How many sizes of cable housing is enough?

So, I am planning to stock up on brake/derailer housing. Usually, I hear, brake is 5mm, shifters
4. But, one can get derailer housing in 5 as well. How many sizes do I need for various old to
new bikes? Would 5 mm shifter housing work for brakes okay, or is it better to stick to 4mm?
Wisdom sought.

\Brian Plaugher

 

<< So, I am planning to stock up on brake/derailer housing. Usually, I hear, brake is 5mm, shifters
4. But, one can get derailer housing in 5 as well. How many sizes do I need for various old to new
bikes? Would 5 mm shifter housing work for brakes okay, or is it better to stick to 4mm? Wisdom
sought. >>

I use 5mm shifter housing with metal ferrules in place of the 4mm plastic housing and plastic
ferrules supplied with my STI shifters. Works fine. Brake housing is different than shifter housing,
though. Brake housing designed to be more flexible than shifter housing which is "non-compressible".
So, AFAIK, you can use 5mm housing for everything, but you'll still need to stock two kinds. Either
one is cheap, so it's no big deal.

 

Brian-<< So, I am planning to stock up on brake/derailer housing. Usually, I hear, brake is 5mm,
shifters 4. But, one can get derailer housing in 5 as well.

Just get 5mm for both, Easier to find ferrules, more room for free movement of der cables in 5mm,
4mm is an answer to a not asked question by shimano.

<< Would 5 mm shifter housing work for brakes okay, or is it better to stick to 4mm?

Think you mean shifter housing for shifters, brake for brake, but get each type but in 5mm ....

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
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[email protected] (Brian Plaugher) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> So, I am planning to stock up on brake/derailer housing. Usually, I hear, brake is 5mm, shifters
> 4. But, one can get derailer housing in 5 as well. How many sizes do I need for various old to
> new bikes? Would 5 mm shifter housing work for brakes okay, or is it better to stick to 4mm?
> Wisdom sought.

Where does the consumer 'stock up' on housing? i go through a lot of this myself, but have always
been forced to either buy it in small sections on the internet as a housing set (expensive) or buy
it by the foot from the LBS (expensive too).

how much shoudl i expect to pay for housing? not looking for anything exciting here. and not looking
for it in shop-size bulk rolls.

curious,

anthony

 

>how much should i expect to pay for housing?

How do you define expensive? I charge a $1.50/foot at my shop...is that expensive?

>not looking for anything exciting here. and not looking for it in shop-size bulk rolls.

Off the top of my head, QBP (Quality Bicycle Products, the most-used distributor of bike parts)
sells two sizes of shop rolls: a large roll in a file box(30 meters) and a small roll in a bag(25
feet) What your local shop would charge you for either, I dunno...call them.

Russell

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i wrote

> >how much should i expect to pay for housing?

[email protected] (Russell Yim) wrote

> How do you define expensive? I charge a $1.50/foot at my shop...is that expensive?

no. it isnt. i was charged twice that at the lbs.

> Off the top of my head, QBP (Quality Bicycle Products, the most-used distributor of bike parts)
> sells two sizes of shop rolls: a large roll in a file box(30 meters) and a small roll in a bag(25
> feet) What your local shop would charge you for either, I dunno...call them.

25 feet sounds like it would get me where i want to be. ill look into this.. thanks!

 

Mike Krueger wrote:

"Brake housing is different than shifter housing, though. Brake housing designed to be more flexible
than shifter housing which is "non-compressible". So, AFAIK, you can use 5mm housing for everything,
but you'll still need to stock two kinds. Either one is cheap, so it's no big deal."

This may be breaking some rule or long standing tradition, but I use SIS housing for my rear brakes
as well. I lose a little less power from the non compression housing than I would from the
"squishier" wound wire brake housing.

Granted, I can't use the extra thick MTB brake cables, but it works fine with road cables.

May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills! Chris

Chris'Z Corner "The Website for the Common Bicyclist": http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

 

Anthony wrote:

"Where does the consumer 'stock up' on housing? i go through a lot of this myself, but have always
been forced to either buy it in small sections on the internet as a housing set (expensive) or buy
it by the foot from the LBS (expensive too). "

I usually got to my LBS and simply ask for x number of feet of whatever type housing I want. They
have both kinds on big rolls in the stockroom, as well as the ferrules that fit on the ends.

Price varies, but it's usually a few cents a foot.

May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills! Chris

Chris'Z Corner "The Website for the Common Bicyclist": http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

 

Chris Zacho "The Wheelman" wrote:
> Mike Krueger wrote:
>
>
> This may be breaking some rule or long standing tradition, but I use SIS housing for my rear
> brakes as well. I lose a little less power from the non compression housing than I would from the
> "squishier" wound wire brake housing.
>

I'm sure I read somewhere that this is a very bad idea. The SIS cable has the steel wire
reinforcement running along the length of the cable. This means that when the outer cable is bent
the effective length of the cable does not change. Under high load however the outer cable may
burst, resulting in a catastrophic loss of brake effectiveness.

This may be a myth.

--
Andy Morris

AndyAtJinkasDotFreeserve.Co.UK

Love this: Put an end to Outlook Express's messy quotes
http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/oe-quotefix/

 

> Mike Krueger wrote: "Brake housing is different than shifter housing, though. Brake housing
> designed to be more flexible than shifter housing which is "non-compressible". So, AFAIK, you can
> use 5mm housing for everything, but you'll still need to stock two kinds. Either one is cheap, so
> it's no big deal."

"Chris Zacho "The Wheelman"" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> This may be breaking some rule or long standing tradition, but I use SIS housing for my rear
> brakes as well. I lose a little less power from the non compression housing than I would from the
> "squishier" wound wire brake housing.
>
> Granted, I can't use the extra thick MTB brake cables, but it works fine with road cables.

That's a really bad idea, so much so that you should change that casing right away. Gear casing
cannot bear the full load of a panic stop and you risk the casing splitting open under load just
when you need your brakes the most.

Sincerely, Chris, dump the gear casing in your brake system!

--
Andrew Muzi http://www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April 1971