miamijim

How does it look without the short section and smaller loops?

The Golden Boy 

Hi Jim,

If you look at my second picture, even the weight of the cable loop is causing the housing to buckle- it's that bendy. It'll easily conform to the acute angle of the handlebar bend- any bend after that is much more obtuse, so the more supportive braided cable can be used.

Again, it's a nice system that makes the installation under the tape much easier while still retaining the braking performance through most of the cable run.

The Golden Boy 

I suppose I could try a smaller loop- it's teflon coated cable AND lubed housing- so even with sharp bends, there would still probably be less resistance than the 30 year old DiaCompe housing with stainless cables.

However, I think I would rather have the loops look "right." The shift cable is run under the tape and shows nicely. I think housing of a 'close' color and proper looping will look better than housing of the same type with abnormally abrupt loops.

I think.

vitaly66

C'mon, this is *way* too strong. Speaking as someone who could have made exactly the same mistake -- and nearly did -- I don't think a "blame the customer" attitude is the proper way to characterize what happened to Golden Boy here.

Jagwire fails on at least two counts: 1) miserly cable length; 2) inadequate product description. To suppose that reasonable persons should be able guess these deficiencies from the "Road Pro" product name is ludicrous.

Gdando

Golden boy,
I just did this last week. The grey flex piece I removed. I used the old housing as a guide. Regretfully, after removing the grey extensions the provided brake housing was not long enough to do both brakes so I used the shifter housing for the front brakes. Make sure you have the correct tool to cut the housing as it will fray if you don't and the end cap will not fit over the end of housing.

ColonelJLloyd 

Whatever you say, Mr. Expert.

The Golden Boy 

Hi Gdando-

I love the build you did with that Olmo- that is a seriously classy looking bike!

There is a section on the Sheldon Brown website about NOT using shift housing for brake housing- I don't know of the braided housing makes a difference:

https://sheldonbrown.com/cables.html

Gdando

Both housings are braided steel with Teflon cores smooth movement. The cable itself is coated braided steel that I have more confidence in that the original. Also, I used the shifter housing for the shorter front brakes and the brake housing for the rear brakes. I was happily surprised how much of a difference the cables and kool brake pads made. I can now ride with my hands on the hoods without fear of not being able to stop. How were you planning to cut the housings?

miamijim

In general that is correct, most index compatible housing is hard plastic, and if cracked, will lead to catastrophic cable failure.

miamijim

+1. Because of this thread I checked the 2 Jagwire road kits in my cable stash that I've had for 3 or 4 years and never really looked at. It kind if sucks that the kits are essentially worthless for non-aero lever equipped bikes. I'd be pissed if I dropped $40+ on a kit.....

The Golden Boy 

I really do not want you to do something that's unsafe. Shift housing is braided wires held together with a plastic coating. If the plastic coating cracks, the braided wires are not strong enough to maintain pressure to stop. The housing collapses and you lose all ability to brake- especially with your front brake. The braiding is just pretty, not functional. Look at your cut housings.

Brake housing is composed of a spiral core that can take the compression of the braking force without rupturing.

Modern indexed shift housing and brake housing are entirely different- and entirely different than the housing of 30 years ago- where brake and shift housing were the same.

I STRONGLY urge you to not use shift housing as brake housing- ESPECIALLY on your front brake where most of your braking power is. For your own safety and the safety of your beautiful Olmo.

whatwolf

As everyone including Golden Boy has told you, please switch this out! brakes need brake housing. Maybe a local shop has a bit of housing that will match what you have and can switch it out for you in a couple minutes.

Moral of this thread is don't try to get creative with cable kits, it's not worth your life!

The Golden Boy 

So...

What do you kids know about the "cheap" Jagwire housing/cable kits on the eBay? ($13 shift & brake- cable & housing)

I bought one of them- and the housing looks different, like entirely different; they have the Jagwire branding, but the color is different, the feel is different. I didn't expect to get the same stuff as the $30 kit, but I don't see much of a product line quality difference on the Jagwire website.

miamijim

I think they're OK.

I have an over abundance of cable housing, what color are you looking for?

EDIT: I think the $13 kits are 'home made' by the seller and they have galvanized inner wires.

The Golden Boy 

Hi Jim,

I'm looking for the grey housing. This is for that 'midnight blue' Voyageur SP.

The Golden Boy 

I realized that I hadn't posted the results of the 620 rebuild here- as this was the bike that the initial cable issue was about.

I ended up using the titanium braided shift housing and grey brake housing:









The titanium and the grey kind of compliment each other, as the titanium is under the bars to the downtube and the grey is above the bars.

The brake housing I couldn't use was sent to a C&Ver who had a use for it.

miamijim

I don't have any grey, only black, red or yellow.

This is the brake kit you want: https://jagwire.com/products/v/universal_sport_brake

Savagewolf

All this talk about cabling leaves me to ask the question (especially as someone waiting for his new bike that will need cabling) : Is there any real difference in the quality of brake or shift cables and housing?

I ask this because I see generic cabling that might run for $5 a set, all the way to premier cabling that might be $80 bucks, and of course everything in between. Is the difference of quality so much between them and in between that you should not consider anything but mid and upper tiers of the cable and housing? Or is it just another way to pry dollars from our wallets and the quality isn't that much of a difference to matter?

The Golden Boy 

Thank you Jim! You've used that cable kit?

RPK79

I'd like to know as well since I'll be cabling a frame build up in the next few weeks as well.

The Golden Boy 

Although I believe there is a matter of diminishing returns- the whole idea is to reduce friction in your cable pull.

Lubed housings are lubed and slick all the way through, reducing friction all the way through the housing. Galvanized cables are cheap- but they're rough and they rust. Stainless cables are slick and shiney- they have less friction and they have less of a chance of rusting, reducing that risk of developing friction. The Teflon coated cables are slicker yet.

I, personally think quality pre-lubed housing and lubed stainless cables are "good enough" for me.

As for how much of a difference it makes- I had a bike that was shifting all goofy. It was indexed shifting, and it wasn't reliably going where I wanted it to, or staying where I wanted it to. Changing the cables (and housing) changed that. I really wanted to use the cool old stuff, but the new stuff just worked THAT much better.

Teon

+1

I have used several sets of jagwire cables on builds, and the road and road pro kits are specifically made for aero/sti setups. Sorry the op didn't realize this, but in the future, I would stay away from Jagwire road/pro kits with classic/vintage builds with non-aeros. Besides the problem with the non-aeros....and as the op already mentioned, they are also made to very tight lengths with very little extra. While I have used a set on a surly cross check that I built up, they seem to be sized more for compact style road frames, as well.

Anymore, with classic builds, I don't get anywhere near jagwire cable kits. Too expensive, and usually problematic with an older build.

If nothing else, at least the op knows better now.

Teon

+1

Agreed. The pre stretched, coated cables with slick housings seem to work a lot better shifting on sti setups....at least for me.

On regular, nothing-special-vintage builds, I have found that inexpensive Bell cable kits(I do lube the cables) work just fine. And the cheaper cable kits, such as the Bell ones, usually cut just fine using the 'cable in the housing trick' when you cut, and a good pair of cable/housing cutters like what Park tool makes. /shrug

Teon

There are also the velo braided ones, as another poster previously mentioned:
https://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...043&category=7

The Golden Boy 

I know better now, if there were some sort of "not for non-aero" disclaimer, then the fault is mine. There's not. That's on the company. "You should have known" is bull****.

As there is no fundamental difference in cables and housing for a vintage bike to a newer bike, with no disclaimer, one may assume that a cable and housing kit is a cable and housing kit.

It's been over a week. Their customer service has still not returned my email.