Better gear inners = better shifting ?

Is that really the case ?

Looking on ebay and see 4 variations of Jagwire, from your basic cable at £2, to their super one at £12… are the better ones that much better ?

Yes. Shimano Sil-tec PTFE cables for DA and XTR are fabulous and last a decent amount of time before silky smooth operation starts to fade.

EDIT – why would you spend hundreds of pounds on your drivetrain and then connect it all together using the crappiest quality cables? That’s akin to buying a Porsche 911 and then fitting ditchfinders on it and complaining that it doesn’t handle as well as others say it should.

No. Good quality Shimano non-coated ones gives the best shifting, paired with Shimano SP41 outer.

Cut the outer with good quality cutters and file the ends. Use good quality ferrules.

That will give you good shifting.

EDIT – why would you spend hundreds of pounds on your drivetrain and then connect it all together using the crappiest quality cables? That’s akin to buying a Porsche 911 and then fitting ditchfinders on it and complaining that it doesn’t handle as well as others say it should

IT’s a good point. Not given it that much thought previously in honesty, usually buy a batch of 10 cables, they’re about a tenner… so you’d expect low quality and they seem to do the job well enough. But you know at times when you get on someones bike and it’s just ‘snick, snick, snick’ and you think “wow that’s smooth”… So i’ll jump on and buy some better quality ones for mine i think.

IT’s a good point

It is if the more expensive cables are better, but lots of folk equate high cost with better performance, which is by no means always correct (I don’t know about this instance).

paired with Shimano SP41 outer.

Cut the outer with good quality cutters

This for me makes the biggest difference.

I’m sure there are some duff cables out there but a standard low-cost cable from any of the main manufacturers, properly installed as others have said + lightly lubed, lasts as long as more expensive options. I’ve never noticed a difference in shifting quality, that only happens if/when the cable freys or corrodes or there’s mechinal resistance from muck getting into the cable outers.

My problem with standard Shimano (or other) basic steel inners is that no matter what you do, water gets into the very end of the cables and you end up with crevice corrosion between the inners, outers and ferrules. As this is the point at which the cables are constantly moving, you have to overcome that friction each time you move it. the PTFE coating seems to slow the corrosion and keeps the cables shifting well. This was hard won experience based on thousands of miles of commuting with cable discs and shifting before realising that DI2 and Hydraulics were the way to go.

Pre-stretched stainless steel is my minimum criteria. if I can get the ones with a polished outer surface, then so much the better but anything on top of this is just law of diminishing returns.

Marginally … all this assumes the cuts are neat
Money no object the SIL-TEC seems marginally better and lasts longer.
HOWEVER in my experience a new (decent) cable and outer always beats an old one…and I find you can flush the outer a few times.
Depending how much you fettle I find value in not thinking every time I have to snip a cable it’s not costing me a fiver.

I find the sweetspot is buying 10m or so lengths of Jagwire outer (goes much further when you cut to length) and “decent” teflon coated inners and flush the outers fairly regularly.

always used clarks cheap stuff but liberally applied grease (bearing juice current choice) when fitting. I’ve usually ended up replacing due to damaged outers or when changing shifter before I’ve had any shifting problems.

New better than worn, no matter what they cost. My experience of coated cables is they gunk up and stick in far less time than I would like.

My freshly build parts-bin budget road bike with 105 shifts beautifully on random cheap cables and outers, the Dura-ace equipped best bike isn’t anything as nice after 2 years with the coated Shimano kit.

Extra spend isn’t worth it IMHO. Standard cables (not super cheap one as they can often have few thick strands) and bulk Shimano outer work fine.

Ive used the coloured KCNC ones for a while now. They come coated with a dyed teflon powder which wears off and lubricates over time.

Difference over normal cables is marginal, but they come in colours!

Bulk bought them when they were on offer, not sure Id pay RRP for expensive cables. As others said, a new cable every few months over winter is significantly better than an old cable.

Yes. Shimano Sil-tec PTFE cables for DA and XTR are fabulous and last a decent amount of time before silky smooth operation starts to fade.

Dura-ace and xtr use Shimano’s polymer coated inner cables (about £20 each), the cheaper groupsets use the optislick ones.

I’ve just been researching this as I had heard there were some Shimano cables to avoid!

Sil-Tec is a chain coating, they don’t apply it to cables.

Optislick is the one you want I think, 105 level, it’s a pre-impregnation of teflon lube I think.

The Dura-Ace ones are ‘Polymer’ I think which is the coating that I have heard people say can rub off and clog inners. I think if you’re very careful installing it then there’s no problem, looks like the shift cables on my Rose were the Polymer coated ones and they’ve been fine (this is why I’m such a Rose fanboi, even the little hidden details that they might cut corners on from stock is still top end).

I used Optislick plus SP41 outer to cure some problematic shifting on my SRAM GX drivetrain, it really made a difference.

I’ve used jagwire and shimano but now stick with shimano sp41 but use alloy ferrules from jagwire, sram or uberbike, currently running shimano polymer coated inner for about 6 months with perfect shifting. I got a few half price, still expensive though.
I’ve had very good shifting with shimano optislick and jagwire slick stainless, running oil through regularly is the key.

I used an XT Optislick kit to replace everything on my FS last summer – it was £21 for cables and outers and end bits

It’s noticeably better than new cables. As to longevity, not so sure…

13thfloormonk
Subscriber
I’ve just been researching this as I had heard there were some Shimano cables to avoid!

Sil-Tec is a chain coating, they don’t apply it to cables.

I beg to differ:

Link to CRC Sil-Tec Cables

Shimano SP41 with optislick work great, the polished jagwire ones are good too, I’ve found the black coated inners shimano used to make not so smooth after a while.
After cutting inner cables I like to put some superglue on the end then use a diamond file to smooth the tip, because re threading a sharp inner cable can scratch the crap out of the outers ID, double ended inner cables are just the worst idea.

I beg to differ:

Link to CRC Sil-Tec Cables

I stand corrected! I was going off the Shimano web-site which only refers to chains (and shifters and cassettes, confusingly).

If you look for cables on the Shimano site it only offers polymer coating, optislick or plain stainless steel.

No. Good quality Shimano non-coated ones gives the best shifting, paired with Shimano SP41 outer.

I agree. Die drawn (the shiny looking ones) give the best shift. If you want super long life something coated might last longer but you can buy several plain die drawns for the price of 1 coated cable so its not going to save you money.

Do those Jagwire gear cable kits still come with dual ended inner cables.

What works is 1.1mm inner cable. Most cables are 1.2mm and that 0.1mm makes a massive difference to cables having to use undesirable routes. 

i use sp41 and sometimes xtr inners just because they are black 🙂

ive seen someone recently who has suggested that fibrax cables are a lot better but ive never used them.

never use lube.

I didn’t really pay attention to inner cables but I had a bike that came with X0 gearing, the cable broke which I replaced with a cheap one and wondered why it was harder to shift and not as smooth. Ever since I use coated inners, you can get cheaper ones for not much more than plain cables. