Changing Shifter Cable for my Boardwalk

Previously in the XT vs X9 shifter review I said that the X9 shifter comes with a short gear cable, which makes it difficult to route my cable properly. To solve that, I have bought a new gear cable and gear housing, think its about 2m long each.

Its actually quite tricky to change the X9 shifter cable, because the top cover of the X9 shifter needs to be removed.


The picture shown was not taken by me, its just a picture I took off the internet. Tricky part is to ensure that the spring does not come loose or fly away. Also, the cable has to be threaded through the little holes on the red plastic disc. Not easy as the cable end tends to fray and get caught along the wall of the narrow channel.

Luckily I have the X9 left shifter as spare, thus I could practise on it before trying out on my right shifter. Took me about 10 mins to change the cable, with my thumb on the spring all the while, just in case it jumped out, haha.

After re-routing the cable housing on the bike, the cables look much neater too. Now both the Boardwalk and the Vitesse are 9 speeds with X9 and XT shifters respectively. Just need the weather to clear up so that I can go test the bikes!