# Replacing brake cable ... will I need to remove the bar tape?



## wallycharlo (Jan 8, 2010)

My rear brake has been pretty ineffective for some time, and I think I've gotten to the root of the issue now. There is rust&gunk on the cable where it enters the rubber housing, which seems to be interfering with the braking action, the calipers dont seem to open enough when I release the brake, indeed the rim is pretty close to rubbing off the pads. 

My initial idea is to loosen the cable at the caliper, and take if off through the brifter (ultegra sl), clean/lube it, hopefully removing any possible gunk etc at the same time from the housing. So now to my question, should I then be able to get the cable back through the brifter & housing (which is under the bar tape) quite easily, or will I end up needing to remove the tape? I've not done this before so am not sure how easily the metal cable will travel throught he housing. 

cheers ! 

-Wally


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## rx-79g (Sep 14, 2010)

It really depends. Either the housing will continue to line up perfectly with the hole in the lever body, or it won't, or the cable end will splay out.

Nothing wrong with trying it, but I wouldn't assume it will work.

You might be better off loosening the cable (best: by unhooking it from the cable stops along the top tube) and use oil to work the dirt out of the housing by pulling the cable just a few inches out of the lever body and then back in. This is half assed, but so is what you were planning. 

Really, it would be best to replace both cable and housing, but my suggestion is less invasive then pulling the cable all the way out, and will probably work just as well.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

it's a SHIFTER. 

yes, you can easily replace the cable w/o unwrapping the bar tape...BUT...if your cable is that dirty and it's messing up the way your brake works that badly, you need to replace the housing as well as the cable. much more wear takes place in the liner of the housing than the cable. you can throw a new cable in and i'd bet that not much will change. replace both.


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## Risk3233 (Nov 29, 2010)

I was able to change the cable without removing the tape. You have to press the lever and move it too the side kinda like doing a gear change. Tie the lever in place with a string. You can see the housing hole once the lever is out of the way. I recently did this. It was much easier than I thought.


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## wallycharlo (Jan 8, 2010)

*...*

Thanks a lot guys.

Hmmm, I was actually going to use the word 'shifter' but I had seen the word 'brifter' used quite a bit on here which seemed to make sense somehow ! 

Yeah, I know it's halfassed what I'm doing and that the proper road to go down would be changing out the housing as well ... Guess i'll have to go down this road anyway if the quick and dirty attempt is not helping. 

By the way, can someome give me a ballpark of what the LBS would charge for replacing housing/cable/bartape?

cheers ... Wally


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## rx-79g (Sep 14, 2010)

wallycharlo said:


> Thanks a lot guys.
> 
> Hmmm, I was actually going to use the word 'shifter' but I had seen the word 'brifter' used quite a bit on here which seemed to make sense somehow !
> 
> ...


"Brifter" is only a stupid word for something that is both brake and shifter if "freehub" and "barcon" are also stupid. Watch out for up and coming offensive terms like "barstem".

At a shop, tape is $15, maybe $8 for cable and housing, $20-$30 labor. Decent tape can be pealed back and rewrapped, so you don't have to replace it just to replace a cable.


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