Is there a creative way to change brake cables without removal of the bar tape? I think the brake cable is tucked inside the bar tape. I guess i can carefully insert the cable wire through the sleeves. Hmm... neat to think this through. Really want to avoid removing bar tape as it is new!

Cable, or housing? You should be able to replace the cable easily, especially if you silver solder the end before trying to push it through.

Put it this way. It's a good time to learn how to wrap bar tape.

some levers make it impossible to route a cable through the lever to the housing due to the bends in the design.

But the bar tape is brand new!!!! I don't want to remove it if possible.

As previously posted, if you have a smooth soldered end to the cable so that it does not catch you should be able to push it through the housing, esp if the cable is high quality stainless steel. There is of course no way to replace housing w/out removing the bar tape.

You can re-wrap bar tape.

If you mean the housings, you could install double ferrules where the housings exit the tape...

I've never come across any like that, and if I did, I'd piff em for a design that isn't so damn ******3d.


Speaking of ******3d, ******3d is not an expletive, it's a quite proper word used for much more than indicating the developmental shortcomings of others, and censoring it is not only condescending and inconvenient, it's... take a guess.

A ridiculously long censored word list is no sort of replacement for proper moderation.

dp

But using the word for someone who does not actually have a diagnosable mental deficiency IS offensive to those who actually have the condition or have loved ones with the condition. But by all means feel free to be offensive.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming. Like Kimmo, I've never come across an aero brake lever or brifter that didn't have a reasonably straight path to the housing stop from the cable anchor so threading a new cable without removing the housing is pretty straight forward. You do want the end of the wire to be smooth and free from loose strands and soldering is the best way to be sure.

OK.... I looked at the Shimano tech doc. Here's what I plan to do.

Removal of Cable

1. Unclamp the brake cable bolt so that the cable is free.
2. Loosen barrel adjuster to allow cable to move freely
3. Tilt the brifter forward
4. Use a needle-nose plier and take the cable out.

Installing new cable

• Insert new cable via the tilted brifter head.
• Keep inserting it that it will enter the housing?
• If all goes well, it will reach the brake bolt
• Home free!

Think this will work and avoid from having the remove the bar tape?

an additional bene sugg : file a little bit of point on the end of the cable, chamfer..
easy to do if its soldered.
that will go around bends, etc., easier than the square cut end.

I've replaced brake cables w/o removing the housing. You shouldn't need to use needle-nose pliers to remove the cable...just pushing the cable from the brake side where it enters the housing will push the plug-end out the front of the brake handle.

No need to loosen the barrel adjuster as once you release the fixing bolt, the cable will be loose.

For installation, angle of attack is critical...don't force it...use a flashlight. If you're unable to solder/file the end, I find slowly turning the cable in the opposite direction of the twist (so I think that would be counter-clockwise) helps the cable not to unravel.

Use a rubber band to band the brake handle to the bars to hold it open so you have both hands free (flashlight in your mouth, of course).

^ excellent tips!!! thanks!

With brifters, the easiest way I have found to replace brake cables (not housings), is to unscrew the nut holding the brifter in place on the bar, insert the cable through the brifter, into the housing, and push it in until it can be pulled out the other end of the housing, then remount the brifter. Has saved me from re-wrapping tape.

This is after having pulled back the hood covering the lower part of the brifter.

You take the shifter completely off the handlebar? Seems like an unnecessary step.

I normally try pushing the new cable through with the brifter attached first. This normally doesn't work, so I then remove the brifter and thread the cable through that first, then through the housing, then reattach the brifter.

it's pretty standard for campy ergo levers, I find.
shimano STI levers fair a bit better.

yeah, I've never seen bar tape that was one shot only. Even the ones that tear easily, like cinelli cork, won't tear if you're careful when unwrapping it. There's also no need to unwrap beyond the lever and the tape will have some bends in it from conforming to the bars and cables, which makes it rather easy to rewrap it.

Same here. Have not had any luck getting the cable to go through the brifter into the housing. It does not take much effort or time to take it loose, thread the cable, then reattach it.

If you really want to have 'fun', try replacing the cables on bar end shifters after the fact................

If the cable housing is properly seated in the ferrule and the ferrule is seated in the lever you should be able to get the cable to insert into the housing. Use a small flash light (penlight) and tie the levers down to get a good view of the ferrule within the lever you should be able to feed the cable. If it doesn't go in easily insert the cable through the lever cable stop and using the flash light feed the end of the cable into the housing (takes some patience). when you are successful carefully pull the cable through and take care not to crimp the cable when pulling the cable past the lever cable end stop. Good luck.

Done it this evening. It was actually easier than expected.

That's exactly what I was looking to do. What's the secret?

Forgot to mention twirling the cable... it helps no end.

Haven't worked on later Ergolevers, but the original ones were okay; I never had to remove them to replace cables.

If a person designs a stupid component, I see no problem with diagnosing them, and their design as ******3d.

Unlike a condition such as Down's Syndrome, which has a very specific meaning, ******3d is a very broad term that merely implies some sort of developmental deficiency and as such can be correctly thrown at almost anyone given the right context. Perhaps there's a highly specific medical meaning for the term, but the general sense predates the medical context.

I'd suggest that some folks need to develop a thicker skin, lest the entire notion of political correctness is discredited entirely.

Oh wait, that happened already...

I challenge your assumptions about the term's etymology as you use it. As I stated earlier feel free to be offensive to individuals who have had the term applied to them medically and find its pejorative use quite hurtful, as well as to their families.