Mechanics and Fixing Any Questions Answered

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I have a RH shimano 6800 shifter where the gear cable has broken 3/4 times within the shifter. What's happening there? Is it something i'm doing wrong during setup? Has something broken within the shifter which makes it more likely the cable will break there?

^reposting here as posted in wrong place before

Shifting too much.
There's a Shimano design that has a habit of breaking in the shifter leaving an annoying to remove stub, I think it was the 6800 and their 105 equivalents.

Thanks. Thinking about how much i've ridden that bike, probably happens every 2k km!

Didn’t know this! Happened on my 6800 RH lever too, tho only once when my shifter was a bit jammed and I was forcing it.

It’s because people pull the dual brifter lever inward while changing gears, eventually shredding enough wires to make the cable snap and leave the cable head firmly lodged in the newly stuck ratchet.

The gear change ratchet is inside the body though? The only thing that can move the cable is the ratchet.

It’s just a bad design where the curve the cable goes through is too tight. Solution is Di2 or R7/8000 or periodic cable inspection/replacement.

Huh, maybe I dreamt it, but you’re right it doesn’t make sense now that I’m trying to picture it in my head. Don’t have a Shimano handy to check.

1" threaded headset is constantly coming loose. No matter how its tightened up it eventually, within say a couple of days of riding, comes loose again. What's the solution here other than question why you bought a bike with a threaded headset in the 21st century?

headset or fork threads damaged?

tried cleaning it all up and applying loctite blue on the threads instead of grease? Dunno if thats wise or not but was considering doing it on mine as its been working loose every couple of weeks

shimano 6800 shifter

Seen this a lot whare the cable end is not seated in the right place, instead it locks into the groove and then shreds itself on the outer housing. Make sure that the internal are set with ratchet system in the zero tension position, sometimes hard to do with no cable tension to pull the mechanism back. Just keep flicking the return lever until you see the cable location recess appear. It's on Reddit here .. https://www.reddit.com/r/bikewrench/comments/ezelit/shimano_ultegra_6800_shifter_help/

Threads are prob gone on either the headset or the fork. Alternatively the crown race might be incorrect size, too big for fork crown which causes movement which in my experience can then lead to headset loosening off. Maybe the bearings could be the wrong size but this is prob unlikely.

I love 1” threaded headsets and when installed correctly and without issues will last for years.

Same problem on my pub bike, loctited it up and it’s been fine

I love 1” threaded headsets and when installed correctly and without issues will last for years.

This. Nothing wrong with the technology.

Nothing wrong with it but there are ways of doing it better, which are now being done.

Lighter and stronger, but uglier.
And the old tech was strong enough to begin with except for serious off-roading.

is there any reason a quill stem adapter (like this ) won't work with 1" threadless forks that are too short? Making it work sort of like a steerer extender.

I think quills mostly look shit too, and they feel flexy on mild off-roading. I'll admit they fit the aesthetic of some older/retro bikes well but they should remain there in pre-90s stuff.

You still need the steerer to be long enough for the top of the headset to screw on to.

older/retro

That’s pretty much my world.

it's a threadless steerer so I could just use a threadless headset though, right? As long as the steerer clears the headset I don't see why it wouldn't work

https://www.highonbikes.com/products/bbb-extender-quill-to-ahead-bike-handlebar-stem-adapter @Zebra

it's a threadless steerer

Sorry, completely skimmed over that, I guess it would work but you'll struggle to preload the headset.

Ah, that'll do it.^^

Taken the fork off and inspected all the threads on both the headset and the fork. Everything seems fine to be honest? Maybe a little dirty I suppose but it all looks in good condition.
Only thing is noticed is the top nut (not sure the actual name for it - the upper most nut where the branding usual is, in the case 'Record Campagnolo') is not completely threaded on the steerer as I have a single spacer underneath. This is like 2 threads at most so I can't imagine its causing any issue but it is something I noticed.
I might swap out the headset for something else just to try something, as I have no other ideas really.