Originally Posted by
SylvainG
Really? Isn't that an overkill? Both my 1990 Schwinn Miranda (man and woman version) still have their original cables and they are still working well.
Yes, old bikes can use their cables for longer because the indexing (if present) is much less picky.
Try using a 20 year old cable and housing on a modern 9 or 10 speed and you'd see much different results. Cables and housings are cheap. Once a year IS probably a bit overkill, but it's ~$15 a year to make sure my shifting is dead on and not have to touch it for the rest of the year.