quality cables and housings
 

Hi,

I'm looking for cable and housing recommendations. I bought some no-name stuff in bulk and am underwhelmed, mostly by poor shift performance. I'm looking for very good brake and shift performance at the least cost.

Details:
SRAM attack 9-speed grip sifters
Deore front (triple) and rear derailleurs
Deore brake leavers
Avid BB7 disc brakes

Thanks!

For very good Shimano 9s shifting, IMO the only thing you can do is use gob-smackingly expensive segmented housing, ala Nokon or Vertebrae.

Or use a SRAM 1:1 shifter and a Shiftmate (next to the derailer of course*)...

Otherwise, you can settle for just good shifting with a drawn cable and Jagwire housing.


*If for some odd reason I was using a Shimano shifter and a SRAM derailer, I'd mount the Shiftmate next to the shifter.

I don't do brand recommendations as a rule, but here are the basics.

You want decent quality lined index (long spiral) housing. IME most of the various offerings are pretty comparable, though some premium brands have their fans.

Next you want a die drawn wire. This may be dscribed various ways, but essentially means that the multi-strand wire was drawn through to squash the rough outside shape of 6 wires (put 6 pennies around a center one) back into a nearly smooth circular profile. You might as well also guy stainless steel because at this quality lever the upcharge is minimal. Most better SS wires are diedrawn, but if you're not sure, you cas feel the difference when you pull a cable through your fingers. Some wires also offer teflon, or another coating, and that has fans, and others who say it makes little or no difference.

BTW- there are kits aailable from folks like JagWire and others, Read the specs. and choose a kit that meets at least the minimal requirements for both wire and housing.

The preparation of the housing ends is also critical to good performance; a rough or uneven cut can badly degrade the performance of even the highest-quality cables. The correct ferrules (where needed) are also important as is proper housing length and dress, especially at the lower loop where it enters the rear derailleur.

At the last Shimano tech seminar here in Montreal there was a cable "test drive" setup where five of the top brands of shifter cabling were extensively wound around a tube (cables inside housing) and the cable ends had pulls on them so that you could do comparison pulls with your fingers to evaluate friction or lack of it. Jagwire Teflon coated cables inside L3 lined housings finished first, immediately followed by Shimano's high end cables (made by Jagwire) and everything else wasn't even close. Segmented cabling wasn't in the mix.

So what was the point of the test? Why didn't they just set it up on separate but identical bikes and cover the cables to see if the users can tell the difference?