Troul 

Has anyone used the "Hotop" brand for bicycle shift & brake cables? How about there cable housings?

Good, Ok, Terrible, or Steer clear & pedal fast & far away from them?

veganbikes

I have never heard of them or seen them anywhere so probably steer clear. Jagwire makes plenty good cables and housing and all of my builds use it. I prefer the Elite Link Cable and Housing sets and while expensive initially the outer aluminum beads are reusable pretty much forever and ever you just need new inner lining which is pretty cheap and you could potentially use different cables but I like their cables because no coating which can wear off and muck things up. However the sport level sets are just fine as well and you can get them in some different colors quite easily.

TimothyH

Expensive cables and housing are not needed.

Shimano housing off the roll and bulk cables work perfectly. Change the cables every 2500 miles and housings every 5000 miles and you will never have a problem. They work absolutely fine.

I love high end parts but Jagwire, Yokozuma and other expensive cables and housing offer little to no benefit. They have to be changed just as often and its like throwing money in the garbage every time.


-Tim-

jgwilliams

Well, each to their own, but I quite like Jagwire myself. it isn't particularly expensive and you can get it in all sorts of nice colours to match the bike. I find cables last for years anyway so it isn't as if it's a very regular expense.

TimothyH

I'm all for nice stuff but few items in the bike industry are a bigger waste of money than high-end cable kits.


-Tim-

tagaproject6

Never heard of them. There are so many unknown brands of cycling stuff on Amazon nowadays, it is difficult to sort them out. Try them and be the one to do a review. It couldn't be too bad unless they use sand as a lubricant.

pdlamb

Why do you have to change cables and housing so frequently? Granted, I think my cables are Jagwire, but I only replace them every few years -- probably closer to 10,000 miles than 2500. If it's the Shimano housing and bulk cables that force the early change, the extra $$ is well worth it IMHO.

mstateglfr 

Agreed that expensive cables and housing arent needed. Disagree that Jagwire should be named as a brand that has no benefit. I use Jagwire slick shift housing and its about $1/foot. Tough to get cheaper than that. They of course make high end cabling kits too.

TimothyH

A 2500 to 3000 mile service interval is commonly recommended. This isn't something I made up.

Shimano inner wires are $4 each. I don't hesitate to change them if I think they are compromised in any way and there are always spares in my garage. It is a 15 minute job and getting stuck 50 miles from home in rural Georgia isn't an option for me.

There is a difference between bikes that are raced or used to commute in foul weather and fair weather path bikes. Fair weather bikes and those which don't see hard use will have a much longer service interval.

I'm not sure I believe that Jagwire cables last 10k miles - certainly not with hard use and certainly not on a bike that sees regular maintenance and adjustments. At the end of the day a Jagwire cable is strands of metal like a Shimano cable and subject to the same stresses and wear.

As someone said, to each his own. I think the OP gets my point.


-Tim-

Troul 

The price is comparable to brand names I'm familiar with, but I wouldn't want to replace cables nor any housings prematurely.

fietsbob

Cables Die Drawn slicked after cabling.. are better , compressionless gear (or brake) housing
is like Indexed shift housing, a Fascio of wires on end, but adding a braided sheath of Aramid/Kevlar.. for brakes ..

Jagwire is another brand, only available thru QBP, now..

monopolies is how the market consolidates...

pdlamb

OK, it's just that I've never seen that recommendation before.

Absolutely. As one who commutes in fair weather and foul, checking my log book every couple weeks to see if I'm about to hit some arbitrary milestone (sorry, I couldn't help myself there!) is way down on my list of priorities.

That's fine. I won't post my boring log entries if you're not going to believe them, but if you took a look, you'd see an awful lot of "R&R tire" and "R&R chain" entries in between the cable and housing replacements.

Troul 

jag and hot are brands i can easily purchase & are the most competitive for price.

I-Like-To-Bike

Sounds "like throwing money in the garbage every time."

Was this arbitrary replacement interval made up for the same reason as the arbitrary interval for replacing undamaged bicycle helmets - selling product to naive cyclists with a touch of OCD?

TimothyH

Replacing cables proactively before there is a problem is maintenance.

Replacing cables after a problem develops is repair.

My choice is maintenance, not repair, and my choice of service interval is based on my particular experience with my bikes in the conditions I typically ride in.

Everyone is free to make their own choice.


-Tim-

Troul 

If I'm taking the time to address one of the two, I'll default to replacing both.

TimothyH

I just searched for the Hotop cables. Does the manufacturer have a website? All I could find were Amazon links.

The price isn't bad but they look like repackaged generic cables to me.

-Tim-

Troul 

TimothyH idk, part of my reasonings for this thread.

TimothyH

Yeah, makes sense now.

I thought maybe they were some new brand made from unobtanium and lubricated with unicorn tears, even better than Yokozuna which is supposed to be better than Jagwire.

I'd like to know how they are too because the price is attractive.


-Tim-

Brocephus

It sounds like we've established that no one here has ever heard of this cable company, and given that cables of known quality aren't very expensive,and last for 2.5-10K miles (depending on who you talk to ), there doesn't seem to be any upside to taking a chance on them and being the guinea pig. That about sum it all up ?

Troul 

idk, if they do contain unicorn tears & certified by chuck norris... IT could be a kick butt product.

Brocephus

Agreed. If the Chuck Norris blessing is established, they could easily be a bargain at any price! Standing by for your reviews !

Troul 

haven't reached the mileage for standard maintenance interval yet!

DrIsotope

Zero complaints from me about Jagwire Elite Link. Yeah, they're expensive. Yeah, they last a lot longer-- and are lighter, if that's your thing. Other than adjusting the RD on occasion and dialing the calipers to keep up with pad wear, they are install-and-forget. I'm a ways past 5,000 miles, haven't messed with the cables at all.

Which is not to say the regular housing doesn't work equally well. I have 1x11 on my CX bike, using Jagwire LEX-SL housing-- 9,500 miles, haven't touched the housing or cable since I installed the levers.

veganbikes

The only complaint I might have about link housing is they need to do more colors. I know it is expensive but it is worth it. Replacing an inner liner which is cheap (and also works great for old Kleins) isn't so bad and cables could be sourced elsewhere if needed but so long as they are a slick stainless varietal. None of that galvanized crap or coated cables. However I don't mind buying the top end Jag cables every so often. Certainly if I had to replace the outer beads each time I would go way cheaper but those things are aluminum and will probably never go bad at least not for a long time. Hey they look really cool, cut down on weight and don't compress, what more could ya want.