On 07/03/2015 07:12 AM, Ron Mc wrote:
Steve, I think you're onto something - but the only places shifter cables have broken on me were always at the derailleur clamp. Also seen wear damage anywhere the cable goes in or out of a housing.
And I've /never/ seen one break there. Every shift cable that's been replaced on my bikes over the years has frayed at the shifter. What's more, most folks in the clubs I belong to use Shimano STI, and those brifters have a known issue with cable breakage -- but unlike a bar end shifter, where the fraying takes place outside the mechanism, where you can see and feel it when it starts, STI fraying is hidden inside the mechanism. The only clue you have is the gears start slipping about 2 miles before the cable fails completely -- and when it does, it often leaves shards of broken cable inside the tiny gears. STI levers aren't serviceable and aren't made to be disassembled, so sometimes those shards of cable can't be removed and the entire unit must be replaced. What joy!
Of course, fraying inside the shifter isn't the only way a cable can fail, and fraying cables aren't the only possible source of imprecise index shifting. Among other culprits are rusty or cracked & broken housings; bent derailleur hanger; housing collapsing where it fits into the ferrule, effectively altering housing length and consequently cable tension. And those are just off the top of my head, things I've seen on the road or have had happen to my bikes over the years, not meant to be an exhaustive list.
If this were my bike, I'd make a clean sweep of it and have the cables and housings replaced, and have the alignment of the rear derailleur checked at the same time. This is where most such problems originate, and it's basically routine maintenance. If that doesn't fix the problem, let the serious diagnostics begin. But keep this mantra in mind: Shimano indexed 9 speed shifting is in general NOT finicky, especially not with bar end shifters.
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