Clas Ohlson have Shimano sets, £5.49

Linky

all my bikes have wilkinsons cable, maintain as you would normal “expensive” cables and they last the same amount of time

sometimes cheap as chips is good

Cable oilers – No thanks.

Why ever not? Give me one good reason why they are a bad idea!
Go on!!
It sounds like you’re being deliberately obtuse about this to me!

They go on full outers yeah. I don’t want full outers as they don’t work as well. Plus I’d then need to ziptie cables on my frame. I once got a custom built to use full outers and when it was resprayed I got all the cable guides ground off and stops put on as it didn’t work as well.

Good enough?

Does anyone know if the Goodridge sets fit Shimano ROAD STI levers? I have them on the mountain bikes but am unsure if they fit the road levers? Cheers… Might just go for some Clarks inners and a few metres of the SP41 though…

I don’t want full outers as they don’t work as well.

You don’t think that something else might have been the cause? Every one of the eight bikes we’ve had for the last four years has used single-length outers and we haven’t had any shifting issues. That’s on hardtails, short-travel and long travel suspension frames. Apart from requiring more housing and the possibility of frame mods/fettling, a single length has absolutely no disadvantages.

Does anyone know if the Goodridge sets fit Shimano ROAD STI levers?

There’s nothing unusual about Goodridge fittings. Are Shimano road barrels different to MTB barrels?

I don’t know, Three_Fish – they just appear to have fatter cable outers than the road ones that are on there? Might be my eyes… 🙂

The outers are big, around 5mm, but the fittings step down to fit shifter/derailleur barrels. This is the clearest image I have to hand:

Cool – so even they should fit the road STI ones ok then by the looks of it? I’m sure I have some of the stepped ferrules somewhere. Now I know why they exist!

Weird, kenfosters fitted full length outers on my new build without even asking 🙄

We where at Inners on Sunday and my mate broke his rear mech the LBS(not Alpine bikes) charged him £50 for the mech then another £20 to fit it not bad for 15 mins work

All that and expensive burgers too. Something about fools and money comes to mind…

I don’t want full outers as they don’t work as well.

You don’t think that something else might have been the cause? Every one of the eight bikes we’ve had for the last four years has used single-length outers and we haven’t had any shifting issues. That’s on hardtails, short-travel and long travel suspension frames. Apart from requiring more housing and the possibility of frame mods/fettling, a single length has absolutely no disadvantages.

I never said they don’t work. They clearly do let the gears operate correctly but not as well as split outers. I also added YVMV way up there as we live in different parts of the country with different soil types. There are very few people locally I know who run full outers. Those that do tend to be because the frame forces them too. I base my use of them on my experience, split outers are better when used with shimano sealed ferrules where I live. My opinion might be different if I lived in the Peak district.
Is that ok?

8 bikes in 4 years. How much use have they had in bad conditions?

Tom, that just doesn’t appear logical to me. If there’s a break in the outer, there’s going to be friction if it’s to be sealed properly – that’s unavoidable. I know you didn’t say that it doesn’t work, I clearly responded with a response to your assertion that single outers don’t work as well as interrupted.

With all else being equal – fittings/ferrules, shifters, derailleur, routing bends – there’s no reason why a single-outer system should perform worse than an interrupted one. The reduced friction from less ferrules/seals should leave the single-outer system feeling easier to operate. If it doesn’t, then something somewhere is wrong.

I’ll take my hardtail as an example. I use my Orange as my daily transport; so it’s work, shops, etc., whatever the weather, on roads/pavement and almost always through the muddy paths of city park I need to pass through – then it gets a different set of tyres and does trails. Off-season it gets the occasional weekend, but the rest of the year it’s out two to four times a week. It’s had the same gear cables since summer 2008: Alligator braided outer with a decent stainless inner. The outer has been scuffed and nicked in several places, which brings up another question of overall durability. The cables were removed recently and replaced with a Goodridge outer and Gore inner which had been on my SX Trail for about eighteen months. The reason for replacement was because the SX is sold and the cable set is the better of the two. The inner cable I removed from the Orange’s original set is perfectly usable and will go on the hook with other spares.

There was no dirt in the outer cable I removed. Nothing. I favour a dry system, so no grease like the SP41, and nothing to thicken or degrade. It’s never had any lubrication put through it. Pulling the the ball-end of the inner, it moves with only the smallest amount of friction.

I honestly don’t care what kind of dirt/soil/gravel/whatever anyone rides in. There is simply no argument that a spilt system, no matter what sealing it uses, will keep more crap out than a system that doesn’t have any spilts. That’s just common sense Shirley. It might be a faff-on to attach it to the frame, but that’s a different discussion and a matter of opinion.

There is simply no argument that a spilt system, no matter what sealing it uses, will keep more crap out than a system that doesn’t have any spilts

Why who’s arguing that?

With all else being equal – fittings/ferrules, shifters, derailleur, routing bends – there’s no reason why a single-outer system should perform worse than an interrupted one. The reduced friction from less ferrules/seals should leave the single-outer system feeling easier to operate. If it doesn’t, then something somewhere is wrong.

As I said I cannot give you proof one way is better than the other.
If shifting was truly better with full outer though would Shimano not be pushing it that way?

You prefer full outer and find it works for you. Brilliant.
IME it doesn’t offer a cost effective solution for ME.

YVMV (Your value may vary)

They go on full outers yeah. I don’t want full outers as they don’t work as well. Plus I’d then need to ziptie cables on my frame. I once got a custom built to use full outers and when it was resprayed I got all the cable guides ground off and stops put on as it didn’t work as well.
Good enough?

No. You’ve not stated one single reason not to use cable oilers! 🙂
Well done for evading the question and still being right though….. 😉

And I fail to see your problem with full outers. I don’t think you ride in the wet often enough TBH 🙂
Where do you ride BTW?

If shifting was truly better with full outer though would Shimano not be pushing it that way?

Apparently not.

Take a look at absolute cycles on ebay for the XTR kit. £20 delivered which is the cost of 2 XTR inners these days (recently went from £6 to £10 at CRC) + you get the nicer shielded end caps.

I was going to drill my frame and go full length buying some off Parker (£20 for 10m) but i opted to use the XTR kit with a £3 full sealing kit from wiggle to replace all but the front mech exit XTR one with nice sealed tubing which works with conventional end stops.

just an update to keep on topic;
cables are all good; i use a split system, for old times sake; the frame is 15 year old after all. its ridden 6 days a week, work; long mid week ride and epic on a sunday.

so; feel great, especially as i sucked oil through the outers before installing. its nice to have some kind of shifting after a winter of mud and stuff. finally i have loads to keep in the rucksack, in the bike box and some pressies for the guys on sunday!