Originally Posted by
FBinNY
The key difference in road and ATB cable kits is the brake cables. There are two types of brake cable heads. Most ATB brake levers use one, and most road levers use another, so the kits are named that way. Gear kits usually are the same for road and ATB. Read the specs, and buy the right kits for your levers, at the quality level you wish to pay for.
There are brake cables with a road fitting on one end and an MTB fitting on the other and you cut off the unneeded end. They reduce your inventory problems if you have both types of bikes.