How To Replace & Fit Gear Cables On A Road Bike Like A Pro | Maintenance Monday

Changing your gear cables could possibly be the best thing you could do to improve the quality of your gear shifting. Simon explains how to do it the right way.

Let us know your experience of changing gear cables in the comments below 👇

Smooth shifting gears make bike riding a pure pleasure. There is nothing worse than a slow shift or missed gear change at that crucial moment. Ex-Professional cyclist Simon Richardson explains how to change your gear cables on a Shimano equipped bike so you get silky smooth gear shifting.

It is important that the outer-cables are the correct length. If they are too short the will have increased friction as they will bind when turning your handlebars. Too Long and they won't just look untidy, they will also have increased friction as they are inside the housing for longer than required.

After cutting the outer-cables to length we cannot reiterate the importance of making sure that the ends of the outer-cable are as circular and flat as possible, remembering to ensure that the liner is not squashed. This allows the inner-cable to enter and exit the outer-cable as smoothly as possible.

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[gcn]

Leave your tips on how to fit gear cables in the comments below 👇

[carmenmarin]

To prevent your housing from crimping when cutting it to length, I run an old gear cable through, and then cut it.

[dudeonbike]

Thanks for the video.
Here's a tip:
Bar tape still good, but the adhesive is too strong? Bar tape tearing as you unwrap it?
Use a hair dryer on the handlebar as you lift off the tape. This softens the adhesive and helps it release. This will prevent tearing the bar tape and hopefully allow you to re-wrap the flats with the existing tape, good as new.
I hope this helps.

[krakdechev]

Only that you mentioned "troublesome downshifts" helped me solve my problem as I could not shift to the biggest ring of the cassette. Turned out the cable was torn inside the lever! Replaced it and everything is perfect now! Thank you!

[danoedalo]

Am I not watching carefully enough or you really missed the step of taking out the old cable out of the shifter?

[AT-zhty]

Perfect instructions. I did my first internally routed rear derailleur cable replacement today, using this video, and it was all the guidance needed. Even used a Canyon bike... :) One interesting difference was that the original cable inner came out with a plastic tubing sleeve for the internal run - probably stops rattles and keeps it cleaner under the bottom bracket exposure. I refitted it on the new cable (only did the inner, as an urgent fix). I used a length of 1mm teflon tubing I happened to have - just the right diameter for the job.

[casiofi]

Worst thing about these videos is they make me want to buy 4 figure bike, that Canyon is gorgeous!

[tomm]

Great video. I chuckled when he lists all the tools without mentioning Allen wrench; first tool used: Allen wrench.

[cordehni]

Can I just say.... @simon - you have given me the confidence in taking on more repairs etc on my bike as opposed to leaving it into my lbs although for the real difficult jobs I'll obv leave to experts.

[dt]

Si, king of the bike wash!!!! Working on a dirty bike!! How could you!?!

[vaux_manvv]

That cable trick for the routing was awesome

[JackMitchell]

I have a smattering of Sturmey Archer 3 and 4 speeds across my fleet and my rule is to only change a cable if absolutely necessary. it's pretty tricky to install a new one without having to live with ugly pinch bolts. My oldest gear cable is 39 years old and still going strong.

[JEstr]

what size is the plastic tubing used to guide the cable internally?

[olivenaito]

The GCN Tech channel is a long but useful rabbit hole!

[Marko-shtn]

Snapped the rear shifter cable last night! Luckily had a spare set ready in the drawer and this gem of a tech video to help me out. Perfect!

[TheTwoMSs]

Great video! Basically never had repaired anything on my bike myself and I could do it - one tip that was missing in my specific case: to check if the end of the old cable (the little metal knob) is still in the shifter in the handlebar - was the case after I had wripped the shifting cable - had to remove the bottom of the shifter to get it out of the system

[trekkeruss]

Two critical pieces of info missing from this and the rear derailleur adjustment video I just watched. One is to pre-stress the cables after the initial installation (and before doing the indexing adjustment). Doing so seats the ferrules and gets rid of so-called "cable stretch, " so the indexing adjustment will remain constant and not need a readjustment later on. Two is to check the hanger alignment before setting the limit screws and indexing, because without good alignment, no amount of adjusting will ever work properly.

[paulstewart]

GCN a great help, didn’t know there was so much to learn about bikes, , , , quite technical these days, keep up the good work chaps 👍

[MartynAnnetts]

Great video - gave me the confidence to tackle replacing internal routed cables which I thought was LBS stuff - Clearly explained method - thanks

[tbra]

It would have been good if you elaborated on routing around the head tube (criss cross) or direct.