jonny7

Long story short, this shifter was "shifted" without the head of cable being locked in the right position. Somehow, a low clicking noise made it seem as if it was installed correctly, but clearly it wasn't. Now the head is stuck inside. I tried many things, but as a result, the cable is now "reversed" : the free end comes out of the shifter by the hole throught which it was introduced.

I imagine this is not very clear. A picture might help to visualize a bit.



Is there any magic trick to free a cable stuck like this?

Amt0571

If you don't manage to free the cable, I'd disassemble the whole shifter and look to what's happening inside.

Be wary though... once I disassembled a SRAM X9 trigger and discovered that you needed 20 hands with newborn sized fingers to put it together with all the springs in place. I had an important ride the following day, and finally managed to make it work at 3AM.

andrewclaus

No magic tricks. You'll need to disassemble. It looks like you're in a classic "make it or break it" scenario--you can't make it any worse by trying.

I take apart a couple of those a year, volunteering at a non-profit, and get at least 90% of them back together again working. (They call me the brifter whisperer.) The first time is tough, for sure--you need to wind the large shifter spring 1/4 turn without being able to touch it. Same with the brake lever spring. And there's a hidden key screw behind the small shifter lever. See if you can find a video tutorial.

jonny7

Alright then... I'm pretty sure I saw a vid by RJ the BikeGuy. Time to learn something new.