Originally Posted by cyccommute

I don’t use oversized ferrules. That cable is from a Ultegra STI shifter (old style that comes out of the side of the lever) that won’t fit a 5mm ferrule. I may have grabbed a 5 mm ferrule for demonstration purposes. It’s been a long time since I took that photo for demonstration purpose. But I do use the proper sized ferrules on all my cables.



That would imply that we should see this kind of issue all the time. We don’t. Even on severely bent cable housing, this is a rare phenomenon. It happens but not on all housing.



I disagree on all counts. I’ve seen this often (but not all the time) on bikes with the proper ferrules…both metal and plastic. I’ve also seen housing where the plastic pulls back like this




For a very long time, I thought it was something done by the bicycle manufacturers during building. I couldn’t figure out why they had done that. It wasn’t until I noticed it on one of my own bikes that I realized that the plastic cladding is shrinking…probably due to heat. However, as you can see in the picture, the ends of the rods are still straight, unlike the red cable housing I posted above. I don’t know how much the plastic housing will shrink but I really doubt that the about 4mm and the 4mm at the other end is the extent of shrinkage. In other words, trimming the ends is only a temporary fix.

On the red housing…and similar housings where the rods come loose…the rods aren’t anchored and are free to move as pressure is put on the cable housing. The end of the loose rods can be pulled out of the housing with a pair of pliers as they aren’t anchored anymore. Basically, loose rods are not a fixable problem. And they are not due to anything we the consumer have done.