storckm

It seems as if I end up buying bits of brake cable housing now and then, and I think it would make sense not to be paying $1 a foot or whatever the LBS charges. I've found different quantities for different prices, and am wondering which kind to get.
I found 500M for 65 cents a meter--I don't have the cash now, but it is helpful for comparison.
I found 30M of Clark's brand for about 79 cents a meter--I'm inclined to get this.
I found sunlite brand for 73 cents a meter.
And Jagwire, 25' for 18.99, close to for $14.95 (plus $5.00 shipping on ebay). A bit more than $2.00 a meter. Probably the best quality, but I'm not sure whether it's worth it.
Any thoughts?
Mike

Scheherezade 

I've often wondered this too, the cheapest Jagwire I've found is here:

https://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...ng+Box50m.aspx

About $1 per meter. I just don't know if I need a 20 year supply of brake housing.

BCRider

A whole boxed roll is likely more than a home bike owner, even those with a fleet, will use in any two lifetimes. But it shouldn't be much of a job to connect with some other multi bike enthusiasts in your area and arrange to split up a big bulk order for housings and cables to get enough to last for at least the next decade. That way for about a hundred bucks you get what you REALISTICALLY need and don't need to pay the markup to the shop and you have it when you need it.

JiveTurkey

I'm tempted to get a 25' roll of jagwire. At $19 or $20, it's not much cheaper than getting at the LBS. However, if I factor in convenience and the ability to cut off exactly how much I need right there next to the bike, it makes it even better. 25' isn't that much.

If I had two other people to split the 50 meter box I'd be tempted to do that since I'd end up with about twice as much as the 25' roll for less money.

Garrett Garcia

Yes Jenson usa is a great website I have bought many things from there, returns are easy to and there shipping is quick!

HillRider

Depending on what level of bike and components. For a good frame with a Shimano, Campy or SRAM decent component group, I'd spring for good quality housing. Somehow, I have to think that $.65/meter isn't it.

Jagwire is good and more than likely worth the difference.

storckm

The 65 cents a meter is listed as BRAKE CBL HOUSING CEX, Black, 500 Meter from biketoolsetc.com. I'm assuming the low price per meter is primarily due to the large quantity rather than the low quality. In any case, the roll is too long and expensive for me. 50 meters will probably last me a good long time, and is much more affordable than the long roll, so I'll probably go for the Jagwire.

wrk101

Those prices are high, I go with 50 foot rolls of lined brake housing forless than $11 at Niagara Cycle (22 cents per foot). I have picked some up as low as $5.99 on sale at Niagara. They sell several colors at that price, I have used their yellow, white, blue, green and black. I've used it for a couple of years.

Black and white are $10.18 a roll, the other colors are $10.99.
https://www.niagaracycle.com/product_...ducts_id=10213

Kimmo 

How much quality do you need in brake cable housing? As far as I've been able to tell, the only real functional difference is where you're looking at ultra-cheap and nasty unlined stuff, which I haven't seen for years anyway. Maybe cheap housing uses nylon instead of teflon or something, but there's either something wrong with you or your gear if you can't set up your brakes to work perfectly fine with such housing.

I'm struggling to think of a part of the bike where fancy gear counts less... unless you have a recumbent or tandem or something and have long and/or tortuous cable runs.

If you were talking shift cable, then I'd say buy the best stuff you can afford... especially above 8spd.

HillRider

That's what I thought the OP was going to get at $.65/meter. However Bike Tools Etc tends to sell good quality stuff and the part number on that item is JW-XXXXX which I expect it means it's Jagwire so, as you and the OP surmise, the low cost is probably a super volume discount.

Lawrence08648

i buy mine at the local LBS only because it's seldom replaced, not like shifter cable or housing. I replaced my brake cable and housing at 25,000 miles and not because it needed it but because I replaced my entire drivetrain, chainrings, bb, etc. I don't think it's worth it to keep it around and your money tied up in brake cable. I replace my rear shifter cable around 5,000-8,000 miles and shifter housing every other cable change.

storckm

So the Niagara Cycle stuff is 66 cents a meter, nearly the same as the really long roll.
At the moment, I'm thinking about changing one of my bikes from downtube shifters to bar ends, which will require replacing cables and housing. I'll probably replace the brake cable housing at the same time, since the color'd be hard to match--the brake housing is sort of grayish translucent. And for one reason or another, I seem to end up needing cable housing pretty regularly, since I like to mess around and change things. That said, I do have at least one bike with brakes working fine with old unlined housing. And since only one of my bikes uses indexed shifting--the tandem, and I may eventually change that--I can use the same housing for both.
So my choices at the moment are the jagwire housing for about $1 per meter, or the niagara cycles housing, for 66 cents per meter.