mixteup

+ 1000

KLiNCK

^ +1.
A package of 100 are $5 online.

rumrunn6

reminder, the OP asked so that they don't fray & can be re-inserted into cable housings. you can't remove a crimped cable end cap, can you?

mixteup

Yes you can - Take the cable cutters and cut the cap at the closest crimp to the open end -
If the remainder of the cap doesn't just fall off, you can just pluck it off with your fingers

BTW - I just use an electrical crimping pliers to do the crimp, and a single crimp is enough to hold the cap on the cable - YMMV

hermanchauw

JohnDThompson 

In many cases, you can: grab it with a pliers and pull it straight off. And in the instances where you can't, you can cut it off, leaving a smooth cut and losing only a few millimeters of overall length. While installed, the cap prevents the cable from fraying and unravelling, which could result in several centimeters of lost overall length when you try to reuse the cable.

rm -rf

Crimp ends come off easily if you use the crimp pliers (or regular pliers) on the folded edge (instead of the flattened side). I've even re-used a crimp end when I didn't have any extras.

It's sometimes hard to fish the same wire cable back through the housing, a strand or two of the cable often unravels. I've done it when I pulled a cable out of the housing to shorten the original housing on a new bike.

I tried the superglue method on a cable, it didn't work for me. But I didn't use acetone.

~~~~
Cutting cables
My Park Tool cutter works fine for me. (I use a Dremel grinder bit to finish up housing that's cut with the Park Tool cutter.)

Some threads here have mentioned using Dremel cutoff blades to cut cables. I tried it on a spare piece of cable. It didn't even come close to working, the blade always caught a strand and pulled it loose, making it unusable.

Colnago Mixte

Same experience with dremel cutting.

I tried lead and silver solder on cable ends. Rolled right off and did nothing.

fietsbob

bad prep, cleaning and fluxing.. you have to use flux..

wschruba

Not to drive you insane with multiple alerts, but it's completely possible when you use a proper crimper (dedicated/found on some wire-rope cutters) rather than side cutters. A moderate squeeze is all that is necessary to keep them on in normal use, and the round relief anvil on the one side of the tool will prevent the cable from being squashed and birds-nesting when you remove it.

Preparation is everything, here. 1) degrease, 2) acid flux, 3) proper soldering tool. Anything but the smallest cables (1.1mm) on a bike are too big for most enthusiast soldering irons to heat up in a local spot. A pencil torch will do the job, though. Buy silver brazing wire rather than solder--it sticks better to stainless. Welding supply shops have it.

Colnago Mixte

I have a MAPP gas torch I used, gets pretty hot. Come to think of it, I should have at least used some flux on the cable. Was using the type of silver brazing rod with the flux on the outside, but apparently that wasn't enough.

dglevy

Thanks for pointing that out. You unleashed several more posts which were useful. I hadn't even thought about the end cap. Yes, I've never been successful at crimping the end cap in such a way that it would stay on. I guess needle nose pliers are insufficient?

JanMM

rumrunn6

mixteup

The electrician's pliers I use have a section with a little bump and pocket -
Set that part of the pliers over the cap about 1/2 way down, and just crimp it hard - Once should do it - I've never had one come off.
Tip - Place the bump underneath the cap - It looks better that way
To remove the cap, just cut it at or just above the crimp - It'll come right off, leaving a new clean cable end.

noglider 

Yes, it comes right off with a tug from a pair of pliers.

kcblair

And Jagwire has them in color

Bianchi84

I use one of these old VAR cable Cutters: https://www.ebay.com/itm/302867726341 although it doesn't look this nice!

dglevy

I was near a Performance bike shop today, stopped in, bought the Park cable cutter ($38), ferrules ($0.25 each) and end caps ($0.10 each). I was tempted to get the Felco online instead, for $60--only a $12 difference, but the Park was immediately available and, as it turned out, the tool includes the correct spacing crimping dimples for both end caps and ferrules, so that was convenient.
I will hopefully remember:

• Use good cable cutters
• Degrease the cables before attempting to super glue the ends
• Crimp the end caps good and hard, so they won't fall off
• If it comes time to pull out a cable and re-use, just give a good, hard yank on the end cap with some pliers.

Thanks to everyone who posted. It was a great help!

_ForceD_

noglider 

One thing I've noticed is that it is not a good idea to reuse gear cables with brifters. Even if the kinks in the cable are small, they make the system work worse.

rm -rf

I have those Park cutters. Grip the cable end in the cutter's crimp position, slide it onto the cable until it bottoms out, then one decent squeeze is enough.

To remove, I just re-squish the crimped end from the 90 degree flattened sides, to make it somewhat round again, and it slides right off. No need to yank it.

DSchlichting

I replaced a few cables on the fleet over the winter and planned as always to solder the cable ends. I cleaned the ends with alcohol, acetone, whatever. Not sure how much I spent on flux, or silver solder. Nothing would stick. Epoxy has been mentioned here a few times over the years, so tried Gorilla Glue's Gorilla Weld 2 part stuff. Turned out really well. Lay it on heavy, wait a day or so, then when fully cured, you can sand/file it completely smooth. Works so far . . .

Troul 

Reusing housings may be fine, but once the cable has been fitted & finished to the bicycle, the cable is spent where I'll restring in a new cable if i had to remove the oldish one.

noglider 

Same here, except that it sometimes works OK if I reuse a rear brake cable in the front.