Can cable housing be saved?
 

Hi all,

I'm new to the classic side of things and am going to restore a beat up ls Schwinn Suburban I found at a thrift store. I can see where the appeal is in bringing old bikes back to life. Its a beautiful bike if you can look past the thirty years of rust grime and webs.

Anyway, my son and I are stripping taking it all the way apart and repacking bearings- a full overhaul. If it were a new bike I'd just trash out all the cable housings and get new. The problem is the ones on the bike are very cool looking and add to the vintage feel..

What do most of you do- lean towards performance and use new, or Lithium grease the new cables, use the old housing and hope for the best? Only one cable was rusted, the others were fine if very very dry. It has a positron derailleur which I've heard can take a special cable, so I may recycle the current rear derailleur cable temporarily.

Summary- Me like fix old bike.. Me Like old cable housing... Is Me ok to keep them? (Some grammer has been changed to protect the innocent)

Thanks,
Brian

Depends on condition, I usually save cable housings when it is unique/interesting. I reused the housing I had on an old Suburban I refurbed earlier this year.

I have done in the past.

Blast of WD-40 down the housing, wire wool scrub and then acetone wipe down of the cable.

Definitely not recommended practice though.

As long as they're in good condition with no cuts or kinks no reason not to reuse them. Might be able to trim the ends to clean them up if there's extra length. I always put a good wipe of white grease on the cable befor I put it in the housing.

They'll work. New ones will give you a more precise feel but how precise do you really need an old schwinn to be?

Oh, you're right about those positron cables. You might find NOS on Ebay but if they work, use them.

when I was working in the shop and doing overhauls or replacing the cables I might thake the front housings and reuse one for the rear brake and on friction bikes the other for the RD then new housinf up front where it can be seen. I wouls sometimes if they were not bad use the old rear innner cables and the front. yes we always told the customer and only charged for the new ones used.

Wouldn't a lubricant be better ? Such as greasing the cable ?

Something dry (like graphite powder) works well.

If you have a rusty cable, and the rusty portion was inside the housing, then the cable core is probably rusty and rough inside. If that is the case, this will degrade performance, and it would be best to replace that portion. Otherwise, if cables slide smoothy in the housings you're good to go.