# Madone cable routing insanity



## TCW1

My 2011 Madone 5.2 has had terrible shift performance from the Ultegra groupset. The bike shop can't seem to figure out how to fix it. Today the bike has been taken back for a sixth time and they are giving me a loaner until this is resolved. My wife took the bike back and is waiting for the loaner to be adjusted like my 5.2. She snapped the pictures to indicate how all over the place the Madones are in terms of cable routing. One thing I noticed is it appears that when the cable are routed above the bars then the cables are routed on the correct side of the down tube to keep to cables from crossing internally in the downtube. If they are in the rear, where supposedly they work better, then they go to the opposite side. Also, some have a barrell adjuster on both cables, some don't. Any thoughts why the inconsistency?


----------



## johntrek5

I had a ton of trouble with my 2011 5.2 as far as shifting was concerned when I bought it in Aug. 2010. After several trips back to the shop, they finally got a hold of someone at Trek that told them that the cables were crossing and getting caught in the down tube. Once they figured that out, zero issues. I have put nearly 6,500 miles on it, and it has been flawless since they got it ironed out. I am getting ready to have the cables replaced as part of regular maintenece.


----------



## Wheelman55

Routing cables is not that hard to do yourself...and doing it yourself just might end up being the best way to get to good shifting. Pick up a book like Zinn's, go to Park Tool's website, or some youtube video...it's really not that hard.

There are some excellent mechanics out there...however they might not be working in the bike shops that you visit...

Your Ultegra should shift smoothly...unless Trek has some kind of strange bend inside their frames.

You'll need to perform some due diligence.  As stated...make sure that the rear derailluer cable is straight...have the shop put their measuring tool on it to be certain.

Get best quality cables/housing: Shimano SP41, Gore, or Yokozuno. Avoid sharp bends, make sure that the cable heads house correctly inside the levers (jagwire heads are sometimes too big and don't work well with Shimano).

Route cables to the rear of the handle bars to get the most obtuse bend. this gives you a nice wide platform type grip too. Crossing the cables in front of the head tube is AOK as this also gives the most obtuse bend. Look at the bends in your various pictures. You'll not that the crossed cables in your first picture give you the gentlest bends. Avoid any tight radius bends.

Make sure that the cables are long enough to move the handle bars back and forth through full motion. Make sure that you have a nice "loop" at the rear derailleur. You also should have a bit of a loop at the rear brake cable housing...this helps to "spring" the brake open.

Before you hook anything up, pull the cable a bit by hand to see if it moves smoothly. If it does move smoothly hook one side up. Try it again...if it's still smooth hook up the other side. Try the shifting without putting the bar tape on...correct whatever you need to. 

Make the adjustments per the books/videos on both front and rear derailleurs are correct. Once again this is not as hard as it might seem if you are good at following directions. Shimano has all of their tech documents on their website...they can be quite helpful. and will give you all of the proper specs for adjusting. The B limit screw on the RD scares a lot of mechanics...reference the books to adjust this properly too.

Put the bar tape on last. Watch an online video to help you figure out the proper direction to wrap each side of the bars for best feel. Tape is cheap...don't sweat it if you mess it up the first time.

It's really easy the second time...even easier the third time 

Best of luck!


----------



## okiefo

The difference between the two "styles" of routing on the different bikes is domestic vs. import Madones. That's the correlation there. 

That said, the bikes WILL shift MUCH better if the housing is routed behind the handlebar vs. in front of the HB from the shifter. There are two options on routing, and usually it is routed in front because it has a cleaner look. It has nothing to do with the bike. Have your shop re-route the housing, and take out the barrel adjusters (they add friction) and it will shift like a champ.


----------



## Milk-Bone

That is ridiculous! Do these bikes come from Trek this way or do the local shops route the cables? I'm not overwhelmed with the way my cables are routed, but everything is working extremely well and the shifts are fast and crisp. I'm not f'ing with success and will leave them be as much as I don't like the looks.


