This is an old thread from 2013, but I'm sure that replacing internal cables can be a difficult problem for many riders.

I assumed my Orbea had some kind of tube inside the frame to route the brake wire. No. It's just an empty space in there. I was stuck.

The best and easiest way to replace internal cables

I would never have thought to do this. But once I saw it, it was simple. Huh. Very elegant.

See my post with more details here.

Don't pull the old wire cable out!
Get some thin plastic tubing from the bike store. It's just a little larger than the wire itself, and the mechanics use it for this purpose.
Remove the crimp from the end of the cable, and thread on the tubing onto the old cable. Push until it comes out the frame hole at the front of the bike.
Leave at least 6 inches on each end, and pull out the old cable while holding the tubing in place.

Now you have a hollow tube that's sticking out at each end of the frame, and you can easily push the new cable wire through.
Pull the tubing out from the back when the cable is in place.

The tubing looks like this:

Betocha? I know this is an old post but did you ever manage to solve the problem as I have a Focus Izalco and can't feed the cable through to the front derailleur. My problem was due to me removing the cables for a bike respray.

Soooo, i have run into the same problem.. Nobody here that is Focus Izalco has reported a unique solution. Does that mean bad news and there is no solution?

It looks like the cable routing that is exiting the frame behind the bottom bracket is a much smaller OD than i can find in any bike shop. My thought is that acts as a liner to the internal routing and stretches the whole way from entry to exit. But i cannot seem to remove it from the rear side.

Let me know if anybody found a good solution. Would be very much appreciated!

I have the same issue, - When feeding the front shift cable in my ergoride 4.0 it gets stuck somewhere near the bottom bracket and won't feed through. It appears there is an internal liner where the shift cable feeds through the frame - i don't know if this needs to be replaced? And if I do take that out, will I be in a worse place? any of the solutions here don't apply to this situation because of this internal liner. And then if I do replace the liner, anyone know what exactly it is? since its not normal housing.

Holy quadruple zombie!

Search the threads, for Pete's sake. Floss and Vacuum, for any frame. Enough already.

interested to hear how this was fixed

You are asking for a response from a 5 year old post by a person that only had 1 post...... I think you will be waiting for a long time to hear from him.

Thanks Joe that was very unhelpful.

Perhaps unhelpful but an honest assessment just the same.

What I find interesting are the recent two likes I got for my reply here, from 2013 But this does show the value of this forum, even after 8 years people are still mining the info. Andy

In the hopes of being helpful...

The best solution for me would be to go to SRAM eTap and problem solved.

I have also contacted the manufacturer to see if there was another fix. Possibly cutting the internal routing out and then running a cable through the holes. I’m not sure if the internal routing can be replaced or if it’s worth the effort?

Hi there, I would be interested in your solution. I have the exact same problem focused on this thread described. Thanks

how did you do it?

“PM me” means send them a private message. Which is weird and distinctly unhelpful since new users probably can’t send PMs anyway and why not just post the answer? I suspect the person who wrote the post you responded to is a sociopath or a spammer.

And that post was written by someone who only had one post too....

This Focus model was well known to be near impossible to replace the FD cable. I've never heard a solution that didn't involve not removing the old cable, first.

The last shop I worked at was a Focus dealer until Focus changed their distribution channels and the shop dropped them.
They had rigid internal tubing, which in theory should have made things easier, but in practice, as others here have noted, getting the cable around the bend for the front derailleur was a real bear. I fought several battles with those and won them all, but it was never fun.
Starting with a new cable with a neatly welded end is a must.

I have the same issue with an '08 Madone's top tube routing. Got fed up and just ran an external housing down the TT, done.