Sanity check needed.

Tried fitting a new clutch cable to the SV yesterday, & with both
adjusters screwed out as far as they'd go (or rather way further than
it should go in the case of the bottom one), there's still too much
freeplay. That can only mean the inner cable's too long compared to the
outer cable, yes?[1]

I know it's routed correctly as it's obvious where it goes, & besides,
I taped the new cable to the old one & pulled it through. But even if
it wasn't, there's no way a different routing would magically make the
inner cable a good 4cm shorter compared to the outer one - is there?

[1] As this is UKRM, I shall pre-empt the inevitable by saying yes, I
know it could also mean the outer cable's too short compared to the
inner one.

 

Assuming the clutch was adjusted[1] properly with the old cable, then
yeah, either the outer's too short, the inner's too long, or there's a
collet or summat fallen off.

Or, the inner cable's really, really hot, and the outer's really, really
cold.

[1] Also assuming there's some kind of adjustment on the clutch itself
for free play.

 

I've checked & double-checked for missing bits, & there definitely
aren't any.

Not as such, you adjust it to a specific angle between the line of the
cable & the line of the lever it connects to.

 

Only the outers - the new one's about 3" longer. The old inner's in a
bin bag somewhere as I was being 'tidied up' as I worked...

 

Yeah that's not a problem, even using the same routing.

They do, the naked one's longer.

You would?!? You're weird! The more you screw the lower adjuster in (as
in into the housing it sits in), the closer the outer cable moves to
the nipple. I need it to move several cms further away to take up the
slack.

Anyway the bloke from Wemoto's been down to the stores with his ruler &
they haven't got any other SV cables that'll fit, so I'm just gonna cut
a few cms off the end of this one & solder a new nipple on.

 

It won't last 5 minutes with just a soldered nipple unless a bit of
pre-soldering work is done first. Rebating the nipple with an internal
"cone" shaped rebate first, then slip the nipple over the cable, then hold
the cable in a slotted "wire holder" before smacking the end to cause it to
"bell" out. Then tin the **** out of it before you even think about letting
the nipple anywhere near the end of the cable.

Make it impossible for the cable to "back out" of the nipple even without
solder is what I'm say. The solder then just makes things tidy.

 

I would've in the old days when every bike shop had a box of assorted
nipples. I've got a few spares for the Fantic but nothing that'll fit
the SV.

I have now found one local shop with screw-on nipples, which will have
to do as I'm not doing an online order for something that costs 30p.