Brake and gear cable survey

DW01
DW01 Posts: 66
edited August 2011 in Road beginners
Hello all!

I'm looking at getting some road bike brake and derailleur cables and was wondering if you could help me (and others possibly)

Could you provide the:

A) make and model of brake and derailleur cable
B) cost and place you buy it
C) reason for choosing the cables you use.

I've considered dura ace brake cables and jagwire but thought I get a consensus and see if using standard cheap ones work just as well.

Comments

  • FSR_XC
    FSR_XC Posts: 2,258
    Jagwire, off eBay.
    Stumpjumper FSR 09/10 Pro Carbon, Genesis Vapour CX20 ('17)Carbon, Rose Xeon CW3000 '14, Raleigh R50

    http://www.visiontrack.com
  • Ben6899
    Ben6899 Posts: 9,686
    A) Nokon.
    B) ~£100. Chain Reaction Cycles online.
    C) Lightweight, maintenance free, crisp shifting and braking.
    Ben

    Bikes: Donhou DSS4 Custom | Condor Italia RC | Gios Megalite | Dolan Preffisio | Giant Bowery '76
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ben_h_ppcc/
    Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143173475@N05/
  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729
    Yokozuna Reaction

    £45 from PBK (but no stock at the moment)

    http://www.probikekit.com/uk/components/bicycle-cables-and-cable-sets/yokozuna-reaction-complete-brake-and-gear-cable-set.html

    ...brilliant performance, and not as expensive as some high end offerings

    Here's a little review

    http://www.competitivecyclist.com/product-road-bike-root-category/2011-yokozuna-reaction-complete-cable-and-housing-kit-7347.3191.0.NONAV.html
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    The shimano ones that came with the groupset.

    I've never had need to replace them.
  • DW01
    DW01 Posts: 66
    That's great thanks guys I may buy the jagwire ones from eBay AND the yokozuna ones as a back up! Thanks people :) much appreciated
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    cougie wrote:
    The shimano ones that came with the groupset.

    I've never had need to replace them.

    That's been my experience too. 105 groupset ridden all year round for 3 years and still going strong
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    I've got cables that came with my Dura Ace groupset from at least 10 years ago still going strong. I'd not splash out £100 on cables unless I had a particularly tricky routing to solve.
  • gilesjuk
    gilesjuk Posts: 340
    The outers are more important IMHO. Any extra money you spent on very high end cables could be spent changing the inner and outers sooner before they start to get sticky.

    Also, fitting Middleburn cable oilers inline means you can flush out the crud (more important if you ride in all conditions).

    http://www.middleburn.co.uk/access_cableoilers.php
  • nferrar
    nferrar Posts: 2,511
    Gore ride-on pro's for the gears unless you've got internal routing in which case you'd need to check if it fits. It's pricey but maintenance free for years.
  • Nairnster
    Nairnster Posts: 602
    Have always used the Shimano cables that come with the groupsets.Set them up, and maintain them properly, and I expect in 99% of cases these will be as good as you will ever need.
  • fish156
    fish156 Posts: 496
    A) Shimano Dura-Ace
    B) One of the online stores. Bought both the full kit plus a load of replacement inners. The inners are very cheap.
    C) I don't use the more expensive sealed cables as I don't expect to keep them that long. I do a full strip, clean and rebuild of each bike annually. The inners get replaced then. Outers less often. I'll tend to buy a different frame, bars or levers every few years and gradually the kit moves towards the winter hack as time goes on. I'll replace the outers when changing kit.
  • RowCycle
    RowCycle Posts: 367
    I just use whatever the lbs has. Went in, me: can I have some cables, them: yes sir, here you go, will be this much, me: thanks, leaves
  • Chad_c_Mulligan
    Chad_c_Mulligan Posts: 78
    Random cheap cables from the LBS, work perfectly and were about £5 in the total bike fettling bill (new bb and crankset).
    --
    FCN 9
  • robdaykin
    robdaykin Posts: 102
    On my audax, the gear cables are Alligator I-Link outers with Powercordz inners. Bought from Clee Cycles, I-Link are £40, Powercordz £65, but looks like Clee no longer stock the gear cables, they only seem to have the brake version. Bought because I got fed up with steel cables seizing up on my bike due to over zealous salting. These are zero maintenance now they've settled in. Although they're not supposed to stretch, over the first about 2 years, they did slightly and I've had to adjust them once. The coated steel cables and spare liner from the I-Links are on my hybrid, where the liners are stopping the cable chafing under the bottom bracket. Powercordz/I-link shifting is better than the original shimano steel cables, but I wouldn't bother fitting these to my race bike, since it's no better than the Gore cables that came fitted with.
    Brakes are the original shimano cables which came with the bike, but being above the mudguards, are less susceptible to salt damage. 8 years old, no fraying, no real stretch problems, no rust, so no reason to change them yet.

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