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Shimano Shifting Cable (Rear) Length for XL frame

  • 01-06-2021 7:07pm
    #1
    AxleAddict
    Registered Users Posts: 333 ✭✭


    I'm asking this question out of curiosity more than anything else. Last week I decided to have a go at replacing the shifter tables for both my front and rear derailleur myself rather than defer to the LBS - it's just something I'd like to be able to do myself in future. In fact, I was originally intending to replace just the shifter cable for the front derailleur which was no longer shifting correctly, but in the end I decided to go the whole hog and replace front and rear cables and outers, as well as the bar tape - lots of 'firsts' for me.

    In any case, although the process took a little while longer than it would have done had I gone to the LBS, it was a great learning experience and I'm quite happy with the end result - hadn't quite realised how poor my shifting had become until I fitted the new cables - lovely and smooth now!

    My question is this though - I purchased this standard Shimano road shifter cable set:

    https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/service-upgradeparts/shimano/Y60098022.html

    ....which comes with 2 x 2100mm cables (which I double-checked by measuring them). Anyway, as you'd expect, there was plenty of surplus cable for the front derailleur (which I snipped and end-capped), but for the rear derailleur there was practically no surplus at all - I mean, the cable was just about long enough to fit through my derailleur with maybe 3cm to spare. I have an 'XL' Giant Defy frame with internal routing - I'm wondering is this 'normal' given I have an XL frame. I cut all the new outers to the same length as the old ones - in fact, if anything I trimmed a bit off the front outers which were unnecessarily long - so was a bit puzzled that there wasn't a little more cable to play with at the back. Unfortunately I'd already snipped and binned the original rear shifter cable so couldn't check its original size.

    As I say, I'm just curious more than anything else, since the front and rear shifting is working just fine...


Comments

  • #2
    07Lapierre
    Registered Users Posts: 8,207 ✭✭✭07Lapierre


    Not sure, but my tip for internal cables is Do Not cut the outer casing until after you have routed it through the frame. It’s possible you’ve routed the cable slightly differently to the original cable and as a result you needed more cable?


  • #3
    AxleAddict
    Registered Users Posts: 333 ✭✭AxleAddict


    07Lapierre wrote: »
    Not sure, but my tip for internal cables is Do Not cut the outer casing until after you have routed it through the frame. It’s possible you’ve routed the cable slightly differently to the original cable and as a result you needed more cable?

    As far as I recall, I didn't reduce the length of the (front) outer cable until very near the end of the process when I saw how little the new shifter cable extended outside the rear of the frame. Within the frame itself, the derailleur cables are routed via special pre-fitted cable guides which run internally from the front to the rear of the frame so I can't blame myself for some sort of internal routing mishap where my new cables have somehow taken an alternative 'route' from the front to the back of the frame.

    As I've binned the original shifter cable I can't tell if it was brand other than Shimano (I'm assuming other brands sell cables which are compatible with Shimano 105 shifters) with a different length.

    It's possible this is entirely normal given the size of my frame - at the end of the day I guess Shimano wouldn't want to be selling cables which are grossly larger than they need to be for most people, i.e. a lot of cable going to waste for those with smaller frames.

    As it happens, my 'winter' bike is also a Giant Defy XL frame, so I'll be paying extra close attention when I go to replace its shifter cables with my recently acquired bicycle repair skills :D


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