Hi chaps,

I got a broken clutch cable in my Stuart Taylor Blade. I've been investigating a replacement here in Spain, seems difficult to procure (strange, the cable looks very simple). Here is a picture of the terminations, it would be good if you could tell me how standard or otherwise it looks to you. The two threaded ends are identical. The inside cable broke where it joins the ring shaped end (due to wrong cable orientation giving too much friction). I may be ordering one from a UK company like maybe Stuart Taylor (that should be the most straightforward solution as my car was actually built by them in 2000) or any other supplier you suggest. The thing is ST are not always very supportive and Lolocost won't deliver overseas I think. Maybe the cable is the same as used by Fisher for the Fury Blade? I have measured a thread diameter of 7.9 mm and an inside cable diameter of 2.8 mm approx. Tom, are you around? Have you ever replaced it or it was the original one? Reference?

Many thanks!

Have you tried a motorcycle shop?

Most over here can make up custom cables.

HTH,
Ian

Thanks, Ian. I tried one yesterday, in view of what you say maybe it wasn't the right one, they don't make any custom cables or sell any suitable tools. I have now contacted a couple of companies that make custom cables, so I'll find out very soon if they can do this kind of thing for me. Still, maybe the easy (cheap)option is just buying a standard Locost BEC cable if there is such thing

Thanks.

alez that looks like a ford escort/cortina outer cable with a crimped on end,similar to the bits AA/RAC use to repair cables here,do you have such outfits there?if not i have some cable and should be able to get some ends from my friendly RAC man.ps hows it goin out there?

Dunno if its an option but westfield do a blade clutch cable for about £30.

Many thanks guys. I'm apparently in business now, yesterday I was able to locate a company that will make a cable for me, they took my old cable and said a new one would be ready by today. Basically, when I read Ian's post, I thought maybe there are companies making custom cables here, so I used my old friend Google, took me a while.. When I arrived to the company, they were very surprised, apparently they work for companies only normally, but were happy to do it for me when they saw the cable. Many many thanks for offering and for the useful info.

As to the rest, it's going really good down here. Sometimes the car is too much of a head turner here (trust me, if it makes ME feel uncomfortable then it has to be uncomfortable) and I'm being stopped by the police constantly (only to check, Sir, as the car is so unusual) but I'm enjoying bigtime, and the weather is generally fantastic, just ideal for the car. I'm very happy so far!

Hi Alex,

Sorry not to come back earlier, I've not been on in a while. It seems purely academic now but, as conrod said, it is the outer from a cortina with an end crimped on, dating from the build of the car (I didn't replace it). Glad to hear it's sorted though and that you are enjoying it - after your recent posts, I've been feeling a bit guilty that all these things have gone wrong since you took her off my hands...maybe she's missing my gentle touch!!

Cheers
tom

Hi Tom,

Glad to see you around. Thanks for the info, it's good to confirm the Cortina theory. I'm enjoying it all, including riding and repairing, and nothing has gone really wrong at all, it's all minor and "locost" things even I can do, still I should mention that your "gentle touch" has often been too gentle, you gentleman! I had to tighten a few loose bolts already, including spark plugs and engine! Seriously now, it's going fantastic, these few things are probably a result of a bit of uninterrupted mileage (Guildford-Portsmouth, then Bilbao-Madrid), it took me quite a lot of hours, say a full day ride split in two, so it's all normal.

Cheers,

Alex