Nokon Cables
 

Anybody using Nokon cables on a tandem?
They claim improved braking and shifting becasue they eliminate compression of the cable housing.

Haven't had personal experience with the system. If you want to (virtually) eliminate cable housing compression, for a lot less $$, use BMX shifter cable housing for your brake cables. The steel housing is linear, not spiral, as is in typical brake cable housings. Got the tip from my local LBS. Works great

Sounds like a good option.
Further reading about Nokon revealed some people like it and others don't.

I have Nokons on mine, but I don't know how they work because I don't have it back yet.

I asked Jason at Fairwheel about using Power-Cordz cables as well, but he thought these problematic, and so conventional steel cables were used.

[It gets confusing. Cables consist of the cables themselves (conventionally steel), and the housing (conventionally plastic). Nokons are a special housing, consisting of 9mm jointed aluminum sections].

Jason had thought two boxes of Nokons might be needed, but luckily one sufficed, which was nice as each box is $93.

The Nokons are lighter than conventional cable housing, so you'll see Nokons a lot on weight weenie type bikes.

Use about a 6" length of Nokons for our rear brake on our custom Zona tandem due to a bit of a drastic bend. All others are standard cable housing. Works as advertised.

I use Nokon and Power Cordz on my tandem and they work fine. They are currently not making Power Cordz for tandems but I am trying to get another set. I have used them for two years now and they have not caused any issues. I have a Campagnolo Record 10 groupset. Be carefull about the brakes because the cable will not hold if it is not secured properly [strips outer nylon covering]. I have the 1.5mm cable for the shifting so I had to use a special liner to allow it to fit the Nokon system. I hear they have a 1.2mm cable now [they did not when I bought it a couple of years ago] so the liner may not have to be used now.

Rittenview,

After using Nokons on four bikes including our old Cannondale tandem we are no longer a fan of Nokons. The pearls (as Nokon calls each individual piece) tend to squeek and wear after a while as well as collect dirt. The finish does not hold up as well where the pearls contact each other and at times the cables will end in in odd complex curves because of the pearl wear. We currently only have 1 road bike equipped with Nokons. Also did not like that they do take much longer to install.

What I did like was the fact that the entire cable length was enclosed within a liner, keeping the cable free from dust and water. It also seemed that because of this the cable pull was smoother for the entire life of the cable. Also like the fact that the liner is replaceable.

I don't even want to start on the money I wasted on Power-Cordz. Over-hyped and not user friendly crap.

We have now switched to Alligator iLink cables, they do not come in as many pretty colors as Nokons, but the are much easier to install and have all the other benefits of Nokons without the hassle. The only thing is that iLinks cannot create as tight a radius curve as Nokons. They also are fully lined and the liner is replaceable.

We are using steel cables with our iLinks.

I've had Nokons on my single bike for almost a year now. I bought a set in black, plus the small extension set in red, and this was enough for both brakes and the rear derailleur (front derailleur is operated with a down-tube shifter, so no housing needed). I then alternated the colored pearls - 3 black, 1 red, 3 black, 1 red, ... - to match the bike's color scheme of black with red accents. This of course took a bit of time, but I enjoyed it, and now they look kick-ass and get lots of admiring comments. After a couple of months, they started to squeak whenever I turned the bars. Putting a drop of light oil at each junction stopped this immediately and I haven't had to do anything in the last 6+ months.

Nokon is a German company, and I discovered that a German bike parts website (bike-components.de) sells them for quite a bit less than anywhere else. A set of brake housing and cables is just 33 euros, about US$50, see here. Don't worry, the site is in English as well as German, and they stock most other common bike parts for decent prices (including a full range of TA chainrings at good prices), so you can make a more substantial order, thereby making the shipping and customs fees to N. America more dispersed.