----------



## TCW1

Good advice from everyone. I should've been more forthright. I have been wrenching my own bikes for years, have built up a few frames, including installing crown races, cups, bearings, etc. I've never built a wheel up though. I've done many fork rebuilds, not including bearing replacment, on mountain bikes. I bought this bike from the shop hoping to not mess with wrenching anymore unless totally necessary. I have a nice pair of Park cable cutters along with a vast assortment of bike tools. I should've just fixed it myself in the beginning but I figured I got it a the LBS for a reason, to fix stuff for free and for the warranty. I felt bad taking it in the first time explaining the crossed cable thing and the need to route the cable behind the bars and on the bottom. They just kept jacking it up more and more. Maybe now they're serious and are going to finally fix it correctly.

Also, that first example must be wrong as the cables will have to cross in the downtube in order to feed through the plastic guide in the bottom bracket. 

Dumb question: I didn't look close, but does the cable housing actually run the length of the downtube? I was under the impression it's cut off where it enters at the top of the downtube on these Madones.


----------



## TCW1

See, I even have a decent workstand


----------



## GR68

Just adding my five cents worth. On my DA Madone 6.9 the two thing that made the most difference was putting the shifter cable on the rear of the bar and having a large loop on the outercable going to the rear mech.

Have run my cables both crossed and straight into the downtube cable holes and found no difference but I was careful not to get the two inners wound round each other in the frame.

To answer your question, on the 2011 6.9 (and all the other Madone I have had with hidden cables) the outer stops at the hole on the top end of the downtube and only the inner runs inside the frame.

...... My big problem with cable routing comes with originating from a country that drive on the left side if the road so my front brake is on the right...... Hard to change and sure that would be ok to change the front brake to the left lever untill the moment that I really needed to brake hard......:blush2:


----------



## leadout_kv

Milk-Bone said:


> That is ridiculous! Do these bikes come from Trek this way or do the local shops route the cables? I'm not overwhelmed with the way my cables are routed, but everything is working extremely well and the shifts are fast and crisp. I'm not f'ing with success and will leave them be as much as I don't like the looks.


No, Madones do not come from Trek with cables mis-routed. When I bought my 2012 Madone 6.2 I was told by the shop that the mechanic who assembles the bike needs to pay extra attention and spend the time to routing the cables PROPERLY.

Oh, and, my mechanic even opted to switch out the cables that came with my Madone with even better quality cables. I trusted him...and I've never had a problem with shifting.


----------



## the_don

This sounds like a **** shop. 

That is the worst cabling I have seen from a pro-shop for a bike of this value. Ever. 

No wonder taking it back to the muppets who did this didn't help. 

Get them to cable it properly, as they should of done in the first place. 

Ps, your brakes are the wrong way around!


----------



## PlatyPius

LubbersLine said:


> *No, Madones do not come from Trek with cables mis-routed.* When I bought my 2012 Madone 6.2 I was told by the shop that the mechanic who assembles the bike needs to pay extra attention and spend the time to routing the cables PROPERLY.
> 
> Oh, and, my mechanic even opted to switch out the cables that came with my Madone with even better quality cables. I trusted him...and I've never had a problem with shifting.


Incorrect. All major-brand road bikes (except custom) come with the cables already installed and bar tape wrapped. Looking at those pictures - especially the ones with too-long housing - I can almost guarantee that they were sent that way. You never know what's going to come out of the box, or who was having a bad day on the assembly line.

The mechanic DOES need to pay extra attention to the cables... He would need to unwrap the bar tape, route the cables correctly - including cutting housing to length - and re-wrap the bar. Many bikes come out of the box with too-long housings or crappy cable routing. A good shop fixes that during the build.


----------



## TCW1

LubbersLine said:


> No, Madones do not come from Trek with cables mis-routed. When I bought my 2012 Madone 6.2 I was told by the shop that the mechanic who assembles the bike needs to pay extra attention and spend the time to routing the cables PROPERLY.
> 
> Oh, and, my mechanic even opted to switch out the cables that came with my Madone with even better quality cables. I trusted him...and I've never had a problem with shifting.


Maybe your mechanic realized those crap Jagwire housings were not good enough and switched them out.


