Sticky Shift Cables

I noticed that the shifting on my Fuji was pretty sluggish today.  Last year I made the mistake of using wheel bearing grease to lubricate the rear derailleur cable. I normally use motor oil and reapply it every few years, and I never had problems with oil. However, the grease that I put on the cable must have gotten thicker while sitting over winter because there was a lot of resistance.  Anyway, time to fix my mistake.

First unscrew the cable pinch bolt:

 

 

Next pull the cable out of the derailleur and cable housing:

If you are putting a new shift cable on your road bike, then this is where you can pull it out of the shift lever:

 

I didn't need to change this cable, however. I just needed to slide the inner wire out of the housings so I could clean off the grease and apply fresh oil:

 

After threading the inner wire back through the cable housings, I secured it to the derailleur's pinch bolt and used my fancy crimp pliers to add an end ferrule:

The last step is to adjust the indexed shifting, since I had to unbolt the cable from the derailleur.  I like to shift the chain onto the second largest cassette sprocket, then turn the barrel adjuster on the derailleur until the guide pulley is centered under the sprocket:

Turning the barrel adjuster clockwise will move the derailleur slightly to the right. Turning the adjuster counterclockwise will move the derailleur slightly to the left.

Moral of this story - don't use grease for shift cables.