Hello again. Another noob question, sorry if this has an obvious answer, but several Google searches yielded nothing.

I'm working on an early 80s frame with weinmann brake levers and suntour shifters. Do I need a particular cable set or will any new road bike set be ok?

Thanks

Brake cables are different from shift cables. See picture below.

A. Campagnolo Brake Cable - For most drop bar brake levers - A & B generally interchangeable
B. Shimano Brake Cable - See above
C. Mountain Brake Cable - Most upright bar levers
D. Shimano Shift Lever Cable - Larger head will not fit Campagnolo levers. Should work with Suntour levers???
E. Campagnolo Shift Lever Cable - Fits most levers but D. fits Shimano levers better

Most Weinmann levers require these ferrules - Dia-Compe too. See below.

Buy premium quality cables, preferably made of stainless steel. Jagwire makes good cables. Better shops sell cables and housing separately rather than just kits. Usually less money too.

Buy new brake cable housing with a friction reducing liner. I grease the cables as well. It's a messy job but the results are well worth it.

You should also consider replacing the brake pads too. They get old and hard and don't work as well as modern pads made of newer rubber compounds.

There's lot's of little tricks to make your brakes work better. Search Google for "replacing brake cables". You'll find a lot of info that doesn't apply to your brakes but look around, it's how you learn new things.

Chas.

I'll second that on Jagwire cables. My favorites.

Chas' descriptions are good. A few things to consider: Jagwire (and probably others) make "universal" brake cables with a type A (or B) at one end and type C at the other. You just use whichever is appropriate. Be aware that younger LBS employees think every bike has internal routing for the rear brake, so they'll give you about 5 ft of housing. That's not enough for a bike with full-length rear brake. Also they will insist you use modern derailleur housing for the rear. Modern indexing housing has a different helical wiring pattern to make it less compressible, but it is also much stiffer. If you are using friction shifting you are better off with brake housing for the RD.

Cable sets range from $9 for Bell to $35 or more for Jagwire, so depending on your budget choose accordingly.

Low end bikes get low end cables and more valuable bikes get better quality cables.

Thanks for the clarification, folks really appreciate it.

Off the the lbs in a couple of hours to try and remove the drive side bottom bracket plate... Wish me luck!

Save yourself $10-$15

Tool Tips--Bottom Bracket Cups

Thanks oddjob. Wish I'd seen this before I dropped it off... I'll know for next time though.

The other thing- the Jagwire Road Pro cable set does not have enough housing for non-aero brake cables. Fully a foot of the length of each strand is meant to go under the bar tape, and can't be used up front and looks stupid in back.

Couple other thoughts.....
Buy decent inner wires. Always thought they were the same until a cheapo pulled apart as I was braking towards an intersection. And I could not stop in time. I am here because at least one driver has good reflexes.
If you cut the outer cable, file or dremmel it smooth. There will always be a little bit of the metal coil that will remain, giving you rough brake operation.
Consider out housing in bulk. Needed red housing a few years back and no one had any in stock at the time. So I bought a roll. It was cheap enough that I figured if I got about four housing replacements from the roll, I would be ahead of buying precut. So now I can replace housing without giving it a second thought.