How to Change a Shifter Cable

Bicycle shifter cables won't last forever. They are meant to be changed. Bikes have user-friendly parts that allow you to change them easily when they break. There are two shifter cables on bicycles. One operates the back set of gears on your rear wheel. The other cable operates the large sprockets where your pedals attach. They both hook up the same way, through long plastic housings that connect to your bicycle's derailleurs.

Things You'll Need

  • 4 mm hex wrench
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Instructions

    • 1

      Follow the broken cable to the setscrew on the derailleur. Loosen the setscrew with a 4 mm hex wrench.

    • 2

      Grab the shifter handle that corresponds to the broken cable. Squeeze it shut with one hand as if you were shifting gears. Reach down with the other hand and grab the cable where it emerges from the black, cylindrical housing on the shifter. Push the cable toward the handle. The end of the cable will emerge from the crack that opens up where you squeeze the handle.

    • 3

      Grab the end of the cable and pull on it while still holding the shifter handle shut. Pull the cable all the way off the bike. Some of the black cable housing may fall off the bike; that's okay. Take note of where the cable came out of the handle and the black housings.

    • 4

      Hold the handle shut with one hand. Insert the new cable into the hole where the old cable came out. Push it all the way through until it emerges from the black housing. If the housing fell off, you will need to pick it up and thread the cable through it first. Place the bullet-shaped ends of the housing back into the bullet-shaped housing receivers that are built onto the bike.

    • 5

      Thread the cable back through the housings along the top tube and down to the derailleur. Slide the end of the cable back into the hex setscrew on the derailleur. Grab the end of it as it emerges from the setscrew and pull tight on it. Tighten the setscrew while holding the cable tight.