document. https://cateye.com/sites/cateye/uploa.../MT300v3_E.pdf

1. Get a couple of skinny zip ties.
2. Zip tie your computer cable to the bottom of your frant brake cable.
3. Wrap the cable snugly around the brake cable housing until you get close to the handlebar.
4. Secure your nice, neat spiral with the second zip tie.

Way faster, easier and neater than trying to shorten and solder the computer cable.

I still vote for the soldering iron.....I'm an Electrical Engineer BTW...I can't help it...

I have to cast a vote for the cable wrap approach -- quick, easy and avoids a possible "ooops" with the ol' soldering iron!

The wires of the computer are extremely small gauge. I mean extreeeeeeeeeeemmmmmeeeeely like almost human hair size. They are pretty hard to solder. Also, at the handlebar mount, they are often epoxied in place. It's a hassle, trust me. Best way to deal with it (and cleanest) is to use plastic cable wrap. Look at the brake cable in the picture below.

Yeah, the wires (stranded) are really fine...but I can solder (plenty of tin and lead in my blood). The computer end IS epoxied (looks like clear glue), so I couldn't touch that one. I really want to solder and make it a neat looking job. [warning - techno-babble] I need to make sure the magnetic reed switches really do work in all directions, so I will do a continuity test before I do anything permanent.

I just bundle it and attach it to the stem.

Uh - Why did you ask in the first place if you've already made up your mind about what you're going to do?

Incidentally, while I've never shortened a bike computer cable, I've lenghtened several by adding a section of speaker wire and haven't found the process to be particularly difficult.

What I Did-- I stared at where the wire went to the sensor, decided I really couldn't do it right...so I started the routing from the sensor end and wrapped the extra wire around the nearest cable housing. Not the prettiest, but stable and it works.

FWIW, one of the ugliest installations on a bike is wired computers. It's pretty much standard to just coil them around the nearest convienient cable housing. This is the way the pros do it, too. It hurts to look at a $20K bike and see those ugly coils of computer wire.

Worse yet, the new Vetta wired computers have cables that are about four or five times thicker than what you are used to seeing. It just gets uglier.

But .....

One of the big problems with wireless computers is that they can get false inputs from nearby cyclists, traffic signal trips, etc, etc. So, the solution is to use wired computers. And, the best way to keep the wire from breaking is to coil it up. There's a good reason for all those ugly coils.

Heh. Just this morning i was soldering a different cable between my cyclocomputer mount and sensor. I got a Planet Bike Protege 9.0, which is a really nice looking computer with a huge ugly thick black cable. I replaced it with some thin clear insulated copper speaker wire, which looks quite nice.

The two inner strands are indeed a headache to work with though.. they are the type of twisted copper wire that is both hair-thin and varnished - if you don't remove the varnish, the solder won't stick and you won't have a connection. I found the best way was to hold the tip of the wire in a lighter flame for a second or two to burn off the varnish, then clean the soot off with rubbing alcohol.


What i thought would be a 15 minute job ended up taking at least an hour, but the cable is now nice and unobtrusive, and the perfect length.

BTW - i coated the connections with beeswax and then put heatshrink over them, so it should be pretty waterproof.

Whoa. That's a pretty cool photo. It's like something out of Mad Max, the Bike Episode.

With all the cables, I was thinking more The Italian Job

A somewhat different thought that has been bouncing through my head for a while: what if one were to drill a couple small holes in their frame and route wires that way? (could probably be routed from the stem to the fork for speedometer, through the rest of the frame for more sophisticated lighting systems, etc). Having watched some American Chopper (not quite bicycles, granted), I've noticed that this is how they route most of their cables: through the inside of the frame. Would there be structural problems with that sort of thing?

You could but you'd have to go through the stem cap, down the steer tube, into a fork leg and then out at the proper place. And, you'd have to put the cable back together once you are done. Seems like a lot of work, not to mention having to explain the holes you drilled in the fork to the sales rep when something breaks.

Why not just go wireless? I'm too cheap to go that route. I have up to 6 bikes I'd have to retrofit and wireless isn't cheap!

[QUOTE=cyccommute]You could but you'd have to go through the stem cap, down the steer tube, into a fork leg and then out at the proper place. And, you'd have to put the cable back together once you are done. Seems like a lot of work, not to mention having to explain the holes you drilled in the fork to the sales rep when something breaks.[QUOTE]

Yeah, it would be a lot of work. I can't be bothered (now). Just something to potentially try in the future with some other frankenbike.

A couple thoughts on that:

If you find a rigid fork with mid-fork rack braze-ons that you are not using, it should be pretty easy. You would need to find something to feed up from the braze-on, then anchor the cable to it and use it like a fish tape to pull the cable through. At that point, the only holes drilled would be in the star nut and in the top cap for the stem. The good news is that neither of these serves any structural purpose as long as your stem is properly tightened.

God bless!
Wayne J.