Originally Posted by
dsbrantjr
Did you form the cable housing to its approximate final shape before you cut it? If you left it straight while cutting it, when you bend it to its working shape you will stress the strands in just the pattern that is exhibited. This is most apparent in the loop of cable going to the derailleur since it makes a sharp almost 180 degree bend.
This is a good point. I have a Shimano cable and housing cutter tool that has a ferrule crimper on it. The idea is that once the housing is cut to length, you put the (metal) ferrule on it then crimp it with this octagonal shaped pattern which then keeps the ferrule in place. Now these were Shimano Deore XT compressionless housings that were quite thick. I notice that road dereailleur compressionless housing is not a thick and it is usually terminated by nylon ferrules which are not crimped but are a snug fit.
I like the idea of bending the housing to the desired shape before cutting to allow the lengthwise strands to be allowed to orient themselves first and then once terminated the trimmed section might have waste wire strands of slightly different lengths.