Replacing internal cables

Faced with the problem of how to replace a brake cable that is routed inside my frame, I used heat shrink sleeving. Normally used for electronics, it goes over a wire loose and shrinks down tight when heat is applied with a match or hot air gun.

Having cut the nipple off the old cable and removed all the outer casing, I threaded the new inner into the brake lever and first section of casing, then joined the new and old cables with a length of this shrink sleeve. When shrunk it just passed through the holes in the frame, allowing the new cable to be drawn through by the old.

This, of course, only works if you have the old cable still inside the frame.

David Hignett

 

This was first published in the October / November 2012 edition of Cycle magazine.