I just bought a 2005 BMC SLT01 frameset and I cannot for the life of me get the front and rear derailleur cables run down through the down tube. Can anyone please give me some tips on how to do get them through.

One reason my Trek is a singlespeed now is that I pulled the internally routed derailleur cable out of the chainstay and couldn't get it back through. I ran it with a clamp-on housing stop for a couple of years, then finally got tired of looking at it and converted to SS.
But when I posted this same question a couple of years ago, people suggested several things that might have worked in other circumstances (I was trying to hit a hole just barely big enough to pass the cable).
Some of the ideas:
Poke a stiff wire through, then attach the cable and pull that through.
Bend hooks in two pieces of very thin wire, push them in from both ends, hook them inside the tube, then attach the cable and pull.
Put a vacuum cleaner hose on the downstream end, then stick dental floss into the upstream hole and suck it through. Tie the dental floss to the cable and pull.
Drill the downstream hole bigger (I'm not recommending that, I'm just saying people suggested it)
And there were a couple of others, equally ineffective, that I've forgotten.

I just bought a 2005 BMC SLT01 frameset and I cannot for the life of me get the front and rear derailleur cables run down through the down tube. Can anyone please give me some tips on how to do get them through.
LBS. Make the wrench monkeys suffer :devil:
It's what I do when I don't want to do something.

You should have seen the fit I had running the housing and cables through my Ram bars. No thanks with internal cables on a frame. I can only imagine how hard that would be. Thing is, I have no idea how much more aerodynamic that would be, and why anything like that would be used on anything other than the highest end frame. Again, good luck with this project and let us know if you ever get it solved.

WOW! Thanks Cory. None of my bikes have internally routed cables, but I always wondered how you'd do it if you happend to buy a bike equipped like that. I love the shop vac/dental floss idea.

I had a Klein with the same problem. It was trial and error but I straightened a wire hanger and used cable cutters to cut it anywhere it was irregularly shaped. Took a piece of duck tape and used the smallest amount possible so it wouldn't be too thick to fit in the whole. Taped the cable on the tip of the hanger and 'fished' for the hole. After about 20 minutes or so I got lucky and threaded it. I probably did this successfully about 3-4 times so it can be done but its frustrating. Good luck.

the simplest solution - cut the head off the current cable - tape the new cable to the old one - pull the new cable through. that's how i did it with my Klein.

Krazy glue might even come in handy here. You could crazy glue the two cables ends (i.e., old & new), and pull the new one through. Or, if the dental floss and vacuum works, you could Krazy glue the dental floss to the new cable and pull it through. Just using everybody else's ideas with a glue spin on it just in case the tape makes it too thick to get through the hole.

Mostly it was solved by patience and luck, but I did find it helpful to rotate the bike in the stand so it was close to parallel to the floor with the hole I was hoping to hit at the bottom. Trying to hit the hole near the seat when it was on the top of the tube was impossible. I speculated about using a magnet since the frame was aluminum, but didn't have one handy.

Run the cables through first then obviously housing over top of the new cables. Start with a new cable or one with a soldered end. You can bend the cable near the end, about a 3 inch segment about 45 deg. Insert it into the front of the tube and push toward the exit in the rear toward the rear of the frame. It usually isn't too hard to find the exit just by spinning the cable gradually as you push it slowly forward. Then cut housing and slide through over the new cable in the reverse direction. Toward the front of the frame. I have used a loop of saftey wire to pull a cable to an exit as well. Make sure to have them through brake levers or any thing else that isn't slotted for easy cleaning etc.

Thing is, I have no idea ...(snip)... why anything like that would be used on anything other than the highest end frame.

Well, he did say he had a BMC SLT01.

Take some thin thread as dental floss has too much of a mind of its own to go through the hole, after covering the hole in the seat tube with duct tape so all air is going in one direction. then feed the string into the upstream hole with shopvac nozzle sealed to the other hole with your hands or duct tape hold the frame exit hole down and do a hula sort of motion with it to help the string swing to the hole if needed. After getting the end of the string through the hole tie it to the rear triangle somewhere to make sure you don't loose the end you just made yourself look like a bafoon to get as the other half will be rolling thier eyes. If the cable uses inner liner give yourself a few feet of extra string on the upstream side when cutting then thread the string through the precut liner, put light tension on the string and feed the liner through. If it's just bare cable wrap the string around the cable end a few times and superglue to pull it through. Give yourself a beer or two and an hour or two.