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Cable/Housing Recommendations

Doug3

Maximum Pace
Jun 24, 2010
723
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Time to replace all the cables and housings on my bike. I have been using the stock SRAM that originally came with my groupset. (Now a mix of Force/Red)

Anyone have a particular product that you would recommend?
 
Shimano cables (SIS gear / SLR brake) are very good and now come in many colours. May be sacreligious for a Sram bike though :)
 
Shimano cables (SIS gear / SLR brake) are very good and now come in many colours. May be sacreligious for a Sram bike though :)

Thanks for the reco. I am not so concerned about how they look, but more for performance. Will put them on the list to check out.
 
SRAM Professional Housing and cables - use the same brand for the gear you are riding.
 
SRAM Professional Housing and cables - use the same brand for the gear you are riding.
Yeah, now I remember that the SRAM brifters require the ferrules on that end also, and most kits don't include extras. Plus, they have them in red and I found a very good price on them. Ordered and waiting.
 
Dig, dig, digging up a thread.

I reckon I should be changing my cables. It's been 2 years. So couple of questions.

Currently using Ultegra on my bike, so I'll get Shimano replacements. Is it best to get inner and outer or is there no reason to get the outer if everything seems fine? My bike has internal cabling so not sure how easy it will be to re-thread the outer should I be brave enough to remove it. Any tricks?

My front mech has no adjuster (which makes it a royal pain in the ass to get the indexing bang on). I'm thinking those inner cable adjuster thingies might be a good purchase. Which brand is good? Maybe I should do both front and rear to make rear easy should things go out of whack as the new cable stretches. Guess I need to buy a few cable caps too. Must remember that.
 
Replace both inner and outer.

Thread the new outer over the old inner, pull the old inner out and then push the new inner through. Presto!
 
Replace both inner and outer.

Thread the new outer over the old inner, pull the old inner out and then push the new inner through. Presto!

Brilliant. I'm sure I might have thought of that after I'd pulled it all out.

Hmmm. I notice my donkey word got replaced by ass... was it that rude?
 
My front mech has no adjuster (which makes it a royal pain in the *** to get the indexing bang on). I'm thinking those inner cable adjuster thingies might be a good purchase. Which brand is good? Maybe I should do both front and rear to make rear easy should things go out of whack as the new cable stretches. Guess I need to buy a few cable caps too. Must remember that.

1. Get this Shimano Adjuster

2. You only need to use one for the front mech. The rear mech has a barrel adjuster on it. Adding another one to the cable path is pointless.
 
Kewl. Thanks for the recommendation. If I get through the cable mess. I promise I'll work on that bearing next.:ninja:
 
Replaced all my cabling last night. Oh my... The old inners were all in good condition. The outers though were another story. Lots of rust and corrosion. In particular the metal end cap thingies that go on the shifter cables before they go into the lever were in a bad state on both sides.This would explain some of the bad shifting I've been having. I actually had to take a hammer to it to get it out. Horror! My old handle bar tape also stunk of sweat :eek:

Check out this sexy photo of the front shifter cable.
cable.jpg
 
I was going to a wire snips to cut the cables but then I thought better of it, stopped and got on Amazon to get a next day delivery of a Shimano TL-CT12 cable cutter. First time I snipped the outer cabling with it I was glad I had done so. Starting from a very solid cut to a nice function for rounding the cable back and a cute little needle for making sure the inside is nice an round also. Pleasure to use.

As I was undoing the brake cables I snipped the inner with the wire snips, that I was going to use, and it made quite hard work of it. So happy, I stretched for the right tool.
 
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