Tips for Cutting Cable When Replacing a Mountain Bike Housing Cable

Video Transcript

"But now I'm going to size up my new housing runs. So what I'm going to do is pull one against the other, and figure out how long to cut it. I'm going to hold my spot, move my thumb, and then I'm going to use a pretty specific tool. This is a cable and housing cutter, made by Schermano, a couple of other companies make them. They are the best things to use for cutting this stuff. Anything else, if you just use normal dikes, or wire cutters, you will crush the cable, and then all of your friends will laugh at you, because your bike won't shift. After I cut it, you can see there's some green inner lining there. I'm going to use the handle of this, to just manipulate the lining until it want to open up, like the other. You can see it's nice open orifice here, and its not quite as open on this end, so. One thing that you can do, if you don't have a puncture awl handy, is I will stick the end of the cable through here, to open that up. If i stick the end of the cable through, and just manipulate it a little bit, it gets everything honed and smooth. This isn't the very best way to do it, but if you're in a pinch, and if a fresh cable that has a soldered end, you'll be fine. You can see, or maybe you can see, that there's some discoloration there where the cable has been soldered, so it doesn't fray. After I cut this once, anything I do putting pressure on the end of the cable will cause it to fray. That's less then desirable."