Hi all

As everyone was so helpful last time I have a quick question.

I am in the process of replacing the brake and gear cables on my old bike. I know what I need for the end where the cable cover joins the brake levers but I see a couple of areas on the run of the cable where it looks like I should have something. There is currently no cable so I have no clues.

Does anyone have an idea? The hole in the top is the size of the cable and the lower hole allows the cable to pass through. Should there be some sort of end protection on the cable when it arrives at the top hole? I assume there is no need on the other side as the end is covered by the moulding. Or do I just leave the cut end of the cover as it is? As there are no shops open I have to get everything online so it is a bit complicated.


Many thanks
Gill

I always put an end cap on the top of the cable that goes against that part of the cable stop.

No ends required.

Use end caps on normal cable, it looks nicer. If you are going to use compression-less housing you must use the end caps supplied with the cable as they are shaped to retain the linear strands.

Thank you! Is it something like this I am looking for?

No cable ends will fit. The round part of the braze-on is only wide enough for bare 5mm housing to fit though and there isn’t enough metal there to widen it for a ferrule to pass through it.

That's an order of assembly thing.

but if you use a ferrule it needs to fit inside the stop correctly so that it wont bind the cable with an angular change from the Ferrule to the brazeon and intended cable run line. That said I would not invest in a large bottle of ferrules with out confirming a fit. Maybe you could buy a cheaper cable set with the thin stamped ferrules to check for fit with the housings you have.

There isn’t any need to protect the cable housing where it goes through the loop. As I stated above, there isn’t any ferrule that will pass through that loop anyway. The loop is only about 5mm wide and was designed to fit brake cable housing which was the only housing available when these were in wide use. 4mm derailer housing will work but the ferrules for those are wider than 5mm.

Try to fit a piece of either 4mm or 5mm housing in there and see how closely it fits.

It fits snugly. I was more thinking about the end that arrives at the top side where it just rests against the guide (there is no cable in place in the picture).

you shouldn’t need the 2nd piece of housing outside of the stop. The stop is to end the housing and run bare cable.

I was wondering that. Thank you - that makes everything easier.

I've encountered some stops that take a ferrule, and some that don't. I just check each time, on any newly acquired bike that I'm working on. I try fitting the housing in with a ferrule, and if it fits, I use it. If not, well, I don't. You'd be surprised how many times you would come across a cable housing that should have a ferrule, but doesn't.

Have a look in the end of that outer. If you can see the ends of a circle of wires you NEED a ferrule designed for linear cable. Otherwise eventually the wires will be forced through the hole in the cable stop. If it's one big piece of metal wound around the outer in a spiral you don't, but thin pressed metal ferrules look nice.

I bet this 4.8mm ferrule will fit through the 5mm hole!

Am I missing something here? If you want to install a ferrule, why not hold the ferrule between the loop and the stop, then feed the housing through the loop, into the ferrule, then into the stop? It appears to me, though, that the rounded stop would not allow the ferrule to rest squarely enough anyway.

But 5mm housing won’t fit in that ferrule. And, I would suspect that the ferrule isn’t long enough to cover from the end of end of the braze-on to the loop. This kind of braze-on predates indexed shifting by at least a decade and may be 2.

I'd either run derailleur cable housing with this ferrule or no ferrule on brake cable housing, its really not a big deal either way. You said no ferrule would fit through the 5mm hole though, and thats just not true.

Thank you. It has been a good reminder that I don't have a housing for the derailleur cable - which is a good thing as I can do an order for a few things at once.

Many thanks