Expensive mistake
 

So I splurged on some somewhat expensive cable for my Guerciotti build. I purchased the Jagwire Road Pro cable kit. Compressionless, Kevlar lined, pretty braided cable thinking it would look beautiful and work great. Well it does look beautiful and did work great until my 8 speed 105 STI lever deformed the wire and causes the front derailleur to slip. I never thought it would not handle friction? The rear is fine. Brakes work great. I guess it is designed for shift cables wrapped in bar tape or something? I got two months out of it before this started happening. Oh well. :)
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=466914

Thinking fast here, did you have a ferrel on the cable end that fit into the STI front ?

Looks to be some sort of compression problem/damage going on there with the braided casing..... which I thought that stuff was supposed to resist??

Yes ferrel was in place. I had problems last week so I opened it up to see if I had missed something. Put it back together. I had issues again on today`s ride.

Ultegra 600 tri-color. Oooh.

Hmmm, never run across this problem before in the shop. Try and remember to ask the race mech boss man what he thinks.

The mechanic at my LBS said it could be that it is designed for the new systems that go under the bar wrap. I was thinking that since the 8 speed front STI works in friction, not indexed, that it is sawing up the innards of the cable?

Did you maybe use brake casing in place of derailleur casing? I have no idea what you bought, but some kits come with only brake housing. If you used the same housing for brakes and derailleurs, that is the problem. Operator error.

It was a complete kit. I just double checked. Measured the thickness of both housings. It is put together right.

That is odd. Been some years but when I re-worked the Basso / DAce STI, instructions specified Shimano's matched cable.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=466925
Still have the original install sheet and could verify later. I guess when they describe 'Shimano Total Integration', they really do mean for their own brand! This is one area where I'd stay true and not go aftermarket. Same with jockey pulleys. Stay with Shimano.


~I've seen this bike of Steve's. Beautiful!

Scratch that, then.

Everything on this bike came off of my Schwinn Circuit. I had no issues with standard housing on this drive train in the past. The only thing different is this housing kit. I am bummed about this because I love the look. Back to boring old plain housing. :(

What a shame. I've used that for brake housing but never shifters.
Appreciate the heads up, Steve.

Bummer, I was going to buy their Platinum colored kit for my Diamondback Centurion STI conversion.

I think index VS friction might be the culprit here. Second choice would be brand compatabilities. Seems to me a physical action is going on here causing distortion.

That all looks odd. I have heard that the lined cable housings don't last as long as the unlined (which can last indefinitely). I'm still trying it out though. 2 months still seems short unless you put in 5,000 miles in those 2 months :giver:

Your housing may be designed for under the tape, but still, it all exits from the tape somewhere, and there unsupported segments that could have the same fault.

I'd contact Jagwire customer support and see what they have to say about it. Maybe they will come up with either a replacement, or some alternatives.

If their wire is just not stiff enough, they may be getting lots of complaints.

The package says it is Shimano / Sram compatible for STI. It contorts when the friction is applied to pull the FD up to the big ring. It did not always do this. All of the other cables are fine in the system so it must be the friction pull up front? I am sure it works fine for 9 10 and 11 speed systems.

Contacting Jagwire is a good idea. I will try that. I will also talk to the shop I purchased the cables from.

So, it may not be as much friction, as not having the lift pins and shift gates on your front chainring.

Maybe derailleur adjustment?

AAHHHH that is not good to see. I have some jagwire in the mail for my 8speed sti build. if that happens i'll be complaining quite a bit!

I consider your housing, that failed, to be defective. I don't see how the friction vs indexed thing could be an issue. Your housing failed to do what it was designed to do. Jagwire should thank you for bringing this problem to their attention, refund your money, and send you a case of new cables to test.

That said, you are probably SOL. Good luck!

+1. I can't think of a reason why "analog" cable pull would be any harder on the housing than indexed.

The lack of lift pins and shift gates could be a problem though, plus FD adjustment issues at the upper stop.

It still shouldn't do that :P

That cable should be under warranty!

[h=3]Extent of Limited Warranty[/h]Chia Cherne/Jagwire warrants its products to be free from defects in materials or workmanship for a period of two years after original purchase. This warranty only applies to the original owner and is not transferable. Claims under this warranty must be made through the retailer where the bicycle or the Jagwire product was purchased. Original proof of purchase is required.

Call the retailer who sold you the wire from and see if they can help out.

The housing just houses the cable, there should be no compression there at all. The cable is binding or the housing is pinched somewhere.

Thanks. LOL

When I used to run Tiagra 9 speed STI levers, the front pull was not very hard at all. With all of the 8 & 7 speed STI levers I have had come through my garage, the pull is very hard to the FD. Seems like way more force than the indexed pull?

Well I will be taking them apart so I will try to see if I find anything out of the ordinary. I am not sure what the cable could be binding on? They went together so easily and worked great for two months.

jiangshi's question was my first impression, that you were using brake cable in an STI shifing application. Mainly because 1) I've done that (still worked just fine) and 2) I've not seen those kind of ferrules on STI cables, just the black ones that are fairly tight.

Lacking that, I've got no clue, housing-wise. I've used the exact same Jagwire Road Pro/Racer kit on dozens of bikes, with no issues whatsoever. In fact, the time I used brake housing on 8-sp STI, it was when I went to a bike shop and that's what they gave me. I've seen bike shops do that more than once, actually, more than twice.

I have seen, over and over and over, the shifter cable able to be inserted in the 8-sp STI (especially the 8-sp STI) without the shifter being "zeroed out." Then, the problem you describe is encountered within a ride or two. That is my guess on this. At times, it is very difficult to fix, mainly because the cable does not want to come out. I've ended up cutting off the extra cable, and just monkeying with the STI until I could get the cable end out.

This is common because the STI shifter will shift on you, just by handling it, bumping it, etc. While you're installing cable, you can "zero it out," and then bump it while installing the cable, and end up with the same problem you describe. I've seen it too many times, caused it myself often enough, to predict with 75% certainty that this is the problem. Pull the housing, pull the cable, insert a new cable, and every 30 seconds while inserting new cable, double-check to make sure it's "zeroed out."

Good luck, feel free to PM me. You deserve a bike that works, and I've seen this too many times to figure it's not worth a try.

Looks defective to me, as though parts of the housing "gave way" or such.
The rear cable is ok ??

I pulled it apart. I have cables exposed on both ends of the compressionless cable housing. On one end, farther than the other. The cable still slides through the housing as it should. This is definitely not brake housing. I know my cut was straight, the cables sticking out form an angle.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=466966http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=466967

Maybe I will cut a quarter inch off of each end and see if I can get another 2 months out of them?