I’m running Shimano full outer, usually bought in bulk lengths and a Clarks generic inner cable, which is the only bike thing I buy from Halfords now. I’d be interested to hear if there any any far superior alternatives out there. Back in the day, there was much hype around Gore and the like, but they didn’t seem to make much difference to me. Not sure if tech has moved on or not?

Shimano cable? Gore was pants really.

Shimano, or Wiggle Lifeline stuff seems pretty good.

XTR one it came with on one bike and a XTR one on the other bike

I think it’s far more important to change them regularly, rather than buying something expensive and sticking with it for ages.
Outer – Shimano or Jagwire bulk, inner – Shimano polymer coated.

Wilkinsons! £1.99! their cheapo oil is good too.

Shimano here too- starts out all shimano, then gets cheap stainless inners when I need one, which isn’t often.

Have to admit I don’t really know how long it lasts, I’m a serial bike and component swapper so it’s pretty rare that it gets left undisturbed for long enough to wear out. But then I reuse stuff whenever I can so I just lose track of it all. I know I just had to replace an inner and a chunk of outer on my commuter but that’s after at least 2 scottish winters, maybe 3, and the shifter had worn out too. Once you get to that point there’s no point really thinking about it imo…

I’ve sometimes wondered about lighter options though as I’m a weenie, I think that’s the only thing that’ll possibly convert me.

Just what ever they had in the shop. Clarks I think.

Anything that’s stainless and pre-stretched is fine for me, with boggo sp41 and sealed ferrules. Not a fan of coated cables. It seems to wear off and cause extra friction in the line.

Culturally, we’ve all moved to full length outers now haven’t we? It certainly made the difference to my cables operating for a couple of years instead of a couple of months. There used to be all sorts of cable discussions 10/15 years ago on here, but it’s really not very common any more.

Clarks stainless for me, better than bog standard clarks, and costs alot less than Shimano etc. Won’t last as well as a coated shimano, but just replace often. Its cheap enough.

After trying out Jagwire (cos it came in a set with some compressionless outer brake cables I wanted on the commuter), still the same boring well sealed long lasting smooth shifting Shimano stuff I’ve been using for >15 years.

I’ve used Shimano and various shades of Jagwire. The higher end Jagwire stuff is incredibly smooth but obviously comes at a premium. If money wasn’t a problem then I’d use it all the time. I’m using Shimano at the moment though as I bought a load in bulk and it works out a heck of a lot cheaper.

Yep, Wilkos.

just replaced my gore cable today as its frayed near the shifter (still works prefectly).

i appear to have been lucky!

its been flawless for 5 years!

replaced it with a shimano one just to see how that does…