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I was trying to adjust gears, and being my first time, I ended up damaging the cable. I mean that I "smashed" it, the threads became apart, and it was dangerous to deal with it. I replaced the cable, but I would like to avoid the problem in the future. Is there any trick, apart from being careful? I'm thinking something like coating the cable with a bit of glue. Is it ok?

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By adjusting do you mean shifting or performing maintenance? – Glenn Sep 5 '12 at 23:40

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I put the cable in, find a length that's 'approximate enough', and crimp the cable end onto the cable before I clamp it into the derailleur. This will prevent the end from fraying, like you say, and becoming difficult to deal with. It will get flattened under the derailleur clamp, but this can't be avoided.

If you don't crimp the end in first (or leaving it long is another way, but it doesn't always work), then you will have to deal with the frayed cable and sometimes need to wind it back together to get it into the cable end.

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Yes, the derailleur clamp was my problem. The cable got flattened as you say. I adjusted it many times until I finally understood how to tune to rear derailleur. If I glue in advance the section that is going to be clamped, would it help? – Javier Sep 6 '12 at 0:43
@Javier -- What do you mean by "glue"? – Daniel R Hicks Sep 6 '12 at 1:26
Glue works, just a drop on the end to bind the wires. – Ritch Melton Sep 6 '12 at 1:28
I suppose some superglue might help initially, but once it's clamped once there it'll break the glue's bonds with the wires. I've never concerned myself with the flattened cable section - it doesn't fray the cable when it's clamped beforehand. – Ehryk Sep 6 '12 at 8:47
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They are called "inner cable caps". I was unable to find a textual description, they are made of aluminum, you snap them into the cable end and then use a crimper to make them tight against cable. Here are some pictures: comparestoreprices.co.uk/images/tr/…, huskybicycles.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000002/311-186.jpg – Jahaziel Sep 7 '12 at 23:16
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