Si, the vacuum trick just saved me from one of my self-inflicted wounds, especially since the pandemic has rendered the LBS inaccessible due to their backlog. Amazing hack. Thanks to you and Tom!
I can vouch for this. Vacuum plus dental floss. Saved me from either zip tying the cable externally to the tube or just drilling out the holes, neither of which would be acceptable.
Tried the vacuum technique on my Klein Adroit and it worked like a charm, takes the dread out of routing the cables. Only improvement I might recommend is putting some gasket material on the vacuum tube to draw more suction. Great stuff, thanks guys.
4:00 you can combine the cable pushing with the thread vacuuming. Tighten shorter thread to the cable end, push the end inside the frame, start vacuuming when the cable end is close to an exit, get the thread, pull the cable Magnetic method De Last Attach a regular needle to the thread, insert the needle into frame, and use magnet to get the needle out. The needle on the thread is easier to control than the whole cable.
So one thing Simon did not mention was when assembling a bike with internal cable routing, the order of assembly might have to change. I found that it pays to leave the crank and bottom bracket out of the bike until after the gear cables are in their final position. By doing this I was able to reach my fingers into the hole where the bottom bracket would normally go to help fish out the end of the cable or even be able to clearly see the cables as they came down the down tube. Another thing they did not mention or cover was fishing DI2 or other electronic group set wires through the frame. This could present additional issues since the ends of the wires are bigger than a standard mechanical cable and the wires are not as stiff as a cable. So in reviewing the methods they covered in this video at least two of the methods just would not work with DI2 wires.
I'm old enough to remember when internal cable routing became comon. It started with the rear brake cable housing. I have an old LOOK from 98' I believe and it's set up this way. I've replaced the rear brake housing once by taping the new housing to the old and slowly pushing it through. Several years ago I used to build bikes for my local Performance Bicycles shop. Most of the internal cable routing was a big pain in the but. If I were buying another frame, I'd get an older one that doesn't have it. This was very interesting and helpful If I ever have to do this. Thanks.
You just made my day! I was about to give up on my internally routed steel frame. I did not spend quite a week of my free time as you mentioned but it was already to much time spent and sleep lost. I found this video and the thread hack had good potential. Got my kids involved to hold the vacuum, they thought that was quite funny to be vacuuming out a bike. Thank you!
Thank GCN, the vaccum method really worked well for me - I was 'that guy' who mistakenly took his gear cables out and then found this video. Standing on the shoulders of giants! You saved me a lot of time and some sanity.
I had a similar idea to the string method, but it only works if you HAVEN'T removed the cables. Attach a string to the old cable, pulling it through then detach it from the old cable. Then reverse the process and attach the string to the new cable and pull it back the other way. In theory, it should work like the sheath, but without the need to get the right tubing.... Just a thought....
Against all odds the vacuum cleaner method worked incredibly well. I was starting to loose my mind trying to sort this out. PLEASE NOTE that I have made a custom "tip" for the vacuum hose that enters perfectly on the shape of the cable hole (with a used bottle). Thanks very much GCN 10/10
If building up a new frame you can relatively easily push that inner cable housing through the holes. The natural bend along with it's relative "stiffness" makes pushing it gently through the hole fairly easy; then rotate it till you can push it out the other end. Push the cable through and done!
Here's a trick I just used: With the cable outside of the frame, I figured out how much to insert the cable so that the end would end up near the exit hole. Then I used needlenose pliers to fashion a small hook out of a paper clip. I was able to insert the paper-clip hook in the exit hole, catch the cable, and pull it out of the hole. Victory! If this was covered in the vid, forgive me, I was impatient and wanted to act!
I just used the vacuum / thread method for running the dropper post actuator cable from the seat post hole down to the the bottom bracket and up to a hole in the down tube near the steerer tube In a full suspension mountain bike. At first, I tried to feed the thread from the hole in the down tube to the opening for the seat post. I tried three times - NO GO. Then I got the idea to use the shifter cable opening in the frame below the bottom bracket in my process. First, I fed thread into the opening in the frame below the bottom bracket and sucked it up the seat tube using gravity and the vacuum. THAT WORKED! I tied off both ends of that thread. Then, I put the dropper post into the frame to plug that hole and fed thread at the opening in the frame near the steerer tube and used the vacuum at the opening below the bottom bracket - that worked, too! After tying that thread off on the handlebar, I tied the two thread ends at the bottom bracket together. Now I had a thread run from the handlebar through the frame to the bottom bracket and up to the seat post opening. I tied the thread at the seat post to the new dropper post cable and used some needle nose pliers to bend the last couple of mms at the end of the cable 90 degrees so the thread knot would not slide off. I pulled the thread at the handlebars and got the cable through the frame! Then I snipped off the 90 degree bend in the cable and slid the cable housing over the cable until it appeared out of the seat tube. What an ordeal, but it worked!
