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Replacing Road Bike Brake & Gear Cables - Which Brand?

cloggsy71
cloggsy71 Posts: 2,208 Member
edited November 10 in Social Groups
I'm seriously contemplating replacing the gear & brake cables on my Boardman roadie after several years of abuse. The question is, what brand of replacements would you recommend and why?

Shimano (like-for-like)?
Jaywire - Get very good reviews on Wiggle et al...

Any others I should consider?

Discuss ;)

Replies

  • Spatialized
    Spatialized Posts: 623 Member
    I've changed out both my front and rear cables (not the brakes yet though) and the front is bulk, probably Shimano from the bike shop, the rear done some months later, is a Jagwire set. Honestly, I can't tell the difference. If prodded, I would say the Jagwire "seems" smoother but then again I'm shifting the rear much more than the front so I notice the smoothness more. Maybe I'm full of it.

    I used the shop cables first because the cables on the bike were shot and I needed cable/housing now. The rear I could wait for a bit for delivery (although the original cable snapped the morning after I ordered the replacement set!) so that's why I went that route.

    If I were doing it again like a planned change out, I'd go with whatever was lesser cost (the Jagwire was more than the Shimano but had free shipping so it was less expensive all told). Like everything YMMV.
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    Never felt the need for anything but the standard shimano Cables and outer space tbh...suppose there may be some advantage to 'premium' cables/outers with the SRAM stuff, as it pulls more cable for a given shift iirc. Just make sure you use proper gear outer cable for the gears, not brake outer, and always fit cable ferrules.

    I did consider cabling up the Dolan using that Nokon Stuff, the one that looks like a string of beads, but... I'm a Yorkshireman, and when I bought the ultegra group set, all the cables were included, and I wasn't about to throw money away :)
  • coachlevi
    coachlevi Posts: 16
    I run Jagwire cables whenever I can. I've just always liked them and got into the habit of it. And with their good price and good performance, why change what works?

    Not really a big deal though. Just get whatever is in stock. (Unless you want to get really fancy and go with the Nokon cables! They are nice looking but not necessary by any means.)
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    On my road bikes I never noticed much difference. When I switched over to full length housing on my mountain bikes, there was noticeable improvement, especially in durability. I've thought about going full length on my road bike, but I don't ride in lousy conditions all that often, so I've stuck with the basic shimano stuff and just swap it out every year or so.
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    I'd be tempted to go for the sealed cable/full length outers on the 'crosser / winter hack bike, but really, for the fast road bike, there's not a great deal to be gained by paying extra. The stock Shimano SIS stuff that came with the Ultegra groupset are still as smooth as a freshly oiled otter after around 16,000km (just as well, because the internal gear cables are a complete twatt to replace on that frame (no internal cable sleeving just "poke it through and hope")
  • cloggsy71
    cloggsy71 Posts: 2,208 Member
    edited January 2015
    TheBigYin wrote: »
    The stock Shimano SIS stuff that came with the Ultegra groupset are still as smooth as a freshly oiled otter after around 16,000km (just as well, because the internal gear cables are a complete twatt to replace on that frame (no internal cable sleeving just "poke it through and hope")

    This seems a natty idea for routing woes?!

    How To Thread Internal Brake & Gear Cables

    http://youtu.be/eI_Hlw3RWf0
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    oh - i've got the cable routing inner-cable stuff that came with the frame, it's just that the frame is Di2 compatible, and therefore there are two types of cable-stop ends that fit into the frame... once they're in, they're bloody difficult to remove (simply an interference friction fit, rather than screwing into place :( ) so I'm fairly unwilling to actually remove them and end up with them getting looser and munging the shifting performance...
  • veloman21
    veloman21 Posts: 418 Member
    I replaced my cables recently with a set from Yokozuna. They get a lot of good write ups but I found the outer cable housings extremely stiff and very difficult to bend into shape. The shift action is very smooth though to be fair. Not sure they were worth the money. I have a SRAM setup.
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