I’m totally confused by the bewildering plethora of combinations, from around 99p all the way up to £15.

I’m looking for some nice black gear cable outers to put on my Yeti. Nothing too techy, just gear cable outers..

Any ideas?

I normally use the cheap stuff from CRC.

Shimano SP41 is what’s always recommended.

shimano sp41 from Merlin cycles

Sp41’s probably not hte best… It’s not that flexible and it can crack with age. But it’s good, at a sensible price, so everyone uses it.

A 10m roll of SP41 from Parkers Internationl @ £23 will do the trick. Make sure you get sealed ferrules too.

Oh and run a full length gear cable outer if you’re buying new outers on the roll.

Stops all the UK grit and grime getting in!

Funny, it’s not that often you get questions here about boring stuff like outers but cables cause me so much grief in the winter (and summer). A properly useful question!
I’m off to get a roll of sp41 and sealed ferrules.

Now where do you get Presta valve caps where the top half doesn’t break off and a puncture repair kit (old style with glue – i want to repair the puncture not decorate it) with more than 2 small patches.

You can buy extra tiptop patches on the bay-o-E. I got fed up going through patches at three times the rate of glue….

Thanks guys! Great responses – very useful 🙂

As for repair patches – I get mine from Poundland. They do a ‘cycle repair kit’, which has loads of stuff in it, most of it useless, but the best thing is it contains around 8 repair patches + glue. The patches are really good quality – with rubberised feathered edges – and it’s cheaper than buying patches separately.

The waste (of the planet’s resources) in the process is a bit of a pain though.. 😐

Jagwire lined cable outer does it for me. Cheap by the metre from ebay, and in lots and lots of colours

And +1 for tiptop patches.

Quaxar outer is good, light.

As for repair patches – I get mine from Poundland.

How much are they?

How much are they?

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBEJFelnQz4[/video]

Halfords do a good range of proper repair kits and also sell patches separately (they do a cut-to-size sheet too). Not the cheapest mind but it’s all good stuff, and the kits come with enough vulcanising goop to do plenty of refills.

Their stick-on patches are close to useless mind but then I don’t trust stick-ons anyway.

/slight hijack

I’m aware that gear and brake cable outers are different. Is there any reason why you can’t use gear outers as brake outers? Wouldn’t it give a much more positive breaking feel?

/hijack

XTR inners and SP41 outer (buy a roll of the stuff). Get proper ferrules and caps too. No point in f**king about.

Is there any reason why you can’t use gear outers as brake outers? Wouldn’t it give a much more positive breaking feel?

It’s less flexible, and brake cable is thicker than gear. Gear certainly used to come in 1.1 and 1.2mm thickness, whereas brake cable is 1.5-1.6mm.