plowmanjoe

I'm switching out my handlebar setup in favor of a new shape. the current bars have integrated cabling with the housing and inner cables running inside the bar. .

Is there an easy way for me to do this without removing all the cabling. the frame has integrated cable routing as well.

SquidPuppet

What?

bwilli88 

It depends whether the brakes were put on over the bar wrap or not but i suspect that since you have internal cable routing you will either have to remove all the bar tape, remove the brakes and housing from the bars, remove old bars, install new bars, install brakes and housing adjusting to fit, and then retape or just redo all of it.

plowmanjoe

to clarify, this is on a road bike with brifters. the inner cables and housing are routed inside the road bars, both for the brakes and shifters.

bar tape is the least of my worries.

i just dont see a way to do it without having to do a full internally routed re cabling of the whole bike, brake and shift cables. That and re tuning the front and rear derailleurs.

The process with non internal handlebars seems very easy and straight forward. unfortunately that does not apply to my situation.

basically just looking for shortcuts or tips before undergoing this long painful process.

Zef

If you don't plan on reusing the old bars you could always take a hacksaw or dremel with a cutoff wheel and cut the old handlebars apart to remove the bars from the brakes/shifters/cables instead of the other way around.

Logically this would be the only shortcut method...though you may find the cables/housing a bit short when the brakes/shifters are remounted on the new bards so it may be wasted effort and needless destruction of the old bar...so before cutting, you will have to gauge the best you can if the cables/housing will be long enough to properly route along the outside of the new bars.

andr0id

Yeah, that might work if you're really desperate.

I've never found that I'm happy with the same length housing when I swap bars. I just account for the time to reroute housing and wires.

rms13

That's another point. If the bars are different width or even just going from internal routing to external might change the length of housing that you need. Might as well put on fresh cables and housing.

CliffordK

How old are your cables? Frayed on the ends?

So far I haven't had the opportunity to dig busted cables out of brifters. I have heard that it is one of the most exhilarating bike maintenance tasks. Some people encourage replacing before they break.

If it was me, I might consider re-using some of the cable housings, but new cables are relatively cheap (E-Bay? UK Online Vendors?). However, if not frayed, you can often pull cables out, adjust, and push them back through.

HillRider

Let me be sure I understand. Does your current brake and shift cabling truly run inside of the bars or does it just follow the exterior contour of the bars but under the bar tape? Running cables under the bar tape is very common but true interior cable routing is pretty unusual.

If the cables really do run inside the bar tubing, I see no worthwhile alternative to complete recabling.

plowmanjoe

cables run inside the bars. they are pretty new, so i'll be reusing the cables and housing if possible.

wphamilton

Don't you guys have a string trick, where you attach a string at the back end and pull it through the internal cabling routes, and use it to pull the new cable back through?

wschruba

I'm confused; why can you not simply remove the inner cables, and separate the handlebars/shifters? Does the bike not have full internal routing? If not, poke the cable heads out of the shifters, clip them off, and remove everything except the inner cable. Upon reassembly, you can tape/heatshrink the end of a new cable to the cut-off part of the old, and pull it through the frame.

fietsbob

Easy way = leave the job at a bike shop , pay them when it's done and you pick it up again.

Marcus_Ti

Bingo.

I fussed and fumed at my internal-routed handlebar cabling DIY for 2 hours the first time....when time came to recable/house I decided that the rate the LBS wanted was easily worth not having to do it myself again. Lots of bike maintenance is fun DIY, some things are just pains in the rear....internal routed handlebars are definitely the later IMHO.

Retro Grouch 

Not really.

1. The cabling runs inside the bar so, anyway you look at it, it has to be pulled out.
2. You might be able to reuse the existing cables and housings, but, the odds of the exact lengths being ideal with your brand new handlebar are real slim.
3. Most of the effort involved is determining the right cable housing lengths and retuning the derailleurs and brakes. You are going to have to do all of that anyway.

So after spending money for a new handlebar and doing all of the work do you really want to cheap out with less-than-ideal cables.

rm -rf

Replacing internal frame cables

No--don't do that. And don't pull out the old cable! The easy way is to use some thin tubing as a guide. It's simple once you see how it works.

I posted the method in this thread.

~~~~

Ha, that was my same reaction for internal frame cables. Who designed this! But after the LBS threaded the tubing for me, I saw how easy it actually is. Like many things, the correct technique makes a huge difference.

rm -rf

Fraying cables

My rear shift cable would fray at the sharp bend in the shifter body. You can't see it with the hoods in place. The flexing would break strands, then for a short time, the shifting would start acting up, with delayed shifts or having to shift up twice, then back, to get the next cog. Soon, it breaks, and you are stuck in one gear.

So I'd at least replace the shifter wire cables. And it's easier to run fresh cables anyway. Consider new housings--they probably need a different length anyway, and the shifting action might be better with fresh housings.

My brake cables seem to last forever.

Marcus_Ti

Things like handlebars are 10X worse than frames IME IMHO, though that can vary a bit with the frame. My old '02 Kestrel Talon I threaded in an hour. The cable runs are more or less straight through...My damn Aeronova handlebars (flat wing profile) took 2X as long easily, due to the 90* bends and the narrow cavity relative to the housing diameter.

Spawn of satan they are to work on, but feel nice on the road.

IIRC my LBS asked for an extra $10USD on top of their normal cable job due to it being internal handlebar. Didn't mind it one bit.

joejack951

Might be easier, but likely won't be quicker, especially this time of year. I've heard of people having their bike at the LBS for weeks during the summer. Not a huge deal if you have a spare(s), but if it is your only bike that's not going to be an acceptable compromise to most.

Re-tuning derailleurs after disconnecting the cables really isn't a big deal, and it seems that's at least part of what the OP wants to avoid. With the limit screws properly set, all you really need to do is reconnect the cable and add tension until shifts happen properly. Not much one can screw up. Take the advice to use some thin tubing as a guide for putting the housing back in and it should be fairly painless.

Marcus_Ti

Retuning ders is the easy part. Fishing housing/cables through is the pain, even with a pair of needle-nose vise grips. Some bars there's no spare room for tubing or what have you to guide housing around the 90* bends and out.

Call in an appointment, and drop it off when they're ready. Cables are a thing to do at the top of the season anyway, not the middle of it.

Retro Grouch 

I've personally found it relatively easy to route internal cables.

Most times I pull the housing first and use the existing bare cable as a guide to route the new cable housing. If there is no internal cable housing, I figure out how to mount the bike so the cable exit is at the bottom. That's the hardest part. Then I slowly feed the cable through the frame while I use a flash light to spot the cable as it passes the exit. Snag the cable with something and you're good to go.

Never tried that with a handlebar, though. I can see how that might be harder. I think that I'd use that same trick to feed bare cable sections through both sides of the bar and use the bare cables to guide the new housing through.