How to Bob the end off of a Cable w/o Spurring It

MrLarkins

MrLarkins

HS Math Teacher
Ok, I got my bike back together with the new rear freewheel hub, new bearing and new grease. I ran it tonight cause I had the itch (even though it has been riding rough as crap). and low and behold, it was smooth as butter! :eek::eek::eek::eek:

so I put my warranty plans on hold to see if it holds up...all my problems may have been coming from that rear freewheel hub.

so here's my next question: How do I cut off and shorten the length of my clutch cable so that it doesn't spur? I just replaced the old crappy one with a nice shiny new one, but it is about a foot too long...it needs to be bobbed off a bit. suggestions?
 
Where you are going to cut the cable wrap with several layers of tape. Then take a dremmel tool cutting wheel and cut through the tape and cable. I usually just use masking tape.........................
 
I flux the cable at the location where I want to cut it. I then heat the cable and apply some solder to the location. I cut when cool and no problems.
 
Your engine running rough with the clutch in had nothing to do with the freewheel. I don't believe it. Something else got fixed.....just watch what you change now.....but I am glad it's fixed!!!

Anyway my clutch cable is plain nasty and too late. I just cut the rear dérailleur cable and did the solder thing as well. Worked great - I used plumbing solder and plumbing flux paste with MAPP gas. Flux cleans and activates the metal and essentially draws the solder to it. You can get this stuff at Home Despot/Lowest/etc - but I already had it for sweating copper pipes. No sense buying it for one cable.

You can buy the crimp caps as well at any bike shops (wish I had some in stock!!)
 
Last edited:
Just make sure you remove the cable from the housing before cutting either.

In a pinch, you can cut the cable or the outer with a bench grinder. Remove the cable and hold it at a 45 degree angle and rotate it then do the same with the outer....smooooth.

You can also cut the cable with a cold chisel.
 
Bikeguy Joe said:
Just make sure you remove the cable from the housing before cutting either.

In a pinch, you can cut the cable or the outer with a bench grinder. Remove the cable and hold it at a 45 degree angle and rotate it then do the same with the outer....smooooth.

You can also cut the cable with a cold chisel.
Click to expand...

the cable is not shielded where the cut will be...so why not use wire cutters?
 
If you have good stong, sharp cutters that will work on steel, no problem. Most lineman piers and other cutters for copper/electrical wire will not work. I have some end cutters that work great - but I just found this out by trial and error.
 
Yeah, it mashes the end of the cable and makes a mess of it. There are also expensive cable cutters that look like pliers.
 
Mr Larkins,
Come on down to WLR and I'll give your bike a complete lookover to make it more reliable for your daily commute. I'll be free most of 4th July weekend.
Drew
 
Its an open offer of assistance should you ever need it. I have a thread for newbies, trust me, these tips were all gained from experiening various failures over the past several years. If it can go wrong on a china girl engine, it will.

Some may think that these things require tons of maintenance. Not true if you put the time and effort early on in an install. Tons of maintenance was on the helicopter I used to fly in the military, an average of 7 hours of maintenance for every hour of blade time.
 
I've always fluxed and soldered cables too. I'd use fine sand paper on a block to whet the cable parallel so no solder was sticking above the strands. As a kid I was given an old 64 Opel wagon in the early eighties that had a clutch cable that was breaking. A replacement was expensive....so I found a VW clutch cable for just a few bucks and cut it down to the same size. After greasing it a bit and installing it I pulled it tight and used a cable clamp to lock it to the clutch pedal.

That's when I proved to myself the merits of using this system for cutting cables. If you haven't done it yet do try it. You can buy these cheap Dremel
knockoffs for as little as $9 bucks at Harbor Freight etc nowdays. I cut the VW cable with a hack saw. Lately I've been getting these 4 & 6 inch disk that go on the small hand grinders. They are super thin and great for cutting sheet metal or cable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top