Proper Cable Lubricant?
 

I recently cleaned the bike, removed all cables and housings. Everything looked ok, I just sprayed chain oil inside the housings and assembled everything back.

But now I am thinking, is there a better lubricant I can use? Not that I run into any problem, but should I stop using chain oil for cables?

Thanks!

I'll assume you have lined housings. If so, only alight oil or film of soft grease is needed, if anything, since the liner is a self lubricating material. No problem with what you did, and if things are working, leave it alone.

However be aware that greases and heavy oils may thicken when temps drop this fall, and cause sluggish response on upshifts as the light RD return spring struggles against the viscosity of the lube. Keep this in mind, so if shifting degrades come October, you know where to look first, but no sweat until then (unless you're in the southern hemisphere).

FB's advice is fine, as far as it goes; Shimano-compatible components are more susceptible to this than SRAM. Ditto for 'natural' lubricants V. synthetic.

I use Slick 50 One grease on my fingers to lube my cables during installation, never an issue. I also prefer teflon cables to stainless, in most cases. The exception to this has been XTR cables (which seem to be getting pretty scarce), which deliver more performance than anything else I've used.

I wouldn't be surprised, given that the inner liner is plastic, that Armor All dripped into the housing would work well, also.

Some poster named Gerry Hull on the road forum just reported on his "experiment/experience" with cable lubes. He liked silicone grease the best. I believe he specifically mentioned Dielectric Tune -Up grease (found in auto parts store) as the real deal. He also mentioned Shimano silicone-based special grease for cables as being great, but it is very hard to find.

Just reporting what I read. No experience with lubing cables with silicone grease as cable lube. I do have a jar of plumber's grease (might be the same thing) I have always used in lubing the o-ring in my pumps.

Teflon lined cable housing and Die drawn smooth surface cables , particularly the Stainless steel ones

I fit dry, same type Zinc treated steel After soldering the ends , a little grease is OK

I figure out where Im going to cut the cable, and solder it , and then it wont fray after cutting .
pulling and Re greasing is easy then.

Stainless I just Leave it in. Low Temperature silver solder is harder to do.

Thanks, I found the post you are talking about! will try.

Posting links is easy and it saves people a *lot* of time <g>: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...Lubricant-Test

Cable housings firstly should be clean. The plastic liner, once contaminated, will accumulate embedded grit particles which increase friction.

Silicon is indeed the preferred "oil" for metal sliding on plastic surfaces, as exists in a modern cable housing.

Shimano's best cable housings are pre-lubed with a silicone-based lube.

Silicone and petro oils don't mix, but don't react either. Silicone oil can't evaporate and can't penetrate plastics, which helps prevent the sparse lube application from thickening over time.

The best lube I've used is GripShift "jonnisnot" lube. It is so slippery on plastic that no other grease would allow their "sliding ramp" shift mechanisms to work at all. This lube is a blend of silicone and particulate PTFE. A light swipe of this lube on the inner wire cuts friction to the absolute minimum, but a very heavy application can create viscous resistance to cable movement.

Old cable housings can be cleaned out by sliding a kinked cable wire through in the presence of something like a fast-drying teflon spray.

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