[Closed] should I coat a gear cable with owt to lower friction?

Never done it, a good routing is worth much much more.

What outer? SP41 has a good grease already in the outer so don't use anything.

I always use a bit of light teflon oil.

I just put a little blob of teflon grease into the outer end before fitting the ferule as an extra weather seal.

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SP41 user here, though I've alway rubbed the inner cables along a wax candle, no idea if it really helps but it's become habit.

Light oil. Makes a world of difference.

Grease can be a little "sticky" particularly as the weather gets colder.

You need a little magic on your cables http://www.rocklube.com/cable.htm

Cable Magic as mentioned above. Been using it for years and it's really rather good.

general consensus is it won't hurt and light oil/ grease will be required anyway after a few wet rides - the outer cables are not made of stainless like the cable and will begin to rust over time...you don't need to pack it with grease just a light dosing.

+1 cable magic

Also, KCNC do coated cables which feels quite sticky at first (the coating makes them noticeably thicker), but the coating seems to break down to a powder after a few rides and the friction drops off to almost nothing. Only used them on the road so far, not tried them on the MTB yet, but I'm tempted.

Also (again), middleburn, KCNC and others do cable oilers, fit one of those about 6" from the rear mech on a continuous outer and it allows the oil/WD40/cable magic to flush grit towards the mech, rather than just adding it to the exposed sections which just sucks more into the outer.

I treat all my bike's cabling with Spittle and Disdain...

thanks all! genuinely useful feedback.

I've been trying Fox Float Fluid as a cable lube and it seems pretty good so far. Not the cheapest, but I mistakenly bought a bottle of the stuff, which im not using much of!

And spend a bit of time with a file getting ends of the outers nice and square.

And spend a bit of time with a file getting ends of the outers nice and square.

Rub them with candle wax or snowboard wax and apply cable magic. Can't tell them apart from shimano polymer cables and they stay smooth for ages as the wax repels water (used to maintain 20 hire mtbs and went from changing cables daily to monthly 😀 ).

SP41 full outer + cheap SS inner cable. Never have issues with it sticking or affecting shifting. With a full outer I don't lube the cable. Partials I might do, but I don't use them these days.

But if you like spend a bit on teflon coated inners. Or you can lube the cable.

pjbarton - Member
So I have the opportunity to add oil, or WD40 type stuff... any experiences?

WD40 is a solvent and water displacer. Not a lubricant. Use it to free rusty locks. Though you could use it on a rusty gear cable I guess, but the cable is shot anyway at that stage.

The same goes for GT85. It's WD40 with a teflon additive to let Halfords convince their customers they can lubricate everything with it, and thus have them bring their bikes in to be fixed a few weeks later when all the grease is gone and it's grinding away 😉

I've been using full outers for years & always install Middleburn Cable oilers.
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/middleburn-cable-oilers-4mm-prod31608/

I put one 50mm after each shifter & one on the rear mech cable outer just after the BB.
Roll back the O-ring & input the straw of a GT85 can & squirt away.

But now I'll try get some Cablemagic in.

I've just been using bog standard any-old regular oil thats been hanging around the garage in one of those handy drip feed dispenser can type things.

bike hasn't exploded and I can shift on the MTB and brake on the BMX with ease.

On the gear at the mech end just give it a wipe to stop muck buildup before you ride. I never put in enough to drip out the end though.