I know they’re boring but having no fuss cables for gears and brakes should probably make life a little more fun and I’m soon going to be building up the replacement to my much loved Tripster – a Tripster ATR (when it lands) – and want to get it ‘just right’. It’ll be fitted with Ultegra gears and some of the new TRP road cable disc brakes, so I’m keen to sort the cables as they were a weak point on the old bike, as it gets year round, muddy and wet use.

I’ve run Goodridge before on the mountain bike, but find the outer incredibly abrasive to the frame and not been massively impressed with the sealing of the inner sheath. I’m looking at running a full length outer on the brakes (I think) but definitely part enclosed on the gears from what I can make from the pics.

So – Transfil, Clarks, Gore, Nokon, Goodridge… anything anyone can suggest please that’s been used in a similar fashion (drop bar STI and cable discs). Also – Whilst it’s becoming a nice build, price is still a factor to a degree too…

Cheers in advance 🙂

SP41 outers with Shimano SS PTFE inners, sealed ferrules at each end.
End of thread/

I’ve run Goodridge before on the mountain bike, but find the outer incredibly abrasive to the frame and not been massively impressed with the sealing of the inner sheath.

Me too. Ate my old Orange 🙁
I am using Clarks Pre-lubes (cheap at On-One) and they seem great so far – lasting better than Shimano.
If money was no object, I would Gore every time, but I cannot justify the cost.

@gonetothehills

bigyinn speaks the truth

Shimano SP41

would not bother with anything else…

As above. Just buy lots of SP41 and change them every year. Doesn’t take long and keeps everything working lovely

I’d spotted the SP41 and read a few reviews and thought it seemed a good option. Bigyinn’s suggestion was what I was thinking for the full length run for the brakes, but what’s the score with the gears? How is it with the cable discs? Last one (for now) – is it the same outer for brake and gear? Cheers – thanks for all the advice.

…is it the same outer for brake and gear?

No, I think I’m right in saying that the ferrules (or whatever you call them) at the end of the cable are different.

hh is right the outers are very different from brake(tight spiral wrap) to gear (longitudinal wrap)- don’t mix them up – “it could be a child’s face”

Mostly gear outer is 4mm and has the metal strands running parallel from one end to the other
Brake outer is 5mm and the metal is spiralled round

Gear outer is stiffer , Useing brake outer on gears Normaly stops them working right

There are a few brands that are different eps nokon
I mostly use shimano casing with the proper shimano sealed ends

But nice road bike is 8 years old and still has the gore cables that it was build with and they still work fine

Opps to slow

My buddy and local workshop manager is moving his bikes on to Jagwire cable sets. He really rates them for consistency of performance.

You’re right – of course – thanks for the advice orangeboy, stuey and househusband. If SP41 is the gear outer, what’s the brake stuff then?

If this is the gear cable – is it the SLR brake outer housing I need?

Gear Inners – the PTFE Coated inner wire?

Brake Inners – Ribble have the PTFE coated road inner – they suggest using with the SLR Brake Housing, so that looks like it’s right.

Starting to get the feeling I’m getting there, thanks!

SP41 outers with Shimano SS PTFE inners, sealed ferrules at each end.
End of thread/
POSTED 11 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

Just done exactly the same and the best and cheapest way is to get SP41 gear outer from crc as its £1.99 for a 600 m&m pre cut length with furreuls.

Gear cable, get the grey shimano stuff off crc, £3.99 per m

And inner cables, shimano Teflon coated are £12 each, no way!!! Look on eBay at ptfe coated cables, someone sells them for about £2 each and there is no difference to shimano at all!

My ultegra/105 brakes feel amazing and gears are the most positive they have ever been, damn cheap way of doing it too!

The OP is talking about brake outers though, which as discussed above is not the same as gear outers.
Cheapest way is to get a 20m roll of SP41 SLR outer (£22ish for 10m) and shimano PTFE brake cables (£10ish) from Parkers.
Id be dubious as to why a supposedly similar cable is a 5th of the price compared to Shimano, even allowing for their mark up. Is it actually stainless steel?

I can highly recommend the Fibrax Pro-formance Sealed gear cable kit. It’s cut sections of outer (which come as one length and you cut the lengths you want) with a continuous inner sleeve that runs from the shifter to the rear mech. It also includes 2 stainless cables.

I’ve been running this kit on a hardtail in all conditions and it shifts as sweetly as the FS which uses full length SP41 outers. The kit comes with 4 rubber protectors too which you slide on to the outer in places where it might rub the frame. A well thought out package.

As a bonus Fibrax are a British company who actually make things in the UK still.

Interesting thread for anybody who, like me, has a bike with new Ultegra where the cables are all routed inside the bar tape and the braking and shifting are poor.

Useing some of the shimano special grease makes a huge differnace to sti

Got jagwire outers (brake and gear) with stainless inners on my Mtb & road bike and everything is very smooth and has been trouble free.

A trick I use which seems to work for me is running the inner-cable over a candle(unlit of course) prior to fitting,the wax acts as a longterm dry lube.

My road bike with Ultegra has always suffered from poor shifting, so I recently fitted Gore Ride-On Professional Road cables and it made a huge difference. Shifting is massively improved and its all sealed under the bottom bracket which should keep them running nicely for a good while.

At the same time I fitted fully sealed Gore gear cables on the MTB and noticed last night the front cable has started to fray about an inch BEFORE the front mech clamp and the frayed cable has cut through the liner shielding cable. I’m not particularly impressed with that after only a couple of months (due to position I don’t think something could have cut it, but it’s always a possibility)

eBAY CABLES

Its these im talking about, look and work every bit as well as shimano ones which cost £12