Brake housing for Shift cables?

still me said:

I know the other way around is a no-no, but is it OK to use brake
housing for shift cables (assuming physical cable end fit is OK) ?

If you have indexed ("click"😉 shifting, it will work poorly with brake
housing. If you have the now nearly extinct non-indexed shifting, it
will work great.

Just last week I swapped out coiled brake-like housing for proper
non-compressible shift housing on a junker's shifters. I was amazed at
the improvement. Ironically, the coiled brake-like housing was labeled
"Shimano SIS".

Mark J.

"Mark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

still me said:

I know the other way around is a no-no, but is it OK to use brake
housing for shift cables (assuming physical cable end fit is OK) ?

If you have indexed ("click"😉 shifting, it will work poorly with brake
housing. If you have the now nearly extinct non-indexed shifting, it will
work great.

Just last week I swapped out coiled brake-like housing for proper
non-compressible shift housing on a junker's shifters. I was amazed at
the improvement. Ironically, the coiled brake-like housing was labeled
"Shimano SIS".

Mark J.

No, it is not OK to use brake housing for indexed shifters.

still me said:

I know the other way around is a no-no, but is it OK to use brake
housing for shift cables (assuming physical cable end fit is OK) ?

It'll work , as it did for years before the new style, but without the
precision needed for crisp index shifting.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Mon, 07 May 2007 21:15:43 -0500, A Muzi <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

It'll work , as it did for years before the new style, but without the
precision needed for crisp index shifting.
--

I probably should have mentioned that I am a friction guy. Will "shift
cable housing" help out friction shifting precision also?

Someone said:

Quoted message said:

It'll work , as it did for years before the new style, but without
the precision needed for crisp index shifting.

Quoted message said:

I probably should have mentioned that I am a friction guy. Will
"shift cable housing" help out friction shifting precision also?

Shift cable housing is specifically designed to be constant length
even when bending in a curve by having its steel strands in a helix,
similar to brake and shift cables. The reason for this is that shift
levers ON the bars requires the shift cable to bend with steering
motions and closely spaced indexed gears would suffer from this
although hardly on road bicycles that don't do large steering angles
as trail riders often do.

Therefore, STI shift cable housing does nothing for the road rider and
even less for downtube sifters (if that is possibler). Whether these
are indexed or friction shift levers makes little difference.
Relative length change between cable and housing causes derailleur
position error, small or large depending on steering angle.

Brake cable housing is essentially a stack of steel rings whose stack
height increases when bent into a curve.

Jobst Brandt

Quoted message said:

A Muzi said:

It'll work , as it did for years before the new style, but without the
precision needed for crisp index shifting.

still me said:

I probably should have mentioned that I am a friction guy. Will "shift
cable housing" help out friction shifting precision also?

I don't notice any difference. The pilot has to overshoot and then
correct on a classic system and we humans quickly adapt to the slight
casing difference unconsciously. Use what you have and oil the wire, it
will be OK either way.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Someone said:

Quoted message said:

It'll work , as it did for years before the new style, but without
the precision needed for crisp index shifting.

Quoted message said:

I probably should have mentioned that I am a friction guy. Will
"shift cable housing" help out friction shifting precision also?

STI shift cable housing is specifically designed to be constant length
even when bending in a curve by having its steel strands in a helix,
similar to brake and shift cables. The reason for this is that shift
levers ON the bars requires the shift cable to bend with steering
motions and closely spaced indexed gears would suffer from this
although hardly on road bicycles that don't do large steering angles
as trail riders often do.

Therefore, STI shift cable housing does nothing for the road rider and
even less for downtube sifters (if that is possible). Whether these
are indexed or friction shift levers makes little difference.
Relative length change between cable and housing causes derailleur
position error, small or large depending on steering angle.

Brake cable housing is essentially a stack of steel rings whose stack
height increases when bent into a curve.

Jobst Brandt

Quoted message said:

Someone said:

Quoted message said:

It'll work , as it did for years before the new style, but without
the precision needed for crisp index shifting.

Quoted message said:

I probably should have mentioned that I am a friction guy. Will
"shift cable housing" help out friction shifting precision also?

STI shift cable housing is specifically designed to be constant length
even when bending in a curve by having its steel strands in a helix,
similar to brake and shift cables. The reason for this is that shift
levers ON the bars requires the shift cable to bend with steering
motions and closely spaced indexed gears would suffer from this
although hardly on road bicycles that don't do large steering angles
as trail riders often do.

Therefore, STI shift cable housing does nothing for the road rider and
even less for downtube sifters (if that is possible). Whether these
are indexed or friction shift levers makes little difference.
Relative length change between cable and housing causes derailleur
position error, small or large depending on steering angle.

Brake cable housing is essentially a stack of steel rings whose stack
height increases when bent into a curve.

Jobst Brandt

Thanks boys !