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Are Gear Cable Ferrules "Strictly" Necessary

by roadbikepilgrim
Mon, Jul 29, 2019 11:46
4

Hi all,

I am a forum newbie and have been riding a B'Twin Triban 500 SE for  just over 18 months, so also a relative road biking beginner.

I had to have the left Microshift shifter on my bike replaced under guarantee, and the version of the new shifter is slightly different to the old. The new shifter housing did not accept a barrel adjuster, so the Decathlon bike mechanic very reasonably used an inline adjuster on the outer cable. The right shifter still uses its original barrel adjuster, so the only small downside of the current situation is a feng shui issue with the cockpit's looks :). I have a couple of options:

1) Just chill and accept the status quo.

2) Add an inline adjuster to the right shifter's outer gear cable and dial in the barrel adjuster all the way to the housing. This will mean the inline adjuster does the work and the barrel adjuster is redundant, but the barrel adjuster will nonetheless still be a little de trop. Yes, I know I am being very picky.

3) My preferred option is to add an inline adjuster to the right shifter's outer gear cable and remove the barrel adjuster completely. This will be the neatest look for the cockpit, but it would mean that I have to lose the ferrule on the gear cable, because the threaded hole in the housing that holds the barrel adjuster is too narrow to accept a ferrule. It will only accept an outer cable without a ferrule.

My question is, can you experienced forum members think of any bad things that can happen to my right shifter due to its outer cable not having a ferrule where the cable sits in the shifter housing? I did check out Calvin Jones on the Park Tool videos on YouTube and also Sheldon Brown. Both these sources say that some shifters' designs do not accept ferrules in the housing and in these cases you do not have to use a ferrule. 

This suggests that my option 3 is feasible. Do you agree, or am I overlooking something?

Best regards,

roadbikepilgrim

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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4 comments

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roadbikepilgrim | 4 years ago
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Thank you for your responses, everyone. It looks like I can go ahead with option 3 without any worry. If I do find that shifting becomes inconsistent or unpredictable, then I can very easily revert to option 2 by reinstating the ferrule and barrel adjuster.

Best regards,

roadbikepilgrim

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Xena | 4 years ago
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I run my own Kevlar housing each section does not even register a gram on my scale ,I kid you not .i use this with powercordz . Very simple and works well . But I did find my  gear housing got squished  without a ferrule going into the shifter ( sram red)so a ferrule at that point  solved the issue . As long as the housing does not squish up , this will the depend on the strength of the housing you are using . May be some Nokon etc aliminium  housing will obviously work best without a ferrule as its as strong as a ferrule. Simple really . Brakes no issue as it’s one pull and the stress is on the cable . I mentioned my light self made housing as it’s a good reference point being so light . It’s almost like paper . But i have had it on my guru bike for over a year with no issues apart from mentioned above . Strength of housing at the shifter end seems to be where the most pressure is put on the housing .,,,,if you want to see my weight weenie cervelo build it’s on the GCN visitors face book posts and also on the weight weenie face book site , my wife posted it . I don’t social media except this site. 

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ktache | 4 years ago
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 I run Middleburn cable oilers on both my brake and gear cables on my getting to work bike, the ferrules are present on all other ends, but the outers run directly into the oilers (very highly recommended, by the way) and I have never had any problems doing this.

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hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
1 like

That should be fine. It's unlikely to cause any issue, but at the worst, you'll get inconsistent gear changes which will alert you to any issue (i.e. if the cable outer exerts too much pressure on the housing and causes damage). It's not like brake cables where the cable outer has to transmit significant force and a lack of ferrules can cause a nasty surprise if something suddenly gives.

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