Replacing Gear Shift Cables on 105 (5800) Groupset

Thanks for that. In my case, the shop will put the new cables in and there’s been 0 sign of wear, fraying or shifting issues. Like I said, I maintain it really well and despite seeing lots of gravel and mud and dirt I keep it pretty clean too.

Living in the flatlands it hasn’t seem a lot of hills outside of a couple of out of the way gravel grinds so shifting under load is exceptionally rare.

I’d always heard that when you replace the cable you should replace the housing too. Clearly, in your experience @DouthatBiker thats not the case.

Appreciate the tips.

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Yeah, I heard the same advice early on, when I started mountain biking in early 90’s. It was more “true” then than it is now, I suspect, but even then, I wasn’t buying it. I kind’a laughed when I fellow rider was telling me about “how sweet it is” to have freshly changed cables and incredibly smooth shifting… He happened to work in the bike shop and access for that was easy and probably much cheaper than for me… :slight_smile:
I put up with harder shifting much longer, and it really WAS HARDER in those days. In fact, I remember shattering a housing to the front derailler, after it had gotten so trashy, and the route across a plastic guide attached to the bike beneath the BB was also rough and added more resistance. So under a heavy pull, the housing just SPLIT OPEN several inches, and the cable totally out hanging and useless. Only then did I fully understand the function the housing performs, not only to shield the cable, but also to keep the tension on it around bends, etc. I didn’t become a convert to “new housings with new cables” but I did realize my cheapest approach had its limits and downsides! :rofl:
Back then, housings were often minimal length, often made up of many sections, with LOTS of avenues for penetration of contaminants, and I dare say the materials were of lesser quality than what is possible today.
Hopefully this discussion has made me sufficiently aware of my liability to cheapness that I tackle the housings change on the next go-round… And hope it’s not too late! :crossed_fingers:

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Something that I find interesting is how often folks are changing cables. I had a 2014 Roubaix that I only changed cables on when the ends became frayed. I literally road 10,000+ miles on the same set of cables. One thing you HAVE to do is be extremely vigalent on maintenance. Lube often and well. Every opening in the cable has to be lubed. Every contact area as well (this includes the area on the RD where the cable goes through or around). Also, high quality cables are a good way to waste you money. Get cables that are smooth. Get coated if you want, but sometimes they are a waste.

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It’s pretty rare that only in the inner cable gets replaced as it’s normally the housing’s plastic lining that’s worn and causing drag and hysteresis (imprecise shifting). It might be done if there’s obvious damage to the inner cable on a relatively new set, or maybe preemptively in the case of some Shimano shifters. Anyway, a new properly installed set will yield easier more precise shifts.

FWIW, good properly installed brake cables can make a very big diff too. I use Jagwire or Yokozuna cable sets with compressionless housings and it can make cable brakes feel close to hydro. Very smooth low effort level travel and much firmer feel.

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I would agree to this years ago, but not so much now. Even my shop doesn’t suggest that on the first go-round anymore.
And when the shifter itself is where the cable is fraying, it has no impact on housings because it doesn’t reach there, but will completely break in there, which can be a nightmare, as you’ve earlier discussed. And when you can use full housings, as my Domane does, it’s a total waste to replace the housing when it’s still in excellent shape. A huge increase in cost of materials, as well as labor, because pulling the housing through isn’t the piece of cake that pushing the cable through is.
I’m not sure about other brand’s shifters, but Shimano 11-speed setups do tend to eat the cable somewhere inside the shifter. Not worth fretting about, just do the cables regularly enough to beat the failure point. (I have to tighten up in that regard!)

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Shimano Ultegra 11 speed seems to be the worst for ‘eating’ cables in the shifter due to the routing. The first iteration where the cable was routed out the shifter rather than through the shifter were the worst for this and cables were ‘losing their heads’ and disconnecting where the ball at the end of the cable would get completely ripped out. It took a pick to remove them or a drill.

I’ve got plenty of years of riding experience thanks, more than I’d like to admit. There’s no way you can have any idea how often my cables should last. It does depend a lot on the particular shifter model (I have a couple, even between internal routed models results vary), and quite obviously a lot on the amount you shift. The numbers I state are on the low side for sure, by a factor of maybe two, and I likely shift more than some by at least a factor two. Riding in the countryside you can easily ride 20km and never shift. In the city you can easily ride 2km and shift 5 times. I appreciate your opinion but the condition and maintenance of my cables is quite fine and the channel in the shifter is fine. All is clean and lubed. There is nothing abnormal going on here, other than as-stated possibly a bit too much multi-shifting. That indeed could be a factor as it should be be the most stressful events that create the most stress. Anyway, jagwire pro sets are under $10 a cable including housing. Changing them every 4000k isn’t a big deal.

By the way, getting cable heads out really isn’t a problem. You just have to know how. Again it depends on the shifter. Most have panels that are removable, and you can work the ratchet with a small tool.

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The ultegra 11 speed r8000 right shifter has a panel under the front up toward the levers, that is removable with a small screw. It gives complete unobstructed access to the cable end and its winding mechanism. The head will fall right out and then you can easily ratchet the puller back to the high gear position.

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Not that I’m asking but why are you changing cables so often? I rode a 2014 Roubaix with SRAM E-Tap and I was replacing the cables maybe once per year. I’m suspecting something with the Shimano Ultegra as I had to replace them more often on my 2010 Gary Fischer and it’s replacements. However, I also think you like to err on the side of caution. BTW, I shift quite often as well as I ride on hills and a quite large mountain (I live about 14 miles from Mount Lemmon). I guess we are vastly different on the level of caution we engage for maintenance. Plus, as the old FRAM guy said “Pay a little now, or a lot later”.

The shifter with the issue was before the R8000 series. Removing the cable end required almost a complete disassembly of the shifter. Fortunately, Shimano did add the ‘door’ so that the end could be removed quite readily with a jeweler’s screwdriver or a pick. Also, versions after the one with the cable breakage issue and those where the cable entered from the left/right of the shifter didn’t have this issue as often, unless you got a batch of poorly fastened cable ends.

My current shifter is the R8000 series, and it DOES have the problem. Difference that I’ve seen is what I said earlier about the break point (at least so far) being about 3/4" INSIDE the mechanism, so it isn’t easy to see by inspection. My previous bike had the version that broke it off right at the “head” so they were pretty easy to see when things were going bad.

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Intersesting as I thought the redesign solved the cable issue. Since I no longer have the bike with the Ultegra shifters, I would have to contact a third party I donated it to to see if they have the cable issue and any actions they took to keep this from happening. If this is the situation, pre-emptive cable replacement is certainly one of the things I would be doing rather than waiting for it to break and the possible complications that would result. One my SRAM ETap Red bicycle, I was replacing cables about once per year and that bicycle seen a lot of use on the trainer with sweat and such. Again, greasing the cables where they go through any pinch point and using a high quality lubricant frequently should keep cables happy but a poor design is something we can’t maintain around.

I’m nothing like alone here. You can find thread after thread after thread of people talking about shimano under tape shifters destroying cables and in many mileage of around 2000 miles is mentioned, sometimes even much less. I don’t believe lube is even a factor, although I lube mine. This is about bending the metal over the tight bends, and raking the bend point back and forth, and even in two different directions. That will cause metal fatigue even if there is zero friction.

As mentioned, it’s hard to inspect the wear point, without removing the cable, and if going to the trouble, you can just as well replace it, or wait just a little while longer, it breaks or jams (frays) and replace it then anyway.

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