Originally Posted by jm88

Just to refresh my memory on how the rapidfire shifters work, do you pull one lever to go up/down and push the other to go the opposite way? Mine has 21 speeds so I'd have to get one like the one you mentioned with 7/3 but they all seem to be under $30. So with that and brakes, it's only going to be around $50 or so which is very reasonable. I already bought some brake cables so I have those to use.

When I run the rear brake cable, as I mentioned earlier there is only a ferrule at the front of the top bar as shown in the picture and the rest of the cable runs in that thin jacket or bare all the way to the brakes. That thin jacket is not like the other housings that remain stationary so it appears to be more protective as it moves with the cable. I don't know where I would find something like that so do I even need it? Can I run a bare cable through that tube near the stem? Or maybe just put this old jacket on the new cable?