After seeing a pic last week, I wanted to put red brake and shift cable housing on my red Lotus mixte. The mixte is fire engine red. I emailed Harris Cycles to ask if their cables were fire engine red instead of an orange red. Their reply: The red of the housing varies. The shift is different from the brake. Neither is bright red. There is almost no possibility the red of the housings will match any existing red you've got. The odds are very poor.

So, am I out of luck? Anybody have any experience with this?

I bought JagWire red brake and cable housings and they match pretty well, but I'm not going to say the color is exactly what you need. If you want I could send you a short clipping and you could compare it to your frame. My LBS ordered it for me at a pretty reasonable price

I bought Sinz brand BMX pre packaged brake cable sets for my Voyageur. If you have friction shifting it will work on brake and shifters both. It's also lined housing, and a good price. You will probably need at least two packages. Two did my Voyageur but it also has bar cable along the top tube. Three will probably do the trick if you have stem shifters and full length brake housings. They come with the brake cables, so you will need two bare shifter cables. Any bike shop should have those.,,,,BD

https://www.bmxracingnw.com/sinz.html

Don't I need two different things? Aren't the brake cables and the shift cables different?

On a friction shifting bike, the housings from brake cable work just fine. Indexed shifting bikes need the stiffer longways made housings. If your bike shifters click when they shift, then you'll need the special
shifter housing. The actual cables themselves are different for shifter and brakes, thus you'll need replacement cables that any shop will carrry.,,,,BD

MMM I got mine from Harris and they matched nearly perfectly but there may be variations depending on the die lot also there are a lot of different shades of red, but like I said mine are near perfect. I see lickbike is stocking the red ones again too. Mine are Jagwire. The derailleur cable is a stone cold B***H to cut unless you have the right cutters. If you get the reinforced cable housing take it to your LBS along with the old housing and have them cut it to length the file the ends and use something like an awl to open up the ends

Loose Screws has red brake and shift housing.

My experience is also with Jagwire (by way of the LBS) and it fit the bill for me. I realize the camera/lighting thing makes this difficult, but here are some photos which come close-ish to the true color of the stuff I got.

Just a thought . . .

Automotive bumper paint for the 'new', plastic bumpers.

Are there not many 'shades of red', for/from different manufacturers?

Comes in spray or brush for application?

Dr D?


Regards,
J T

OK gang, should I put red or white cable housing on this bike? I am repainting the red head tube, including the lug cutouts, to match the original red on the seat tube, and I am preserving what is left of the off white paint on the forks, top tube, and downtube. I currently have white cable housing left over from the Capo #1 restoration, but I am beginning to think red might look cool, although I shall probably end up with three different reds on the toe clip straps, the frame, and the cables.

If you're repainting the frame, I'd go with red.
White is too generic on a multi-colored paint job. IMO only looks good on a white frame.

Damn, can that rear end be any cleaner?!!

White or creme cable housing. More vintagely piquant (whatever that's supposed to mean).

-Kurt

I'm with Kurt - white cable housing might really make that lipstick-red Lotus "pop".

Err... umm... thanks? It does get ridden, and in fact has been my favorite ride for several years.

I'm just trying to compete with the gorgeous rear end Dirtdrop has posted. (Oh geez, now I'm doing it.)

As a matter of fact, I was referring to the Capo.

-Kurt

I resemble that remark.

Red cables with white bar tape. (Nevermind that it gets dirty... It looks swell.)