Shift/brake inner wires, which to get... or avoid?
 

Before I buy "just any old brand", like I usually, do, are they cables to get or, importantly, NOT get?

For this installation, brake routing will be non-aero, shifting will be indexed. To get the color I want, housing will be from Porkchop BMX, I could just get their complete kits, if they work as well as any others.

Alligator Cables Only if you want the best.

The lined housing from PBMX works fine but I don't use their cables.
I use only genuine Shimano stainless drawn brake and shift cables. Proven over time to be long lasting and dependable, don't fray easily. I have several sets that are over a decade old, still work great.

I usually go with Shimano or Jag for cabling.

The porkchop product is fine but I found that site/hosting/payment was not very reliable. In the process of buying I decided the owner was not who I wanted to buy from.

The Shimano product is great, the Jag regular product is good. I know the Shimano is better, at best the pork stuff might be as good as the regular line of Jagwire.

If I recall the inner wire that pork carried back then was a rather limited choice.

I've used Porkchop a lot over the years when I needed a certain color brake housing. I usually buy good bulk cables though and tend to use them instead. I did buy a few kit's from Porkchop this winter when redoing several Panasonics bikes and the cables seemed pretty high quality now and I used them. I've never had any kind of payment problem or anything else using them.

For the Rickert I wanted everything working great. I ordered the housing from Porkchop but used Jagwire Pro Polished Slick cables inside the housings and the same for the shift cables.

I also like to use cable liner on the underneath of a BB whenever possible to keep the cable moving smoothly and from damaging the finish in any spot it may rub. Obviously not necessary all the time.

I only seem to see brake housing at Porkchopbmx. Do they sell shift housings and cables at all?
They do have a huge variety of colors for brake housing though.

OK, found via Google search that some companies I've bought from before stock those.

I think you're right! And I had my heart set on matching brake/shift in a particular color. I wonder if, being creative with ferrules, etc., that one could use "5mm" brake housing for shifting?

Maybe its because they have a large presence in Portland, but I prefer SIMs.

https://www.sim.works/collections/cables-1

Lots of colors to choose from. Quality stuff.

I just use them for colored brake housings normally. I don't think they have shift kits. They do sell brake kits though that even come with the little round ferrules that fit on a lot of non-aero brake levers.

Jagwire or shimano....have tended to use Jagwire more recently.

no help for getting cables other than white or black from me

In my experience, no. Cables are cables ... as long as they're stainless and the brake cables have a road head. Housing is a different matter.

I have bought really cheap gear cables on eBay, which seemed thinner than standard and some subsequently didn’t fully hold in the RD pinch bolt. Never a problem with Shimano or Jagwire.

This is why I like Sim

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9de193548.jpeg

Yeah, I had that issue with both my Victory rear derailleurs and built up the anchor trough, shown here.

only once, the solution I used was to circle the cable around the bolt, a "U" was enough. this increases the grip length and provides perhaps some purchase, like turning a line around a sheave on a sailboat.

People will get all exercised when I say this, but get a cable with the end pre-cut. The factory electro cutters fuse the end of the cable. I got some Jag teflon cables (black) that came with different fittings on each end. You cut off the one you don't need. Yes, I have good cable cutters. Yes I cut them quickly, didn't mash the cable. And still the end frayed as I fed it through. Whatever the generic cables my LBS carries have nicely cut and fused ends. Let the flaming begin!

It can be damn near essential to use a new cable with a weld-cut tip if you're going to be feeding the cable into certain integrated shifters and/or around any tight bend in cable housing that has been taped along the bend in the bars (or through a V-brake noodle).
For a plain cut cable, sometimes keeping the cable twisting clockwise in the "ravel" (vs. un-ravel) direction may allow one to feed a sharp-cut cable through a curved housing path.
Of note: Campagnolo cables are wound in the opposite direction from nearly all others.

The thin cables in this day and age are 1.1mm (vs 1.2mm), and give a better (less elastic) response when routed along tighter-radius bends such as internal or external cable guides.
Like the Suntour compound-wound "braided" cables of old, their greater bending flexibility sometimes outweighs their greater tensile elasticity in a straight line, just depends on the tightest bend radius and on the sprung tension applied to the cable as to which might work better.