After a mind numbing 2 hours i finally broke down and looked on youtube for help and came upon your video. The vacuum tip was awesome. It did not work however I advanced it from your idea. I took the same piece of string shoved it down the stupid dropout arm as much as i could then I hit it with 150 psi air blower. The string came right out. Now since the string was mason thread it was a challenge to tie the string and cable together but i ended up using sowing thread to link the two together and with some black magic the stupid cable finally came through. This experience alone is worth pay the 1000 premium to switch your bike to an electronic shifting system. Uhhhhhhhhhhhh still angry about the wire. Thanks again for the vacuum tip. GCN is the best.
The vacuum trick did it. What makes this trick even better is to guide the wire with cable the cable you want to get through the tube. Knot the wire at the end of the cable, keep a long bit left to be vacumed. Push the cable through and vacume the wire out. Took me less than a minute.
A little hack... I replaced the inner cable yesterday on my Trek Emonda ALR4. And yes, I also removed a cable without realizing or watching the tutorial how annoying and painful it would be. So, I unscrewed the top gear entry plastic holder (where the gears and brake hose enter the frame). From the bottom, I inserted the old cable, used a pair of thin pliers (or a hook) to take the cable out from the top once I located it. Since I did not have a tiny sheath, I used electric tape to join both new and old cables. This joint must be very, very thin and fairly long so the connection would not disintegrate during threading through the plastic holder at the bottom. This way, I managed to replace cables. I don't know who's the idea it was but internal routing sucks. It is time-consuming, annoying and frustrating. I hope this will be redesigned eventually. For now, I can live with it, since I change cables once a year...
I used the magnet technique to run a shift cable through my Giant TCX SX. The shift cable ferrule in the downtube wasn't removable as there was some piping attached to it and didn't want to risk breaking it. Inserting another sheath in the downtube wasn't an option and just trying to magically line up the cable by shoving it in and out wasn't working either. The magnet option worked a treat! Just had to move the magnet up/down to line it up with the hole at the end of the seat stays. It took me easily less than a minute. I was surprised seeing the cable end pop out so quick.
The vac trick worked for me. I added on a cable end for a little weight to make it pull trough better. I then pulled 2 strings through on that one for a spare then did the cable itself. Glad I did the first one broke! Thanks for the tip!
So, so happy with my 2013 Supersix Evo with all external cable routing. Might not look as slick and stealthy but this is entirely made up for by the no-fuss, down to earth cable routing.
Vacuum trick worked a treat, many thanks guys would never have thought of that, and yes I had already removed the old cable when I realised I had a problem!
I used this tubing which I found on ebay to stop the rattle in my bike and its 100% done the trick. Super light, very easy to fit through the frame cable entrance. Saves you having to buy 10 meters of the stuff! Ebay Search - "Jagwire Internal Routing Dampener Foam Sleeve - 2m, Brake / Gear Cable Cover New"
Vacuum cleaner + string worked magically. I found wrapping the string around the cable a zillion times helped keep it on the cable. I actually shoved it on the cable and put it through first, then removed cable, then vacuumed.
I use a wire coat hanger which I straighten out. the resulting steel rod is quite easy to manipulate through the frame. fasten the cable to the end with electrical tape then pull it through. hey presto! works every time.
After suffering for several days, trying to re-cable my Argon 18 GP, I finally found a little trick that was somewhat nifty. I was able to feed some grass edger trimmer line through and hook it at the end. Then pull that to the bottom of the frame through the intended hole. The rest was simple, tape your new wire to the nylon line and pull through. But what a PIA and I wish internal routed handle bars had a good trick.
1:13 this has me really excited to do internal cable routing for the first time this coming Monday on my new frame, lol. I did buy a generic cable routing kit but the only thing I'm iffy about is routing my hydraulic brake hose. I don't want to have to bleed the brakes after installing it so I'm thinking of removing the hose at the lever instead of the caliper and fishing the hose through the frame from the bottom up. The cable routing kit I got has a tiny metal piece that screws into the end of a hydraulic hose so I'm hoping it fits my hose and it essentially plugs the hose so I don't leak mineral oil all over the place and have to bleed the brake. Wish me luck, I'm going to watch atleast 5 or 6 more cable routing videos before I attempt it on Monday.
Slight extension to the vacuum cleaner method. Take a very small bit of cotton wool and tie it to the beginning of the string. The cotton wool should be fluffy and not compressed and should go through the hole without to much friction. The increased surface are of the cotton wool makes this trick a lot more effective.
Thank you so much!! The method with the magnet worked for me with a Wilier Cento Uno. I also laid down the bike sideways to have the gravitational force working in the direction of the outlet hole, i.e. downwards.
7 лет назад
Working with a bike has become a crazy adventure with internal cabling. I never thought of needing a vacuum cleaner! :D
At the start of the summer I changed the cables on my propel. And the great guys at giant made it so all of the above methods were pretty impossible because you had to thread the cable through a small bit of outer cable which led into the frame. After hours of calling my bike some rather rude names, I found a really thin piece of cable tie, created a loop and pushed this into the frame so when it was inside the bike the cable would run through it. First attempt I was able to pull the cable out. I then accidently pulled the cable back into the frame when I moved the handle bars, but that's mainly because I'm an idiot and not a fault of the method!
I was literally about to replace the cables on my Propel after watching this vid. Following your reply I might just hand it to my LBS and let them sweat it!
