Winter Bike project - Brake/gear cabling

arlowood

Hi there

Almost got the complete componentry assembled to start my winter bike build. Bought some 2nd-hand 105 STI's which still had the inner gear/brake cables attached. Was planning to retain them if possible but on closer inspection I have spotted the odd stray wire fraying. My guess is that if I persevere with these inners this will only lead to problems.

Just looking for some advice on sourcing replacement inners and outers.

If I go down the Shimano route I'm looking at the thick end of £50 for full brake and gear cabling (inners/outers/ferrules etc). I have spotted a full set of cabling from Jagwire at half that price and am sorely tempted.

Any advice on or experience of using Jagwire or are there other cheaper alternatives to the Shimano.

k-dog

Yeah, you'll never get frayed cables through the rest of the housing anyway - without totally ruining the cables.

I've had Jagwire and they were fine - they're often fitted as OE and I haven't heard any especially bad things about them.

I just got new Shimano cables on Ebay for not very much - just came in a bag without the packaging but they were only something like £15 for the whole set.

flasher

You could use the rear cables for the fronts that'd save a bit and so only need to buy rears. You can normally buy outers/ferrules etc. from your LBS they generally have it on a roll so buy a couple of meters and cut to length as required. What I would say is to buy a good cable cutter it makes all the difference. Use the cutter to cut the old cables nice and clean then dab a touch of super glue to the end, that should get them through the outers fine.

Monty Dog

Ditch the inners if they are frayed - trying the thread them through the outers will only make it worse. £50 for a Shimano cable kit is ridiculous - plenty of choice from the like of Jagwire for less than £20 for a complete cable kit.

ratsbeyfus

Jagwire are fine. Word of warning though - the ferules have smallish holes which can cause the cables to catch (leading to gear shifting problems) if you ever swap out the (thinner) inner jagwire cables for slightly thicker inners from other manufacturers at a later date. Just open up the holes a little, or use the metal shimano ones instead.

arlowood

Monty Dog wrote:

Ditch the inners if they are frayed - trying the thread them through the outers will only make it worse. £50 for a Shimano cable kit is ridiculous - plenty of choice from the like of Jagwire for less than £20 for a complete cable kit.

Hi Monty Dog

After more thorough searching I did manage to source a set of Shimano gear cables for £12.99 on Fleabay and a set of Shimano brake cables from Tredz at £10.78 - so about the same price as the Jagwire kit. Both on order awaiting delivery.

Now looking for some decent cable cutters so that I don't make a complete horlicks of the fitting. Is it worth paying the premium for the Park Tools cutters or would something like this:_

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-Expert-5 ... G5UXO8LV9M

work equally well?

k-dog

I've got the Park ones - well the version from 20 years ago. They work well but aren't great on outers.

I've been using some cheaper ones recently at the school bike club I help with - the ones that come in the Edinburgh Bikes box - and they're probably just as good - but decent on outers too.

They look kind of like these ones - http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=10187

gabrielevans

You are crazy to buy inner or outer online, about 1 quid per cable at any LBS.

Twelly

Go to LBS. A couple of metres of inner and outer + ferrules should be any more than a tenner.

+1 for good cable cutters, makes life a lot easier.