Who here lubricates gear cables? If so, with what?

I can’t seem to find any consensus on the matter. I’ve always greased inner cables before running them through the outers, but I find my shifting is always pretty friction-y compared to others, not sure what I’m doing wrong. So should I jam pack the outers full of grease? Oil? Just use a small amount? Or nothing at all because the cables are pre-lubed and don’t need it? I’m running full outers, btw.

What are these ” gear cables ” of which you speak ?

😉 New convert to SS simplicity

For as frictionless as you can get (or as near as dammit), you need coated inner wires, and lined outers. Shimano XT style. Just the merest smidge of grease on installation.

Get some Shimano SP41 outer cable and teflon coated inners and don’t bother with grease because:
1. SP41 comes ready greased with silicon grease
2. Most greases are far too sticky to be good for gear cables.

Mine’s perfect and has been for quite a while now.

I use a very thin wipe of GT85 teflon lube on new cables going into new outers. Sometimes us GT85 to flush out old outers if they are in reasonable condition.

check your cable routing..for bends

I dribble some chain lube down the inner before feeding it in to the outer- not as sticky as grease

What he says, but use 1.1mm inner cables. No lube needed, full length outers, for the smoothest most durable shifting possible.

getonyourbike – Member
Get some Shimano SP41 outer cable and teflon coated inners and don’t bother with grease because:
1. SP41 comes ready greased with silicon grease
2. Most greases are far too sticky to be good for gear cables.

Mine’s perfect and has been for quite a while now.

Been pondering getting a reel of SP41 for some time. Mine just isn’t great, although it is just cheapo jagwire outer.
Think it’s time to treat it to the good stuff. Had some xtr cables on an old gt about 10 years ago and it was spot on.
SP41 from Parkers, so, next question where to get the sealed ferrules and Teflon cables at good price?

Invest in some Middleburn cable widgets which enable you to spray your inners with GT85 type stuff. The amount of crap that comes out of the outers is startling. My cables certainly have a much longer useful life now. In my experience it is not an issue that cables snap but that they become so gungy your shifting goes to pot. These little devices certainly seem to postpone that moment. Oh and they come in nice colours to pimp your cable!

Have use them for years. Great way of flushing the crap out.

So no consensus at all, then?

I’ve been using SP41 outer, greased inners and a coating of extra grease for years with no problems as such, although shifting never feels especially slick. My girlfriend’s new bike has super-slick shifting by comparison so there’s definitely room for improvement in my setup.

I have XTR cables, the question is whether I use grease / chain lube / nothing.

I use cheap silicone grease from the fleabay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silicone-lubricant-grease-60ML-plumbing-/120868750506?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1c2456c4aa#ht_500wt_815

Has to be non hi tack

Having your outers cut too long or too short can add quite a bit of friction too.

No grease – it’s much too viscous for cables. In the workshop I use Profi Drylube, but GT85 will also do.

Full length SP41 outers, Rock n Roll Cable Magic and quality Shimano inners = trouble free shifting for years.

SP41,snowboard wax and cable magic.

Full length SP41 outers, Rock n Roll Cable Magic and quality Shimano inners = trouble free shifting for years.

this^^^.

Right, after some rooting about in the internet I’ve gone for the following:-
SP41 outer (10m) from Parkers Intl £23ish
Shimano sealed endcaps (x10) from Parkers £4
Shimano sealed endcaps with rubber boots (x4) from CRC. £7.00
Shimano PTFE inner cable from Parkers £9.50
Middleburn cable oilers x 2.
Finishline Teflon lube (red bottle)

Outers cut to length with Shimano Cable cutters, then the ends ground down flush with a bench grinder.
PTFE inner opened out slightly after cutting.
Endcaps added with a small squirt of grease into each one to prevent corrosion to the cable outer ends.
Inner cable lubed with the Teflon lube.

All assembled and bench tested. Seems to be much smoother (as I would expect), so will see how it runs after a couple of muddy rides.
I think the key thing here will how effective the sealed endcaps are at keeping the crap out. Hopefully the rubber boots will help, as Ive used them on the run under the BB and also the rear mech.
I’ve used the two cable oilers on the longest runs from the shifters to the downtube.

I also took the oppertunity to put some fresh grease in and around the guts rapidfire shifters, to keep them lubed and working well.

I’ll report back with the outcome in a month……

er
Whatever inners and outres are in the shop.
Nice smooth run in one section of outer.
Occasional bit of GT85 up em.

That’s it.

Anything more is tarting round

PTFE inner opened out slightly after cutting.

is the key i find.

i always open them up with a tip of a pair of tweezer.

yes you can force em to open up forcing a cable through but flaring them oversize slightly takes away alot of friction over forcing them through.

SP41 off the reel-so no grease. 1.1 inner if possible.

Sealed ferrules only add friction IME, also seal water in!

Clean them now and again. This is for broken runs, I’ve never gone full length.

That’s an expensive shifter solution. I REALLY hope that it works after all of that. My full length and trad gears are fine with standard outers, standard inners and a wee bit of oil squirted down every now and then.

I’ve tried cheapo outers with clarks SS inners, non-sealed endcaps and they work fine until the crud gets in. Even regularly flushing with the cable oilers and cleaning the shorter lengths performance degrades. Sealed caps will keep most of the crap out to start with im hoping. Part of the problem is a length of outer required around the BB area (to allow for suspension movement) gets a lot of spray directed at it, so the outer get crudded up quicker.
I could go full outers, but it looks a little ungainly zip-tied to the frame, plus I can imagine the outer might well creep along, causing problems of its own.
We’ll see….