Brilliant! First I was trying to figure out how I could make some kind of loop that would "lasso" the cable so I could tighten the loop and pull it out. I didn't think of the cable tie method. So failing that, I came up with my "paper clip hook" method which I just posted about.
If you tie a little section of plastic bag to the thread before using the vacuum it will come straight out with ease, as you create a seal inside the tube/frame around the thread. Plumbers/electricians have been using this trick to fit underfloor heating for years
Was just about to post the same tip, but thought I’d check if anyone got there first. Yes, 1.5 mm Heat shrink tubing worked for my rear brake cable (and would probably shrink enough for gear cable) but I’d already removed the old cable so had to use the vacuum and thread trick first. The heat shrink tubing held the thread and cable end well and when it appeared near the exit hole I used a sewing needle to guide it through.
Question: is there any reason why you can't do a modification of the string method without a vacuum? What if you were to securely tie/glue the string to the old cable at the derailleur end (before you pull the cable), then pull the cable (with the string attached) through from the shifter end so that the cable drags the string with it. Then you'd cut the old cable from the string, tie on a new cable, then pull the string through from the derailleur end. Seems to make sense to me and you wouldn't need a vacuum. What do you think??
If you don't have that special skinny tube, just use an old clearly labeled 'not for prime time" cable housing instead. Or, sometimes that old housing has a thin tube, not quite as fancy as that in video.
Can you also use the old cables as guide? I.e. pull old inner cable out of old outer cable -> insert new inner cable into old outer cable -> pull out old outer cable over new inner cable -> insert new outer cable over new inner cable
I used a magnet with great success on my last re-cabling. Though I used a strong rare earth magnet, which I would highly recommend over one of those dinky wheel speed magnets. No fishing, gravity, or fuss required.
This a GREAT idea! I have a variation that makes it even better… So, you know the big problem with a bike frame? There is a _lot_ of empty space inside. This weakens the force of the vacuum considerably. I tried and tried, and it just wouldn’t pull the thread. Today, though I had an idea. Suppose I got some flexible tubing that was just big enough to fit through the hole in the frame, then pushed until it was close to the exit hole? In my case, this was 3/16” (a bit under 5mm). I made an adapter to my smallest vac attachment (with duct tape) and pushed the tubing in as close to the exit hole as possible. When I turned on the vac and put the thread into the hole, the vacuum grabbed it and pulled it through in a heartbeat! I haven’t yet attached it to the cable, but I intend to use super glue and tape to do so. Very stoked!
I made the mistake of removing the old cable and couldn't get the new one in, I tried the vacuum hack and it worked a treat. I couldn't get the whole trailing thread to budge but I left a length of approx 6" when I tied thread onto the cable this came through in seconds and was enough to pull the cable through the exit hole.
I’ve got the “week of your time and black magic” variety in a Boardman Air from yesteryear. I will add that they are actually pretty good as I’ve done it before but I’m having a lot of trouble getting around the BB.
Thanks. I now have a Fuller canister vac with adjustable vacuum power dial in hand, and will attempt the string method, because threading a cable 2' and exiting through a cable stop ferule, was on schedule to see me complete this build at 80. Planning to thread the string through, and then glue the nose of the thread, and the cable nose together, with super glue. Thoughts and prayers, please.
Hey there GCN.. This is just an idea.. But using your old cable as a guide.. I. E. First cut outer cables with a Stanley knife.. (as u would a hot dog).. Then clean cut inner wire near as you can to sti shifter.. Now use the old cable outer to gage the size of new ones... Cut and thread over old inner cable.. Now thread new inner cable up through the hole, take your thread and tie onto both old and new innerspring... Go to the derailleur now and undo all the cable.. Then take old outers and repeat earlier gage technique now gently pull from the rear derailleur the old cable until the new one shows. What do you think GCN?
My Fuji Gran Fondo has internal cable routing but NOT internal cable guide. Failed to anticipate the need for leaving a cable sleeve. Wasted a few hours trying to get the new cable out with no success. Tried all the techniques here to no avail. Problem is that there is a metal collar at the exit hole which the cable, and cable sleeve, and the string, and string with needle on the end all got hung up on. Finally hit on a solution: needle attached to thread attached to sleeve met by a magnetized ice pick sticking into the exit hole. Magnetized the ice pick by attaching 3 stacked cadence magnets to it just outside the exit hole (ie, about 1.5" below the tip).
@00:06 Yea... I can relate... As a beginner in fully dismantling and assembling an entire bike It took me two fuckin' days to get an entire Shimano XTR Di2 set into the frame mainly because of me not owning the necessary tools or having the guts to extract and reinstall the press fit bottom brackets for easier access to the internals leaving me with the head tube, the seat tube and two just large enough ports for Di2 wires behind the bottom bracket as points of entry Two days man... two days.
Easiest way I’ve found is disconnect cabling And housing at both ends.secure one end of existing cabling with tape to frame.Pull housing off and replace by sliding it onto the old cabling till it comes out the other side.Now you have a new cable housing in place to slide a new cable through.If the original housing is not to be replaced then obviously it’s easier..
