Small portable cable cutters for touring

[foxyrider]

Yes, Rohloff cables need to be cut to the pretty much the exact length - there is an adjustment screw but you still want to cut the cable as accurately as possible.

Clearly a design fault!

[LollyKat]

LOL! In practice it is not hard to do but you do need a clean cut, otherwise the end won't fit into the connector. If you keep fraying the cable with a manky cutter you will soon be in trouble.

[ukdodger]

I dont know why cable makers cant design cables that dont fray. It would be easy surely.

[Brucey]

I dont know why cable makers cant design cables that dont fray. It would be easy surely.

If they didn't fray, they wouldn't be flexible either, and would be no good in most installations. It isn't impossible though; Shimano Positron used a push-pull solid wire shift cable (and look at how well that worked....ahem...)

BTW I don't see that Rohloff is such a good example; unlike many gear systems you can set any single gear you like and carry on like that until you are able to borrow a set of cable cutters...?

cheers

[PH]

Yes, Rohloff cables need to be cut to the pretty much the exact length - there is an adjustment screw but you still want to cut the cable as accurately as possible.

I'm not sure which Rohloff cables you're referring to, or whether it's the internal or external shift?
My experience is of the internal shift as used on many Thorns.
Here's what I carry in my spares kit on tour to deal with any cable or fittings problems.
A complete ring assembly and torx screwdriver, which takes care of the internal cable (It wasn't that price when I bought it )
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/hub-spares/ ... 0014-8572/
A few electric terminal connectors, which will join any damaged cable without cutting
http://www.screwfix.com/p/15a-terminal- ... 0wodBfkDIA

The only roadside repair I've needed to carry out was a damaged connector, I used a the terminal block to bypass that and it worked well enough.

[andrew_s]

I've never had one break but I had the end come off at the shifter. Luckily I was in the UK and near a town with a bike shop. Had that happened in the middle of nowhere abroad I'd have been stuck in the same gear unless I'd hopped off when needed to yank the Rohloff cables at the hub.

I had that happen to me at the top of the Khamba La (4794 m), about a day and a half out of Lhasa, 12 1/2 days short of Kathmandu. At the time, the nearest adequate bike shop was in Kathmandu, and all of the route between leaving the pre-tunnel airport road and Nepal was gravel roads, except for in the towns and a couple of km either side.
I looped up the bare inner cable by the seatpost and shifted in that direction by reaching down and pulling it, and changed the cable at that night's campsite. Fortunately an adequate cutter was available (regular workshop type).

For info, since some people don't seem to understand, the problem was that the nipple pulled off the end of the cable inside the shifter.

To restore normal function, you need to cut the replacment to the right length, whilst leaving the cut end clean enough to thread through the outer and into the QR connector. There's a small amount of error allowable, but the range of movement on the twist shifter and on the cable adjusters mean you've got to be fairly close. Small errors show up in the gear numbers on the shifter not being correct any more, larger ones mean you lose gears at one end of the range.

[PH]

To restore normal function, you need to cut the replacment to the right length, whilst leaving the cut end clean enough to thread through the outer and into the QR connector. There's a small amount of error allowable, but the range of movement on the twist shifter and on the cable adjusters mean you've got to be fairly close. Any error shows up in the gear numbers on the shifter not being correct any more.

Another post where it isn't clear which sort of hub shifting is being referred to?
Anywhere where there's an exposed section of inner cable you can use a terminal block connector to join an uncut length of shifter cable to the hub one. It's a temporary fix, you need to undo it to get the wheel out, but it's simple and effective. For the sake of a couple of grams, a couple of these connectors are a worthwhile addition to a Rohloff toolkit. I'm sure there are other ways to join the cables that would work just as well.
Not Rohloff specific - the other bodge to adjust the length of inner is to add/subtract some to the outer. I saw this done on a club ride when a gear cable snapped at the rear mech, they took an inch off a section of outer with a borrowed hacksaw which gave enough spare cable to re attach.

[ukdodger]

I've never had one break but I had the end come off at the shifter. Luckily I was in the UK and near a town with a bike shop. Had that happened in the middle of nowhere abroad I'd have been stuck in the same gear unless I'd hopped off when needed to yank the Rohloff cables at the hub.

