To prevent article pages from being miles long, but preserve all the useful questions and answers provided over time, I've decided to copy/paste the website comments to the forum - and "move" further discussions here.
If you can't find the answer to your question in this thread, please open a separate thread with your question/problem, in an appropriate forum section (this is the Maintenance and repairs section).
zeluzel 28/01/2020 at 22:33
Great article! Especially liked that “why” section. If only there were more people like you, or late Sheldon B. in this industry – true mechanics, with more common sense than marketing mumbo-jumbo.
Relja 29/01/2020 at 08:40
Sheldon Brown was a great man and his website was an inspiration for creating this one.
I’m also appalled with the level of marketing and lack of good engineering in the bicycle industry. I’ve met many good mechanics, good engineers, but most of them are not very good at writing and don’t like the idea of posting things on the Internet. It is my long term goal to get them to write – either on this site, or one of their own – or both.
For full disclosure: I’m not a mechanical engineer (I’m an IT engineer – getting paid to work as a systems administrator) nor a professional mechanic. I have worked as a bike mechanic in order to gain more experience and see what a fast-paced “real bike shop” environment looks like, but don’t do it for a living. I do run a small one-man bicycle shop as a hobby / part-time job – because I love it and it feels good, but doesn’t pay nearly as much as the IT job, so not a good choice to make a living (sales are what makes money with bike-shops and I don’t really like talking people into buying stuff – prefer teaching them to repair them themselves, which doesn’t pay ).
Mr Mark Barrilleaux is a real mechanical engineer – and a great writer at that, so I love his website.
Another real engineer is the owner of Hambini YouTube channel – some good videos (though I prefer reading than watching, it’s faster way to get information for me): https://www.youtube.com/user/nrgizerbunny
mike 04/04/2021 at 10:10
i find shimano stainless steel cables the best on the market,these ones hardly ever break and they never stretch much,i cut the cable itself with a pair of side cutters or a very sharp pair of nail pinchers,then i cut the cable housing with a small dremel cutting wheel,then i smooth that of with another dremel sander ,,wheel,this gives your cable housings very good finish and trouble free finish for years to come,i never lube any stainless steel cables at all.there is no need to oil them,once i install these cables i dont need to touch them again except for a minor adjustment,put that little crimp on the end of cable and its done,very impressed with shimano stainless steel cables and shimano cable housing.
mike 01/05/2021 at 08:52
another tip when cutting brake cable housing with dremel tool put a thin nail inside the housing when you cut it to stop the inside from melting,also use a very thin cutting wheel as this gives a neat finish,dremel is only one type of tool but there are many cheaper similar type tools,they are basically called small rotary tools,any professional cable cutter will squash that cable housing.save your cable cutter for the cable not the housing.
Guy 12/08/2021 at 00:13
What type of grinding stone do you recommend for smoothing the housing? Would a bench grinder work? I’m open to buying a small bench grinder or something similar for this and other purposes.
I tried smoothing the end with a small rotary tool (cheap Dremel-like device) with a grinder attachment and, although it worked, the housing cables ate right through the attachment. I can’t use a file because I only have one working hand.
Thank you for this detailed and help article.
Relja 12/08/2021 at 06:58
Hi Guy,
I use a relatively rough stone (not sure about the exact grit) on a bench grinder.
On my YouTube channel in my native, I’ve shown what I do in this video, at 4:55 – this link should start the video at that time: Grinding brake housing ends
I try to press relatively hard and move back after a second or so. Doing it longer doesn’t seem to further improve the smoothness of the steel inside the housing, it just melts the plastic.
Relja
mike 18/08/2021 at 04:54
i have tried so many methods over many years,found the dremel tool or similar to be the fastest and cleanest method to cut and clean cable housing,you cut the housing with a very thin cutting wheel,then you smooth the sharp edges off with a drum sanding wheel,this wheels is made from rubber and a sandpaper sleeve fits over the rubber attachment.i have also had problems using those cheap grinding attachments and yes they do chip off or wear very fast,try the drum sander attachment,forget even trying a proffesional cable cutter for the cable housing as that tool is best for cutting stainless steel cables only,other methods for cutting cables do work but tools must be larger tools and they must be new and very sharp,big nail pinchers work,big side cutters work.
mike 18/08/2021 at 05:02
some dremel wheels look like they are grinding wheels but alot are basically polishing wheels,depends on who makes them,most pink coloured or white coloured ones are polishing wheels,bench grinder will do the same job as a dremel wheel
mike 18/08/2021 at 05:15
dont press hard with a dremel like tool just hold it on an angle and take of the sharp edges around the cable housing,if the plastic melts you are pushing to hard
If you can't find the answer to your question in this thread, please open a separate thread with your question/problem, in an appropriate forum section (this is the Maintenance and repairs section).
