New build (Orange Five) – quick gear cable question:

Cheapy generic stuff

or

Something fancier like Gore or Goodridge.

And if the latter option, what and where from?

Thanks!

Seb

XTR cables FTW!

Gore gets my vote although gets silly expensive on fully-enclosed runs (even with the long kit)

i bought a big 10m long roll of SP41 XTR/dura-ace stuff from parkers-international and paired it with stainless steel inners. Fit with no grease, run full length outers at least on the loop from top tube to rear mech and change when it gets gunged up.

Another vote for XTR. Most worthwhile upgrade you can make IMO

Gore Rideon sealed for me – it's £40 well-spent, and in 2 years I've not had to touch the cabling at all. It's 'only' £20 or so more expensive than full XTR, too, surely?
CRC seem to have it for £45 at first glance.

Bog standard for me. Or Alligator I-links, but they're faff.

The Five hasn't been delivered yet – but from memory they have bits of internal cabling? I'm not looking forward to threading that!

Thanks all.

The problem with SP41/XTR outer cable is that it's not stainless and rusts…

Goodridge outer is good, but gawd is it stiff!

Look at Clarks..stainless inner/outer and about 9quid FTW

The Five hasn't been delivered yet – but from memory they have bits of internal cabling

Now you tell us! So the best cabling will be something that runs full length outers to the gromit, I reckon. Not sure whether Gore Rideons will fit through that if you include inner and sleeve.

Full outer, cables routed in an almost straight line from shifter to mech. Cheapo generic stuff is fine, esp if you use SRAM, if you're on Shimano splash out on an XTR inner.

SP41 and Teflon coated inners

I use cheap cables for full runs and generally get about two year out of them before the outer splits and the metal reinforcement bits stick out.
I'm tempted to try Goodridge but I've not heard how they fair for the long term… anyone care to comment?

XTR Inner/SP41 Outer.

+1 for Ride on. Very slick and truly maint free in my experience. Over 2 years out of mine and still smooth.

Transfil black snake carbon, half the price of Gore, does the same job

I used BMX linear (not spiral wound) brake outer with a gear inner – works fine and available in loads of lovely colours 😛 . Exactly the same linear construction as gear outer but 5mm OD instead of 4mm.

Cheep generic. And go with continuous outers (not that you get a choice with a five). Plus a drop of wet lube in them and they will run sweetly for ages.

I've never used gore/XTR though. But I don't see how it can be worth it when an XTR kit can be twice the cost.

In 2005 I broke a frame, I took the kit from that bike onto a new frame. I even took the cables to the new frame. I've just replaced those cables with the same thing again.

They were gore cables.

Gore Ride On for me. Used XTR on my most recent build, and there wasn't enough outer, the seals are pants, and the indexing was harder to set up.

Plus they were only pennies cheaper than Ride ON via on line, so cost wise not enough of a saving to justify using XTR ahead of Ride On IMHO.

Gore cables all the way, I've used all sorts before settling on these about 10 years ago. They just won't wear out, and you can deliberatly ride through all sorts of crap and know that your gears will still work.

generic. lasts just as long, works exactly the same, and if it does wear out, buy a new lot. four or five times before it costs as much as a 'spensive set.

XTR every time and above everything else.

Had goodridge on for a few months. Certainly sealed well and the change is lovely and smooth still… but they are super stiff as said and they're pretty bad for cable rub where they move around a lot near suss linkage.

Why can't suss frame designers come up with good cable routing!?!