I had that happen to me at the top of the Khamba La (4794 m), about a day and a half out of Lhasa, 12 1/2 days short of Kathmandu. At the time, the nearest adequate bike shop was in Kathmandu, and all of the route between leaving the pre-tunnel airport road and Nepal was gravel roads, except for in the towns and a couple of km either side.
I looped up the bare inner cable by the seatpost and shifted in that direction by reaching down and pulling it, and changed the cable at that night's campsite. Fortunately an adequate cutter was available (regular workshop type).

For info, since some people don't seem to understand, the problem was that the nipple pulled off the end of the cable inside the shifter.

To restore normal function, you need to cut the replacment to the right length, whilst leaving the cut end clean enough to thread through the outer and into the QR connector. There's a small amount of error allowable, but the range of movement on the twist shifter and on the cable adjusters mean you've got to be fairly close. Any error shows up in the gear numbers on the shifter not being correct any more.

I wonder how often that has happened. The Rohloff is a hard shift. You have to grip the shifter pretty hard to change and at the end of a day's riding the joint between my thumb and palm is a bit sore. Could be the cables arent up to it.

At least with the Rohloff you can do as you did. You could even get away with tying some string around the hub end cables and threading it up to the handlebars, tying them off and pulling on those to change. At least you'd get home.

I've just tried getting a cable into the Rohloff connectors that was very slightly frayed and therefore a tiny amount bigger in circumference than the rest of the cable and try as I might the damn thing would NOT go into the hole. I had to cut a 1/4 inch off and that went in (but only after a bit of fiddling). The connectors arent one of Rohloff's greatest achievements. It would make life easier if instead of a hole it was a funnel.

It's difficult enough in a workshop and the bike in a stand. What it would be like kneeling down in the dark and maybe rain doesnt bear thinking about. Hope I never have to find out.

[PH]

It's difficult enough in a workshop and the bike in a stand. What it would be like kneeling down in the dark and maybe rain doesnt bear thinking about. Hope I never have to find out.

In the workshop, probably at the roadside to if you have cutters, you can thread the uncut cable through, then cut it and then pull it back into place. I find that easier.

[LollyKat]

For info these are the Rohloff (internal shift) cables where they need to be cut cleanly to fit the connectors:

I wonder how often that has happened. The Rohloff is a hard shift. You have to grip the shifter pretty hard to change and at the end of a day's riding the joint between my thumb and palm is a bit sore. Could be the cables arent up to it.

If you slacken off the cables with the adjusters the shift is much easier. The downside is that then the indicator on the shifter doesn't align so well with the numbers. I can't read them anyway without my reading specs (which I don't wear for cycling) so it doesn't bother me that I don't know what gear I'm in.

[ukdodger]

For info these are the Rohloff (internal shift) cables where they need to be cut cleanly to fit the connectors:

I wonder how often that has happened. The Rohloff is a hard shift. You have to grip the shifter pretty hard to change and at the end of a day's riding the joint between my thumb and palm is a bit sore. Could be the cables arent up to it.

If you slacken off the cables with the adjusters the shift is much easier. The downside is that then the indicator on the shifter doesn't align so well with the numbers. I can't read them anyway without my reading specs (which I don't wear for cycling) so it doesn't bother me that I don't know what gear I'm in.

Have to say I havent noticed any difference. I like to keep the cables tight to keep the play out of the shifter.

[LollyKat]

I was just following the manual which says: "winding out the cable adjusters increases the shifter tension, winding the cable adjusters in decreases the shifter tension."

It does mean more play but I'm used to it and don't mind, being at an age where carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis are beginning to appear.

[Sweep]

I dont know why cable makers cant design cables that dont fray. It would be easy surely.

my thoughts exactly.

after all a very large part of the population was born after the moon landing.

[ukdodger]

I was just following the manual which says: "winding out the cable adjusters increases the shifter tension, winding the cable adjusters in decreases the shifter tension."

It does mean more play but I'm used to it and don't mind, being at an age where carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis are beginning to appear.

Think I'll slack them off just in case. Another nipple failure will send me right into one!

[fhinson]

Thanks to all who have posted on this thread. I found it looking for a light weight cable cutter for touring, but have learnt that there is no such thing and will change gear cables on my Rohloff external gear mech before heading off on tour, as well as cutting spares to length in the workshop.
My bike has S&S couplings and cable splitters. A cable failed after less than 2 years and not more than 2500 miles. It went just above the clamping screw in one of the cable splitters.
Regarding tension in the Rohloff cables, even with them quite tight, the cable that is not pulling goes slack as soon as a slight gear changing force is applied to the twist grip. So, I do not agree with posts suggesting that leaving them slack reduces the force required to change gear.