----------



## inthesticks

I know a few shops that just prep and send them out. I have found a decent shop and Mech, he is the only one I let touch my bike!

R


----------



## andol

takes a little time, but one you get it right it is a good exercise


----------



## Kodi Crescent

I think they came that way from the factory. The shop just takes the bike out of the box and puts the bars on.

Some shops are good at service and adjusting, some just want to work on sales volume. Not sure which one you have.


----------



## TCW1

Kodi Crescent said:


> I think they came that way from the factory. The shop just takes the bike out of the box and puts the bars on.
> 
> Some shops are good at service and adjusting, some just want to work on sales volume. Not sure which one you have.


I think it's the latter. And, their mechanincs are just not very good. I kinda feel for them, young dudes, likely paid minimum wage, that love riding bikes. Just don't know a lot. Finding a really good shop is quite tricky.


----------



## inthesticks

TCW1 said:


> I think it's the latter. And, their mechanincs are just not very good. I kinda feel for them, young dudes, likely paid minimum wage, that love riding bikes. Just don't know a lot. Finding a really good shop is quite tricky.


I found a decent shop, and a decent Mech at that shop and he is the only one that I will let touch my bike. I seen how he treats his bike, and watched him work on others before I dropped mine off. I dont like to see guys just throw your bike up like its a piece of meat, I know it takes a beating on the road and can handle some abuse but why take a chance of it falling off the stand, getting a nick/scratch...treat my bike like it is something special. I made the mistake of dropping it off last time for him before he started and another Mech said oh just a min I will fix it right away...oh what a mistake, it is worse now than before! I have had some rim, spoke/hub issues (under warranty).

R


----------



## bentvalve

i guess im not the only person with issues on the 5.2....my bike has been at treksince the middle of aug.i too have 1 mech at the shop that touches my bike.when i started having these issues when i got the bike. i would take it in everytime i was out.very anoying. the my mech was in a bad accident in raceand was out for awhile. then i was told to change cables..lol.. i have have 5 sets on the bike (including the ones that came with the sram red groupo) it finally came to a head after i did a century and the chain hopped off and locked in the cog and ate my new rxl's. it got sent to trek it was thre forever. then it came back..it really was not clear what they did to it. i was told the chain stays were replaced becaust the drop out in the frame was off a few degrees? (whatever) the bike came back with a ti hanger..they put it together and the same damn thing. so then i was advised to buy the sram red and i would have no more issues..lol...guess what it did the same damn thing. i posted my story and people that posted was hacking me saying that it was highly impossible for this to occur. well, i fired alot of emails to trek and the shop sent it back again...i was told they were gonna make it work. i told them i did not want it back...fired off more emails to trek no response.. tonight i get a email and i am getting a all new upgraded bike. im glad they stepped up.this has been very stressful. i did not buy a freakin huffy..don


----------



## jumpstumper

bentvalve said:


> i guess im not the only person with issues on the 5.2....my bike has been at treksince the middle of aug.i too have 1 mech at the shop that touches my bike.when i started having these issues when i got the bike. i would take it in everytime i was out.very anoying. the my mech was in a bad accident in raceand was out for awhile. then i was told to change cables..lol.. i have have 5 sets on the bike (including the ones that came with the sram red groupo) it finally came to a head after i did a century and the chain hopped off and locked in the cog and ate my new rxl's. it got sent to trek it was thre forever. then it came back..it really was not clear what they did to it. i was told the chain stays were replaced becaust the drop out in the frame was off a few degrees? (whatever) the bike came back with a ti hanger..they put it together and the same damn thing. so then i was advised to buy the sram red and i would have no more issues..lol...guess what it did the same damn thing. i posted my story and people that posted was hacking me saying that it was highly impossible for this to occur. well, i fired alot of emails to trek and the shop sent it back again...i was told they were gonna make it work. i told them i did not want it back...fired off more emails to trek no response.. tonight i get a email and i am getting a all new upgraded bike. im glad they stepped up.this has been very stressful. i did not buy a freakin huffy..don


What? What does your post have to do with Madone cable routing?


----------