For problems with slippage (resulting from a too-deep groove at the pinch bolt), I have filed down the surface surrounding the groove so as to effect a shallower groove.

Suntour was that different in how they braided the cables?

Not really braided. Compound-wound is what I believe they would be called when sold as industrial cable.
Groups of like 7 wire strands were twisted, and these were then twisted into full-diameter cables. The result was a more-flexible cable (too flexible for brake use unless perhaps the diameter were oversized a good bit).

One way to keep a newly cut cable from splitting is to drop some super glue on the end.

I have a nasty habit of trying to reuse stuff where I can, and I use this technique often. Re-twist the frayed end, and it usually stays good enough to feed through the housing. If it tends to hang up, you can spin/rotate the housing as you feed the cable -- this helps it find its way through. Once you get the frayed end through, you're fine, as the rest of the cable slides very nicely. I never used to lubricate cable or housing, but tried it after watching several BikeFarmer videos on YouTube and Triflow does indeed seem to do a great job keeping that cable and housing slicker-than-snot-on-a-door-knob.

Well, I've contacted porkchopbmx, in case it's there, somewhere and I'm just not looking in the correct place.

Meanwhile, I need to think of options; one being, as I mentioned, trying to use brake housing for shifting, might mean some interesting ferrules; and as this will be indexed, is brake housing "compassionless" and does it matter. The Porkchop color I wanted the the chrome one, and I'm not seeing anyone else making it; Jagwire makes "silver" but it's not the same, and I'd have a buy a roll long enough to outfit a bicycle-built-for-eleven.

Meanwhile, I need to get the cables, I think I'll try the Alligator ones and see if I notice a difference when installing/using them.

EDIT: they got back to me in mere minutes: "We only sell brake housing, we do not offer any shift housing. That being said most "Vintage Road" bicycles with friction shifters used Brake Housing for both brake and shift." Well, I could try it and, if it does not work, I'm only out a few bucks. Of course, with all different brands of hubs, cassette, derailleur, and shifter on one bike, this is already Frankenshifting, so this is adding yet more complexity.

Jagwire or Shimano for me

If you are using downtube index shifting you may be able to get away with wound brake housing. The housing will have compression but with such a short length it may be OK. Assuming that the housing is good quality. Recently brake housing is sometimes made to be lower compression, such as Jagwire's sport class (CGX), which they claim uses higher quality in the steel winding.

Depending on the size of the cable stop on the chainstay, there are some ferrules that could work. If it's 5mm ID, you could use the Jagwire POP ferrule that is made for 5mm compressionless brake housing and has a 'step-down' to 5mm OD for use where 6mm ferrules don't fit. There are also a few other brake ferrules that have 'step-downs' to smaller OD.

The RD adjuster normally takes a 6mm ferrule, so some standard brass ferrules will fit.

For index shifting it is preferred to use ferrules even with wound housing (which doesn't necessarily need it), since the ferrule will help keep the housing centered, and avoid any bends or misalignment at the stops. Any additional 'drag' on the inner cable can degrade index performance.

These days, I always go with Shimano teflon coated stainless steel cables, trans or brake, coupled with Shimano nylon lined cable casings...
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...baf8d1eabb.jpg

Cables last forever unless you bugger the ends. Housing lasts 10 years or so. They degrade so slow its hardly noticed, until replaced.

Especially with down tube shifters or barcons. Integrated shifters go through cables far more rapidly.

Especially with shifters that latch into position instead of simply having an index detent (such as earlier Ergolevers), if the Lo-limit screw is set on the tight side, then each time that the largest rear cog is engaged, the cable gets over-tensioned which accelerates the fatigue cycle to failure of the cable. This gets worse on frames having exposed cable routing (where cyclic frame flexing translated into cyclic cable over-tension, leading to strand failure).

I like Triflow whenever I need a very thin oil, thinner than 20-weight 3-in-1. I've used to lubricate brake calipers/fiber washers and inner cables. It works well and the bottles come with a thin tube when you need to reach tough spots.

I've had luck with brake cables lasting if they are cared for and lubricated. I've got one bike still running its original double-ended cables, which are just shy of 80 years old. They work fine. (Triflow helped those as well).

Aztec Duracote cables have been very reliable for me.