Originally Posted by
staehpj1
A good thing to check before every tour and any time the shifting gets a little funny or adjustments start changing.
Another ditto on this. If you need to turn a barrel adjuster more than once a month, get a new cable.
The cable is easy to check with this method (for the rear, front is similar): Shift into low gear, stop pedaling, then shift into high. The cable will be slack enough to pull one housing end out of a slotted frame stop, so you can get lots of slack at the shifter. Release your brake or remove the wheel, squeeze the lever open. Push the cable end out the access hole and inspect. After you put it back together, you haven't changed the cable adjustment. This check takes less than two minutes.
In my opinion, this is the only drawback of brifters. With old downtube and bar end shifters, you'd feel the first strand break, often with a painful pin prick that's real hard to ignore.