Road bike - rear shifter cable

[hayleyearth]

So anyone else got this before?

How common is this on a road bike? (As you all might know, road bikes ain't my strong point when it comes to knowing parts and servicing).

 

Yesterday morning up to Munro view point (in JHB) I just suddenly had no more gears. I thought the cable snapped but when I looked at the usual spot (rear derailleur) it was still in tact, so I just used front gears home.

 

Last night I googled a bit about how to replace a cable on a road bike (hahaha...I didn't even know where the cable goes in at the shifter) and so I pulled back the hood cup (or what ever it is called) and also could not see the end point thingy of the cable. Closer inspection I saw some frayed wire deep into the shifter mechanism:

 

Scratching more in there I realised it was the end bit that got stuck somehow and just rotated away from the hole so I realised I had to open another section of the shifter to get in there:

 

This came out:

 

Replaced the cable and tuned the gears in before I went to bed

I love google and knowing how things work. 

 

So between all the roadies on here, does this happen often?

 

 

 

[Martin PJ]

Not happened to me, I replace my rear cable about once a year. Shifting starts getting a bit rough if you leave the cables too long.

[David Marshall]

It happens.  Sometimes a battle to get all the wire out.

[ZakAttak]

The new 11 Speed is more of a nightmare, the RD is finicky and if you don't know what you doing, you'll end up ripping your hair out trying to set the gears... Oh and the Shimano OEM Cable for 11 Speed, is R175 RRP... instead of the standard R40 Bucks cable...

[Frosty]

Happened to me, twice, but on 10-speed shifters (the old style where the cable exits out the side of the shifter). Once on each shifter.

 

First thing I did was push the cable stop (that lead billet the OP shows holding in her fingers) out of the shifter - finding a twig thin enough solved the problem.

 

The exact problem of it getting stuck is the reason I look to get rid of that cable stop. I was told "don't shift when the cable breaks.".