I changed a shift cable
 

I know, no big deal, and I thought so too. I have spare cables and I have changed them in the past, but that was back in the days of friction shifters. My two year old hybrid has indexed shifting and I found out I had no idea how to open and insert the cable in the grip shifter. My bicycle repair book is from the 70s.

I will never cease to be amazed at what you can find on the internet. Following a bit of searching I found this site, which has a wonderful video: http://bicycletutor.com/grip-shift-cable/

I never would have figured this out on my own, and sent him a $5 donation for his coffee fund. I have never changed a cable on my touring bike, which has STI shifters, and unfortunately he doesn't have a video for that.

Grip Shifters:cry::cry::cry::cry:

My only attempts at changing cables on these things were not successfull. Had the situation of only getting 5 of the 7 gears at any time and I put it down to old rusted cables. So time to change them to stainlesss steel so out came the manual- or the 1 sheet of rice paper that the rats had been chewing up and cables changed-

I could now get 3 gears out of the 7 so took them off and changed to an old pair of thumb shifters from an old bike. They may have only been 6 speed but I could now get 1 more gear than I could before I started.

In changing shift cables on STI brifters, I release some brake cable tension so I can pull the lever all the way to the bar, put a rubber band on the lever to hold it open, and then take the cover off (some have it on only one side, some on both) revealing the cable hole. Of course, I would have shifted to the lowest cog/ring to release cable tension and line up the shift mech in the brifter to 'zero' position. Then it is an easy task to release the cable pinch bolt at the derailleur, remove the old cable, insert the new cable, pull slack out of the cable, tighten the pinch bolt, and check shifting, before replacing the cover, and releasing the lever. Finally I readjust the brake cable tension. Now a test ride is in order!

I switched from indexed to friction. I wouldn't even think of going back to indexed shifting. I like friction.

Pffft. Even I can change shifter cables. STI isn't harder than anything else.

OTOH, putting on new handlebar tape? The thought makes my blood run cold.

Grip shifters are the trickiest to change cables in. If you managed that, STI is no biggie.

Once you've done it a few dozen times it gets easy.

Ken,
I have learned how to do a number of bike maintenance, adjustment, and repair tricks via internet video instruction! Then there are a number of videos I watched and thought, "Well, that's a job for my BSG." (Like replacing handlebar tape, which looks easy enough to learn, yet somehow I know my efforts would have the lumpy appearance of the work of a six year old).

I know what you mean regarding repair books from the 70s. When my kids wanted to know how to do something on their bikes, I'd send them upstairs to our library to read about it before I would help them. They always complained that the books were too "old". Being somewhat dutiful kids they would go read about the particular procedure, and I would then help them. One day, looking for a gear chart, I picked one of the books up again. It was amazing to me how much had changed and how little I realized it because of making incremental adjustments in my knowledge and work over the decades. Figuring out something like changing a cable on a grip shifter could indeed be perplexing.

My old copy of Bicycling's repair book is pretty much outdated except for working on my old tech bikes. The Park Big Blue Book is very helpful as, I'm sure, are other more up to date repair books. When I take on a new repair task or one I need a little help with, I like to have a book to look at and online instructions and/or videos as well. Whatever it takes to make me see the light. The info is out there and not too hard to find via Google.

QUOTE=BluesDawg;11794492]My old copy of Bicycling's repair book is pretty much outdated except for working on my old tech bikes. The Park Big Blue Book is very helpful as, I'm sure, are other more up to date repair books. When I take on a new repair task or one I need a little help with, I like to have a book to look at and online instructions and/or videos as well. Whatever it takes to make me see the light. The info is out there and not too hard to find via Google[/QUOTE]
...or 50+ bike forum. :D

This is a friendly and helpful place, but the Bicycle Mechanics forum on BF will net you a larger and more experienced mix of responders to most mechanical problems (including some of the usual 50+ gang).