Cable Housing

Frank Drackman said:

I am getting ready to replace the cables & housing on a bunch of bikes. In
the past I have purchased cable sets or housing from LBS. This time I will
be purchasing bulk housing and I am looking for advice. If you have any
recommendations, good or bad, or suggestions on where to purchase I would
love to hear them.

Thanks - Frank

The type of basic lined housing that almost all shops buy in bulk and
use for repairs is fine. There are a small number of different makers
whose products get many different brand names put on them, often the
house brand of whatever distributor it came from. As long as it's lined
housing and the correct type for whether you're doing a shift or brake
housing, don't worry about it. Prices that LBS's charge for bulk
housing bought over the counter actually vary quite a bit for various
reasons, so you might want to do some comparing there. If one place's
price seems high compared to another, you're within your right to say
so. What matters most by far in terms of the performance you'll get is
how well you size the housings and prep the ends.

For cables, if these are bikes that are going to get ridden and that
you care about etc, get stainless always and "slick" (die-drawn) if
possible. My favorite are the ones made by Jagwire and sold as house
brands by Quality, Cyclone, and numerous others.

On 14 Oct 2006 00:13:53 -0700, "Nate Knutson" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

For cables, if these are bikes that are going to get ridden and that
you care about etc, get stainless always and "slick" (die-drawn) if
possible. My favorite are the ones made by Jagwire and sold as house
brands by Quality, Cyclone, and numerous others.

The best cables I've found are Yohozuna, which are manufactured in
Japan. They are the quality of Campy cable and come in both ShimaNO
and Campy head.

Paul Kopit said:

On 14 Oct 2006 00:13:53 -0700, "Nate Knutson" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

For cables, if these are bikes that are going to get ridden and that
you care about etc, get stainless always and "slick" (die-drawn) if
possible. My favorite are the ones made by Jagwire and sold as house
brands by Quality, Cyclone, and numerous others.

The best cables I've found are Yohozuna, which are manufactured in
Japan. They are the quality of Campy cable and come in both ShimaNO
and Campy head.

Where do you get them in the US? What makes them your fave?

On 14 Oct 2006 23:24:22 -0700, "Nate Knutson" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Where do you get them in the US? What makes them your fave?

I don't know of other retailers selling them. I buy them in file box
of 100 x small head, which is ok in ShimaNO too. I sell them for min.
5 cables x $5/cable, shipped USA.

The bundle of cables either has more, finer strands or the cable is
somehow drawn better through the slicking die. You 'barrel' of cables
is absolutely smooth. If you've run your finger over Campy cables,
you'll know what I mean.

I too am looking for some new cable housings, to match cateye red
handlebar tape. Ideally, the cables would be bright red and
transluscent - like campagnolo, allowing you to see the spiral-wound
housing.

Alternately, a maker of darker red handlebar tape would also solve my
problem, as I could use modolo cabling. Here is the red for my color
scheme, it's a rather bright, rich color of red :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7236173146

Any suggestions ?? Thanx,

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA

Frank Drackman said:

I am getting ready to replace the cables & housing on a bunch of bikes. In
the past I have purchased cable sets or housing from LBS. This time I will
be purchasing bulk housing and I am looking for advice. If you have any
recommendations, good or bad, or suggestions on where to purchase I would
love to hear them.

It is EXTREMELY important that you don't use shifter housing for your
brakes. You could end up with no brakes. Using brake housing with
your derailleur cables will at worst provide
poor shifting.
----------------------
Alex

Frank Drackman said:

I am getting ready to replace the cables & housing on a bunch of bikes. In
the past I have purchased cable sets or housing from LBS. This time I will
be purchasing bulk housing and I am looking for advice. If you have any
recommendations, good or bad, or suggestions on where to purchase I would
love to hear them.

For shift cable housing, go with the 5mm type. You can get lengths of
25 feet on eBay for a good price. You can also buy it by the foot from
Sheldon Brown (Harris Cyclery).

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/cables.html#brakehousing

Art "no relation" Harris

On 16 Oct 2006 13:54:24 -0700, [email hidden] (Donald Gillies)

Quoted message said:

I too am looking for some new cable housings, to match cateye red
handlebar tape. Ideally, the cables would be bright red and
transluscent - like campagnolo, allowing you to see the spiral-wound
housing.

Alternately, a maker of darker red handlebar tape would also solve my
problem, as I could use modolo cabling. Here is the red for my color
scheme, it's a rather bright, rich color of red :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7236173146

Any suggestions ?? Thanx,

Don:

How much do you need ? I bought some red at a LBS here last year to
do one bike. I can check the color and get back to you on the match -
I think I have the same tape. It's not translucent though - solid red,
a little to the orange side. I'd love to find something in a blood red
but I could not turn up anything when I looked.

FYI - They charged me way too much... about $3/foot as I recall. I'd
be happy to buy some more and send it to you at whatever it costs me
plus shipping... but it is overpriced.

Donald Gillies said:

I too am looking for some new cable housings, to match cateye red
handlebar tape. Ideally, the cables would be bright red and
transluscent - like campagnolo, allowing you to see the spiral-wound
housing.

Alternately, a maker of darker red handlebar tape would also solve my
problem, as I could use modolo cabling. Here is the red for my color
scheme, it's a rather bright, rich color of red :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7236173146

Any suggestions ?? Thanx,

Don't know if this will help, but here it is:

http://tinyurl.com/y9xmxx

Hard to tell about color match on a monitor...