cable cutting while touring.

Callistus Valerius said:

If your cable breaks on a ride, and you're in the middle of no
where.
So I bring a spare der cable, but how do you cut them? Typical cable
cutters are too heavy to bring for such an infrequent occurance, so
is there a small light one out there? Or how do you cut it, without
a tool?

You should be able to get by with just tying it off; or invest in a
multi-tool that features teeny-tiny bolt cutters. (Of course, then you need
to cap 'n crimp; rolling hardware store!)

I usually just roll it up and zip tie it to to the frame until I get
somewhere I can cut it.

-Nate

Quoted message said:

I usually just roll it up and zip tie it to to the frame until I get
somewhere I can cut it.

-Nate

Good idea, I carry zip ties in my handlebars. In one of the old
discussions on this topic, one guy said he cut it by using a rock and
screwdriver. I guess that could work, but what I gathered is that only
those heavy cable cutters can cut cable. I guess you could carry 2 pre-cut
cables, or at the very least cut off at least one of the heads, on those
universal cables (one end campy the other shimano), before putting it in the
pack. If you don't pre-cut, you only have to bring one cable.

The wirecutters on a small Leatherman (e.g. Juice) will do it and the other
gadgets on it are handy for emergency repairs too.
You'll end up with a bit of a mashed end to the cable so (as previously
suggested) pre-cut the end you don't want off a double-ended cable.

"Callistus Valerius" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

If your cable breaks on a ride, and you're in the middle of no where.
So I bring a spare der cable, but how do you cut them? Typical cable
cutters are too heavy to bring for such an infrequent occurance, so is
there
a small light one out there? Or how do you cut it, without a tool?

Callistus Valerius said:

If your cable breaks on a ride, and you're in the middle of no where.
So I bring a spare der cable, but how do you cut them? Typical cable
cutters are too heavy to bring for such an infrequent occurance, so is there
a small light one out there? Or how do you cut it, without a tool?

When, for some reason, I don't want to cut a new cable, I bundle up the
excess and tape it. If I were going on a tour, I think I'd just replace
both shift cables before I left.

You can usually cut rope or wire by banging it between 2 rocks or
rubbing on a sharp rock edge.

Callistus Valerius said:

Good idea, I carry zip ties in my handlebars.....

That's where I keep my extra spokes.

-Nate

Callistus Valerius said:

If your cable breaks on a ride, and you're in the middle of no where.
So I bring a spare der cable, but how do you cut them? Typical cable
cutters are too heavy to bring for such an infrequent occurance, so is there
a small light one out there? Or how do you cut it, without a tool?

I wouldn't. I'd carry a couple of small cable ties, and just loop the
end and let it hang (tied) until I got home. Too long is not a
problem in such a situation, so making it shorter isn't a big issue.

OTOH, how often do you break a der cable, anyway?
--
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Peter Cole said:

You can usually cut rope or wire by banging it between 2 rocks or
rubbing on a sharp rock edge.

Assuming you're not in an area where all the rocks are way too soft to
make a dent in steel, or worse yet, in an area where rocks have been
little more than a rumor since the late Pliocene. (I grew up in one
of the former, and I live in one of the latter.)

As mentioned elsewhere, though, the simplest route is often the best;
use now, cut later.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
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Werehatrack said:

Peter Cole said:

You can usually cut rope or wire by banging it between 2 rocks or
rubbing on a sharp rock edge.

Assuming you're not in an area where all the rocks are way too soft to
make a dent in steel, or worse yet, in an area where rocks have been
little more than a rumor since the late Pliocene. (I grew up in one
of the former, and I live in one of the latter.)

As mentioned elsewhere, though, the simplest route is often the best;
use now, cut later.

What, no bricks or concrete?

Peter Cole said:

Callistus Valerius said:

If your cable breaks on a ride, and you're in the middle of no where.
So I bring a spare der cable, but how do you cut them? Typical cable
cutters are too heavy to bring for such an infrequent occurance, so is there
a small light one out there? Or how do you cut it, without a tool?

Quoted message said:

When, for some reason, I don't want to cut a new cable, I bundle up the
excess and tape it. If I were going on a tour, I think I'd just replace
both shift cables before I left.

Yeah. This is a weird question. Why would the OP need to cut the
cable? Unless it's a double ended cable and you remembered to pack
the cable but forgot to cut the other end off, which is odd.

The other issue is: Diagonal cutters are a common tool. You could
just ride with the extra cable until you found a gas station or a
person
with tools in his/her truck, and borrow a cutter. I mean, even in
Patagonia
you could probably find a cutter eventually. For the tool-paranoid,
it's
more important to carry the tools that are bike-specific, or at least
hard to
improvise out of the Average Guy's toolbox: chain tool, spoke wrench,
cassette/freewheel remover, metric hex wrenches, pump, schrader/presta
adapter, that kind of thing.

Quoted message said:

You can usually cut rope or wire by banging it between 2 rocks or
rubbing on a sharp rock edge.

For shift cable, you might be able to break it by bending back and
forth.
This is easier if you have pliers to hold it, though, and most longnose
pliers have a built-in cutter, so it reduces to the previous case ...

