Bicycle Mechanics - DA7900 Cables/Housing

Hey everyone,

So I'm curious, from what I've been told when using Shimano you are supposed to replace your cables completely every 1500 miles. Well I am at about that point, and I'm looking to get my cables and housing replaced. My shifters are DA7900, front and rear derailleurs as well. I'd like to just get all new cables, and I'd like to replace the housing to a red color just for aethestics.

My question(s) are, does it matter what housing to use for the cables? What cables are best to use? My LBS offers I think 3 levels, a crappy one, stainless steel, then a teflon based cable. I don't know anything about cables, let alone if one of those three is what I want. Before I get suckered into paying for anything, just looking to get some advice. Thanks.

1500 miles?!

Err.. I don't think so. Is everything still shifting? Is anything frayed or unsafe? No. Then keep using them.

Rather than mileage, a better hint that cables / housing need replacing is when shifting becomes rough. Of course there are other reasons shifting is no longer smooth, but replacing the former is a cheap first step to reduce the number of possibilities. But if you want to upgrade esthetics.....

Yes. Upgrade it all. It sounds like you want to, though I really doubt you'll notice a difference unless your cables were stretched/frayed beyond belief before, or were made of barbed wire.

Real advice: you probably won't notice a thing, and if shifting is fine right now, just leave it alone. Save up toward a better bike or wheelset.

Shimano SP-41 housing with stainless steel cables seems to do the trick every time.

Authentic Dura-Ace 7900 cables are pretty trick. The shift cables have a full-length PTFE coat, and the brake cables have a PTFE coat on the part that's under the bar tape. If I had a DA or Ultegra setup, I'd stick with the Dura-Ace cables and housings.

Authentic Dura-Ace 7900 cables are pretty trick. The shift cables have a full-length PTFE coat, and the brake cables have a PTFE coat on the part that's under the bar tape. If I had a DA or Ultegra setup, I'd stick with the Dura-Ace cables and housings.That might be the case but I have never had issue with getting accurate crisp shifts using normal cabling. While I have not used DA cabling, I have run gore and nokon before. While nice in that the resistance is slightly reduced, it was not by any means ground breaking or performance boosting.

not to mention the shifters and drivetrain should be replaced at 3000 miles. You can send them to me with a check for $20 and I will "recycle" them.....

Gjostcode, I've never heard of any mileage restrictions WRT DA brake or shift cables/housings. I think it's important to use the DA housing caps to protect the coated cables.

Brad