I just replaced all the cables and housing on my bike and was annoyed to discover on close inspection that the front derailleur cable has sustained some damage from the cable clamp on the derailleur:
It looks like maybe 3-4 strands broke.
Background: I don't know if the cable was stretching in real time, or if I just hadn't fully seated all the ferrules prior to the initial clamping. But as I was adjusting the derailleur and running through gears, I found it was getting more slack. So I did have to unclamp the cable, pull the slack through, and reclamp it a couple of times.
I'm used to seeing cables flatten and unbraid a bit under the clamp, but I've never seen strands break like this from over-clamping. I'm wondering if there's a burr in the clamp that cut them.
Admittedly I do tend to clamp all cables quite tight. I.e. clamping shift cables as tight as brake cables.
Does the damage below indicate I did something wrong?
Or is this just bad luck/ cable quality?
And is it OK to continue to use this cable anyway? The broken strands are after the clamp so I don't expect them to result in a cable failure, but wondering if I'm missing something.
Thanks.