Snapped gear cable

[fuzzy]

Anyone know a quick bodge for a snapped rear gear cable?

On the way to work this morning, cable snapped at down tube guide. Rode half my journey on the smallest rear. Like pulling away from traffic lights in a car stuck in 5th. Not fun in busy traffic. I just want to bodge it so that it stays in the mid range at the back for the journey home. I might only have access to a zip tie or 3.

Any ideas welcome.

Thanks.

Knackered of Burnham.

[MSeries]

The one I used once is to wedge a stone in the parallelogram of the mech so it's in the right gear.

Other people clamp the cable in the rear wheel skewer

[Pete]

I wonder if you could try cutting the cable near the rear mech, then after setting the mech at the position you want, fix a nut bolt and washers on the cable to hold it in place?

Or tie a knot in the cable and fix it firmly to the stay with cable ties?  Just a thought...

[Little Jim]

If you take the cable out of the STI/Ergo lever have you got enough cable to run from the cable stop on the chain stay to the mech?  If so the nipple should be large enough to be anchored by the cable stop then you can use the short length of cable to pull the mech to the gear of your choice.  NB I've never tried this, so I've no idea if it is one of those things that will work until you stand on the pedals........

[mrcharly-YHT]

Use the limit adjuster screws to move the mech across into a better gear.

[Fixedwheelnut]

  It's been a long time since I ever had this problem 

 Can you adjust the screw stops on the mech to a more suitable gear?  Top tip count the number of turns so you can reset it easily after renewing the cable 

[fuzzy]

The one I used once is to wedge a stone in the parallelogram of the mech so it's in the right gear.

Other people clamp the cable in the rear wheel skewer

I wonder if you could try cutting the cable near the rear mech, then after setting the mech at the position you want, fix a nut bolt and washers on the cable to hold it in place?

Or tie a knot in the cable and fix it firmly to the stay with cable ties?  Just a thought...

I will try one of these three fixes I think.

If you take the cable out of the STI/Ergo lever have you got enough cable to run from the cable stop on the chain stay to the mech?  If so the nipple should be large enough to be anchored by the cable stop then you can use the short length of cable to pull the mech to the gear of your choice.  NB I've never tried this, so I've no idea if it is one of those things that will work until you stand on the pedals........

Little Jim, cable snapped too close to the levers for this to work

Use the limit adjuster screws to move the mech across into a better gear.

  It's been a long time since I ever had this problem 

 Can you adjust the screw stops on the mech to a more suitable gear?  Top tip count the number of turns so you can reset it easily after renewing the cable 

This solve has potential as well.

Thanks Gang!

[Charlotte]

If all else fails, bin the cable, remove the mech, split the chain and take enough links out to singlespeed it.

[Gattopardo]

If all else fails, bin the cable, remove the mech, split the chain and take enough links out to singlespeed it.

And never look back   

[Paul]

Take the piece of cable with the nipple on it, feed it into the mech in the normal way as far as it will go. The nipple will stop it going right through.

Clamp the other end in the mech at the position where it will keep the chain in the chosen gear. Trim of any excess. The cable will only be attached to the mech.

Not tried it, but I think it should work. Note that it is still theoretically possible for the mech to move one way (down the gears, I think), so you could find it shifting to a lower gear if you hit some rough spots, but I think that would be unlikely.

[TimO]

If all else fails, bin the cable, remove the mech, split the chain and take enough links out to singlespeed it.

Certainly why I'm using a singlespeed for commuting, not that it was a geared bike and it broke, but that it avoids these sort of problems.  Of course the brakes do their best to make up for this...

[andrew_s]

Wedging a small stone into the parallelogram is the quick and dirty way.

Screwing the limit stop often won't work because the screw isn't long enough to move the cage far enough over to get a reasonable gear. You would have to carry a long screw of the correct thread, or have swapped the screw for a long one beforehand.
Similarly, you'd probably have to carry a dedicated cable clamp bolt (i.e. one with a hole in) to use the remaining cable. The break will almost always be at the lever end so you wouldn't be able to use the nipple, and I suspect that cable ties or knots would allow enough creep that you'd have to keep stopping to fiddle with it.

[TimO]

It can be worth carrying a bit of electrical "chocolate block" for this.  You could use one to clamp the cable against a stop, or if you had a spare cable but didn't want to go to the faff of replacing the cable, use it to join two cables together (also useful if you need a long cable, eg on a Tandem or Recumbent).

[Paul]

The break will almost always be at the lever end so you wouldn't be able to use the nipple,

Yes, but in this case:

cable snapped at down tube guide.

so there should be enough nippled cable end (I think 5" would be plenty) for:

Take the piece of cable with the nipple on it, feed it into the mech in the normal way as far as it will go. The nipple will stop it going right through.

Clamp the other end in the mech at the position where it will keep the chain in the chosen gear. Trim of any excess. The cable will only be attached to the mech.

But I agree that the stone in the mech (assuming you can find the right size) would probably be the quickest, tool-free solution.

[hazeii]

Take the piece of cable with the nipple on it, feed it into the mech in the normal way as far as it will go. The nipple will stop it going right through.

Clamp the other end in the mech at the position where it will keep the chain in the chosen gear. Trim of any excess. The cable will only be attached to the mech.

Not tried it, but I think it should work. Note that it is still theoretically possible for the mech to move one way (down the gears, I think), so you could find it shifting to a lower gear if you hit some rough spots, but I think that would be unlikely.

This does work - even better with a mech with an adjuster barrel on it, which allows you to change gear over a limited range (turning the barrel takes the place of the gear lever). Even if the cable broke at the nipple, a knot should work just as well.

Can also be used to convert a rear derailleur into a tensioner for ghetto single-speeding (possibly saw this idea on Sheldon Brown).

[fuzzy]

I ended up using a spare bottle cage bolt accompanied by a nut from a detached set of toe clips, both found laying around the bike store at work. This got me home and back to work today. I'm currently a twin speed rider!

[Martin]

If all else fails, bin the cable, remove the mech, split the chain and take enough links out to singlespeed it.

this only works if you are lucky or if you have horizontal dropouts; otherwise it's nigh impossible to get the chain tension right (tried it in Italy when my gear hanger broke; the chain was too tight and undid all the bolts on the chainset in the space of 5km)

Deniece's cable snapped on the Irish Mail and we managed to lock it in a middle gear using the rear wheel skewer; she has a compact chainset so this gave two useable gears which was fine for the rest of the ride.

[fuzzy]

If all else fails, bin the cable, remove the mech, split the chain and take enough links out to singlespeed it.

this only works if you are lucky or if you have horizontal dropouts; otherwise it's nigh impossible to get the chain tension right (tried it in Italy when my gear hanger broke; the chain was too tight and undid all the bolts on the chainset in the space of 5km)

Deniece's cable snapped on the Irish Mail and we managed to lock it in a middle gear using the rear wheel skewer; she has a compact chainset so this gave two useable gears which was fine for the rest of the ride.

An expensive but effective way of undoing chain ring bolts then?