I've been needing to change the shift cables on the '70 Motobecane Grand Touring since I got it a few years back. They're the only part of the bike I haven't serviced as they seem to have been working well enough. Now that I'm riding it everyday, I figured it was time, espeically as the front shifting has gotten very tight and bad feeling recently.

New shift cables and housing in hand, I had few minutes before I had to leave for work this morning. "I know!', I said to myself, "I'll just swap out the front derailuer cable real quick before I go!". So, I loosen, the adjuster, clip the end of the old cable off, pull the shifter off, and work way too hard to pull the cable through the apparently corroded cable housing.

Old cable in hand, I look at it....Then I look at the new cable... Yep, the ends are different. The long throw Hurret shifters take a cable with a small barrel, the cabe going into the round surface, rather than the "Standard" big barrell with the cable going in the flat side. You learn something new everyday.


Given the new-found shortness of the old cable, the corrodded nature of the housing, and the lack of replacement, I gave a deep sigh, adjusted the stop on the FD to keep me on the big-ring and set off to work. I stopped by an LBS which is on my way, (not my usual place) and they miraculously had two left...dude said he couldn't remember the last time he sold this style cable. "Not many people are still running Hurret shifters. I do still see some Simplex stuff, but not Hurret!".

Lessons learned:
1) Don't do bike maintenace 10 minutes before leaving for work.
2) (And the one I KNOW from years of working on cars). Don't take the old part off until you're SURE the new part you have is right.

Happy Shifting everyone!

Thank you for the reminder. I just picked up a bike with Huret shifters that I need to get new cables for. With no bike shop in town I buy the Bell cable kit from the hardware store. The shifter cables have both ends, but out of habit I would've cut the wrong end off.

What, we don't have a I-do-everything-myself member on this forum that can re-cast the leaded end on your cable?

That's great you have an LBC on the way to work. I've have been trying to temporarily substitute a small pair of vice grips for the missing cable end, long enough to get there. Pretty sure it would not have worked.

I don't think my bike has one of those.

LOL, wow. No excuses for me there, just a complete and utter misplacement of brain cells.

I know both those rules well. I still break them and pay the price.

It's fairly easy to modify a standard, barrel-end derailleur cable to fit a disk-end lever. Squeeze the barrel in a vise until it is narrow enough to fit the slot for the disk in the lever. A couple swipes with a file to fine-tube the fit, and Bob's yer uncle.

This.

Top

lots of these on ebay, some at reasonable prices

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...ables&_sacat=0

Mark Petry
Bainbridge Island, WA USA

This happened to me recently, though I had come across a couple in various parts purchases over the year and - not recognizing them - decided to stash them. Search for "Huret shift cable".