NathBikes

Hello all, was out on a ride last week and I broke a shifter/the cable. It looks like the metal bit that holds the end of the gear cable in place has broken.

Do you think this is a new shifter required or not? I have had a look and the metal part holding the end of the gear cable on one shifter is there, and on the other shifter the metal part has slipped off down the shifter

Kapusta

Do you mean the barrel adjuster on the shifter has broken off?

NathBikes

No - this is literally in the shifter itself.

dsbrantjr

I believe the OP means that the head of the cble has broken off inside of the shifter. They can be gotten out but not without considerble pain IME.

alcjphil

Would be useful to know what make and model of shifter you are dealing with

NathBikes

Sorry yes good point. they are Shimano Tiagra 10 speed shifters

andrewclaus

You should attempt to get it out. The remaining frayed end may do fatal damage to the shifter, or at least jam it up. But not necessarily. I rode one of mine once for months until it fell out almost by itself, sort of like a splinter left to fester in a wound. Yes, I've done that too.

Hopefully, like me you'll learn to check your cables at least yearly from now on. You've probably had some shifting problems lately and have had to adjust the cable a few times--that's a good clue for next time.

mcours2006

If you shifted a few more times after the cable snapped, like I stupidly did, then it's much harder to fish the little piece out. It's totally doable, though, but takes a bit of finesse. Don't discard the shifter yet.

I've taken apart shifters before, and it's not an easy job, but hopefully you can get it out before you have to resort to taking it apart to fix it.

Crankycrank

Here are a few YouTube vids to show you some different methods of getting the broken end out. Don't give up, it's doable. shimano sti shift cable broken end removal - YouTube And as already mentioned, anytime either derailleur starts to not shift properly between gears, check for a fraying cable especially at the shifter so you can catch it before it snaps.

Digger Goreman

Sounds like the end that broke off is the head of the cable. IF you can CAREFULLY shift into the 10th gear (only on the shifter) and carefully remove the cover, then you should be able to poke out the exposed cable end with a pick/paper clip. The new cable will have an intact head, which threads into the now exposed hole, last. If I haven't been helpful, then sorry.

NathBikes

Thanks - yep, deffo lesson learnt...!!

dsbrantjr

You should check for cable fraying regularly and whenever an unexpected shift indexing adjustment or other change is needed. Once the cvables have bedded in initially they should not require much adjustment.