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

If your cable breaks on a ride, and you're in the middle of no where.
So I bring a spare der cable, but how do you cut them? Typical cable
cutters are too heavy to bring for such an infrequent occurance, so is there
a small light one out there? Or how do you cut it, without a tool?

Don't cut it. Just coil it till you can get somewhere with the proper tool
to cut the wire.
----------------
Alex

In article
<[email hidden]>,

Callistus Valerius said:

If your cable breaks on a ride, and you're in the middle of no where.
So I bring a spare der cable, but how do you cut them? Typical cable
cutters are too heavy to bring for such an infrequent occurance, so is there
a small light one out there? Or how do you cut it, without a tool?

I never cut cables. The long end I make into a small
circle near the clamp and wind the cable end through the
small circle and around and through and ... Difficult to
put into words. Finished job is a small perfect coil of
cable.

--
Michael Press
The rest of the world.

All the methods of cutting on the road, without the proper tool will leave
you with an unraveled end, which will be very annoying when you get home and
try to make it neat. If you MUST "cut" the cable with a pair of rocks
(don't have a cable tie, or masking tape or duct tape or a band aid or a
piece of string to hold a coil) then leave it a couple of inches long, so
you can re-cut it when you get home.

Michael Press said:

I never cut cables. The long end I make into a small
circle near the clamp and wind the cable end through the
small circle and around and through and ... Difficult to
put into words. Finished job is a small perfect coil of
cable.

The word is "quoit" (the twisted rope variety) or maybe
quoit-with-a-tail.

Peter Cole said:

Werehatrack said:

Peter Cole said:

You can usually cut rope or wire by banging it between 2 rocks or
rubbing on a sharp rock edge.

Assuming you're not in an area where all the rocks are way too soft to
make a dent in steel, or worse yet, in an area where rocks have been
little more than a rumor since the late Pliocene. (I grew up in one
of the former, and I live in one of the latter.)

As mentioned elsewhere, though, the simplest route is often the best;
use now, cut later.

What, no bricks or concrete?

No bricks in South Florida (and the rough equivalent, concrete blocks,
would tend to be too soft and brittle), and the concrete tends not to
be in convenient-sized lumps. Around here, OTOH, bricks don't get
left laying around loose, concrete lumps tend to be huge...and neither
is likely to be handy in an off-road locale. Beer bottles, yeah, but
they break a little too willingly into things you'd probably rather
not handle.
--
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In article
<[email hidden]>,

amakyonin said:

Michael Press said:

I never cut cables. The long end I make into a small
circle near the clamp and wind the cable end through the
small circle and around and through and ... Difficult to
put into words. Finished job is a small perfect coil of
cable.

The word is "quoit" (the twisted rope variety) or maybe
quoit-with-a-tail.

Thank you. I am happy to know this.

--
Michael Press
The rest of the world.

Peter Cole said:

Callistus Valerius said:

If your cable breaks on a ride, and you're in the middle of no
where. So I bring a spare der cable, but how do you cut them? Typical
cable cutters are too heavy to bring for such an infrequent
occurance, so is there a small light one out there? Or how do you
cut it, without a tool?

When, for some reason, I don't want to cut a new cable, I bundle up
the excess and tape it. If I were going on a tour, I think I'd just
replace both shift cables before I left.

You can usually cut rope or wire by banging it between 2 rocks or
rubbing on a sharp rock edge.

I think some chimps discovered this technique very recently. I'm not sure I
have enough hair on my back for this method, though.
--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Callistus Valerius said:

If your cable breaks on a ride, and you're in the middle of no
where. So I bring a spare derailleur cable, but how do you cut
them? Typical cable cutters are too heavy to bring for such an
infrequent occurrence, so is there a small light one out there? Or
how do you cut it, without a tool?

Cables do not suddenly break in the manner of spokes, in which a
developing cracks cannot easily be seen. Cables can be inspected,
especially where the housing has a kink or there is some other feature
that would locally wear a cable. Other than that, cables don't break.
For good measure, replacing the front brake cable every 10,000 miles
is a good idea. I usually move the rear brake cable to the front, cut
it shorter and get a new rear cable if there are no signs of wear.

Cutting cables and cable (spiral wound) housing is done perfectly well
with wire cutters made for cutting steel. Most service stations that
have any tools have such pliers. I think this is a theoretical
problem that should not occur so it isn't a problem.

Jobst Brandt

Quoted message said:

Cutting cables and cable (spiral wound) housing is done perfectly well
with wire cutters made for cutting steel. Most service stations that
have any tools have such pliers. I think this is a theoretical
problem that should not occur so it isn't a problem.

My SOG Powerlock has an extremely effective and strong wirecutter as part
of it (extra-strong because the pliers and wirecutter are essentially
geared 2:1 to the handle, unlike any other multitool or even regular
pliers). If you like carrying an all-purpose tool around anyway, instead
of just the bike-specific one(s), that'll do you quite well for bowden and
inner cable. Not so sure about indexed, but I suspect it'll cope
reasonably well, except for crushing the end of the housing.

Jasper