Conventional spiral housing can be cut

Conventional spiral housing can be cut with a good diagonal cutter or a shear cutter made for bicycle cables. When you cut the housing, sometimes the cut will be a clean one, but other times, the last loop on the spiral may get crushed down, partially blocking the passage that the inner cable must slide through. Usually, you can make a second cut and trim off the bent half-loop. Even when the housing is cut cleanly, the end is not square and perpendicular, due to the pitch of the spiral. Careful mechanics will grind or file the end of the housing so that it is flat and flush. The best tool for this is a grinding wheel, but it can be done with a file if you don't have access to a grinding wheel. When you cut the housing, the end of the plastic liner also gets cut, and often gets squashed flat. You can use a scriber or a sharp awl to open it up and round it out. If you use a grinding wheel to dress the end of the housing, have your scriber right at hand so that you can open up the plastic liner immediatly after grinding. The heat from the grinding will partially melt the liner. By sticking the scriber in before it cools off, you can not only round out the end, but the shape of the scriber will actually flare the end a bit for a smoother transition. It is very difficult to cut compressionless housing without the proper tools. There are special shear-type cable cutters made for the purpose, which have notched blades that encircle the housing so as not to crush it too badly while cutting it.

1. Some people who don't have access to one of these cutters will use a hand-held grinder (such as a Dremel tool) with a thin abrasive cut-off wheel.
2. It is not necessary to grind the ends of compressionless housing, because, if you cut it with an appropriate tool, it comes out flat.

It is still usually necessary to open up the end of the plastic liner with a scriber or awl. The final loop at the rear derailer is short and has a nearly 180 degree bend. Compressionless housing is normally used for this. I've taken to bending the piece of housing to the approximate shape it will be used in before cutting it. If you cut the housing straight, all of the longitudinal wires come out the same length, so when you bend it, the end of the housing acquires a slanted face, since the wires on the inside of the bend have a longer way to go around the curve. It is my belief that cutting the housing while it is bent makes a smoother, more reliable connection at the end of the housing. Ferrules are small metal caps, usually nickel-plated brass, which fit over the end of a piece of cable housing. They help keep the housing aligned with the cable stop it fits into. Whenever possible, you should fit a ferrule on each end of a cut piece of housing. Some housing stops/adjusting barrels are too small to fit a ferrule into, so you don't always need to use one. Such stops will generally be a snug enough fit that they will act as a ferrule. The use of ferrules is particularly important with compressionless housing. The handlebars must be able to turn as far as they can in both directions without being limited by a cable pulling taut. Instead, the turning limit must be set by the handlebar bumping into the No wrong direction bends (For example: as the rear brake cable leaves the top tube and makes the bend down toward the.

If the cable bends up from the top tube before bending down toward the seat stays, it is probably too long. If the cable curves out past the caliper, then bends back at an angle more vertical than the seat stays, it is certainly too long. The traditional way to run exposed cables is so that they loop up and over the back of the handlebars. This provides the smoothest, most gradual curves in most cases. In the case of bicycles with cyclecomputers or stem shifters, it is usually preferable to run the cables under the bars so that they won't encumber access to the computer or shifters. Under-the-bar routing is also desirable for bicycles with unusually tall or short-reach stems, so that the rear cable won't have to make a sharp bend at the top tube. Don't mix systems: either run both brake cables over the bars or both under. This is for æsthetic reasons, not mechanical ones. The usual set-up involves running the cables along the inside of the upper part of the handlebar, tightly secured to the bar with tape. It is important that the housing be tightly wrapped against the handlebar, or the braking may be spongy. To ensure firm contact of the housing against the stop inside the brake lever, the cables should be fully connected and put under tension before they are taped down. One good way to do this is to use a toe strap to hold the brake lever tightly applied while securing the section of housing that runs along the handlebar. It is good practice to use electrical tape or other adhesive tape to secure the cable housing against the handlebar. If you do so, it is easier to apply the normal handlebar tape afterwards, or to replace the ha.