What is good, need full run of inner and outers for front back and rear shock. Are Jagwires any good or is SP41 still the Daddy?

Hard to see past SP41.

CRC now do it in a range of colours too, if that’s your thing, and you can order by the metre for continuous runs.

One of my bikes ended up with jagwires, just as good as shimano imo but slightly more expensive, not sure why I bought them really! SP41 for me, and then usually cheapo stainless inners if I need to replace.

SP41 outers it is then! Found it for £1.49 per metre! Just need to decide on the inner cable.. Cheapo Stainless or Teflon coated!?

The PTFE-coated Shimano inners are nice, nice than the plain stainless ones, but it you can find the polymer-coated ones cheap anywhwere then they’re the ones to go for.

If you’ve not already got the cable ends etc then the full XTR cable packs are pretty good value. Though annoyingly shimano randomly pre-cut the outer, which is wasteful at best, and useuless for full runs 🙁 But once you’ve got it, the cable ends last forever basically (*), it comes with 2 really good inners, and then you can just refresh periodically.

(* or until 650b cable comes out)

I fitted the XTR ones more than a year ago. Still crisp and light gear change, front and rear, and I’ve never even cleaned/lubed the cables!

I commute on the bike, (I have no car option…) – so it sees some “proper” conditions a lot.

Clarks coated ones in Halfords. http://www.halfords.com/cycling/parts/gears-drivetrain-cables/clarks-premium-bike-gear-cable-kit

Now Gore Ride-ons are sadly no longer available the Shimano Polymer sets are a very good bet performance wise,

They’re very smooth and useful for improving gear feel if the bike you’re plumbing in has some quite convoluted routing, the brake cable versions are particularly good for improving lack lustre cable disc brakes.

If price is a concern then yup, SP41 can’t really be beaten it’s not as silky or as durable as the the Polymers and the outers compress a bit more but for the price you can’t go wrong.

Coated cables are a gimmick* and will usually deteriorate over time as it wears or accumulates in high friction parts of the system. A bone-dry system will require less (no) maintenance and perform consistory for many miles. The most important things are good routing of the shortest possible cabling and clean, square cut outer-ends into solid ferrules. The likes of SP41 have a tiny brass washer that the wires in the casing butt up to.

*Gore Ride-On are the exception, in my experience.

Jagwire slick stainless inners
SP41 outers

Coated & galvanised best avoided in my experience

I’ve been using KCNC cables on the road bike and they’ve been great. They’re coated in a PTFE powder which supposedly rubs off to provide lubrication and should work best in dry cables. But TBH I’ve always used it in SP41 and it’s been fine. Only deviation from that now is Goodrich outer on the road bikes brakes.

http://road.cc/content/news/34461-new-coloured-cables-kcnc

Always had good result from either Jagwire or SP41 outer and bog standard stainless inner cables but I always run the inners through a dry candle as a kind of dry lube, works for me anyway.

Bought this kit on my last bike and happy with it so far (1 winter winter and most of the summer)

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/transfil-black-snake-gear-cable-set/