[Carraig042]

I remember seeing a thread somewhere about these problems, but I could not find any resolutions. I break the cable right at the pulley/rocker area of the derailleur about every month or so. It always happens at the worst possible time of course. (circled in green)

My other hypothesis is that where the cable is rubbing up against where the cable end goes into as circled. It is ovaling that area out as well as the end cap. (circled in orange)

-Brett

 

[canadmos]

No problems with mine over.the last 2 seasons.

Have only had adjust once or twice over that time, too.

 

[cecil]

My shifter cable breaks at the green circle area a few times a season on my DH bike Also

 

[jstuhlman]

never had a problem with the cable on mine . . . are you sure your cable's in the groove the whole way?

 

[Carraig042]

Yeah, it is in the groove. Sram redesigned that area with an actual pulley wheel on the 11 speed stuff and the x01 dh 10 speed x-horizon stuff. Wonder if they knew of this issue? I would try that x01 but it is over $150..

-Brett

 

[jstuhlman]

dunno . . . i'm just a pauper running x9.

 

[Jm_]

Yeah, mine breaks there too every few months of riding.

 

[wydopen]

I go through cables quite a bit on my x9 type 2...Just swap em out every couple months...usually notice before they break all the way

 

[kickstand]

My theory is "because clutch" I've noticed an uptick in cable breakage amongst myself and friends since clutch derailuers became popular

 

[Carraig042]

It is annoying, but I guess the best I can do is watch since I do not want to fork out the money for new sh*t.

-Brett

 

[HAB]

My theory is "because clutch" I've noticed an uptick in cable breakage amongst myself and friends since clutch derailuers became popular

I haven't had issues with any of the Shimano clutch derailleurs.

 

[kickstand]

I haven't had issues with any of the Shimano clutch derailleurs.

I have. In fact, I at first thought it was a shimano thing, many of my DH friends with the new fangled shimano derailuers with clutches were having problems and I wasn't with my old trusty sram derailuer.

Then I got a sram derailuer on a trail bike that had a fancy pants clutch and experienced the exact thing that carraig is posting about after a trip to particularly rough and chundery trails.

I've been running a zee derailuer for 2 years now and have lost count of broken cables (DH bike).

I didn't break a cable on the trail bike this year (shimano currently), I don't think, but I really gave up tracking them.

My theory is that when the derailuer bounces around the clutch snaps it back into place hard enough to slowly start fraying the cable on any contact points, add some dirt and grime and sooner or later is will randomly snap if you don't keep a great eye on it.

After seeing a handful of both brands with clutches brake cables more frequently than the older once, I decided it was a clutch thing.

It could also just be bum luck, what do I know

 

[Udi]

You can usually solve these problems by trying to smooth out any rough edges that can cut into the inner cable over time. If you look at the SRAM 10sp setup for example you'll notice that the cable doesn't actually slide along that point, so friction isn't a concern - the plastic guide is actually a lever arm and it's important to keep its geometry intact, but you can probably use a thin piece of plastic (like the plastic/teflon inner of an outer cable) to act as a stress reliever, by threading the cable through a small length of that (just longer than the length of the cable lever/guide) before installing it on the derailleur. Need to be careful and experiment though, as if the plastic is too thick it can affect the leverage ratio.

Sometimes you need to get a little creative, and decipher between dynamic and static points of cable mounting (eg. on the 11sp SRAM the pulley guide for the cable is a dynamic point of cable movement, but that doesn't mean the guide on the 9sp and 10sp SRAM derailleur are the same - those are actually static). Then you can choose an appropriate solution.

I've seen the same happen on Shimano derailleurs (clutch and non-clutch) so it's not purely a SRAM issue. I think the SRAM 10sp guide has a sharper edge (on that plastic arm) than the SRAM 9sp though so those are a lot more prone to failure. Shouldn't be hard to fix.

When I had the same happen on Shimano, using a sandpaper to slightly radius any eges around where the cable left the derailleur helped the cables last a lot longer.

 

[jonKranked]

the obvious solution is Di2

 

[kickstand]

gear box

 

[Carraig042]

You can usually solve these problems by trying to smooth out any rough edges that can cut into the inner cable over time. If you look at the SRAM 10sp setup for example you'll notice that the cable doesn't actually slide along that point, so friction isn't a concern - the plastic guide is actually a lever arm and it's important to keep its geometry intact, but you can probably use a thin piece of plastic (like the plastic/teflon inner of an outer cable) to act as a stress reliever, by threading the cable through a small length of that (just longer than the length of the cable lever/guide) before installing it on the derailleur. Need to be careful and experiment though, as if the plastic is too thick it can affect the leverage ratio.

Sometimes you need to get a little creative, and decipher between dynamic and static points of cable mounting (eg. on the 11sp SRAM the pulley guide for the cable is a dynamic point of cable movement, but that doesn't mean the guide on the 9sp and 10sp SRAM derailleur are the same - those are actually static). Then you can choose an appropriate solution.

I've seen the same happen on Shimano derailleurs (clutch and non-clutch) so it's not purely a SRAM issue. I think the SRAM 10sp guide has a sharper edge (on that plastic arm) than the SRAM 9sp though so those are a lot more prone to failure. Shouldn't be hard to fix.

When I had the same happen on Shimano, using a sandpaper to slightly radius any eges around where the cable left the derailleur helped the cables last a lot longer.

I have looked into this and made there there were no sharp edges to speak of. This last time I added shrink wrap as you mentioned and it made no difference on cable life.

I was not concerned with friction at the lever part, just maybe the cable stop. My only plausible conclusion I can make is that when shifted into higher gear it creates a bend point on the cable at the end of the lever/guide as it actually does bend around the end of it a bit. I believe just the constant bending back and forth causes it to fray and fail over time. I feel like they should have either changed the angle the cable goes into contact with the lever or made the lever a bit longer to keep the cable from bending over the end.

I did not have this problem on 9 speeds in the past. The lever could be designed a bit different.

-Brett

 

[saruti]

happen to me and my friends
just use a 2cm of the inner nylon of a used outer cable routing
and put the cable in it. it will protect it from rubbing on this area
I hope you understand what I mean....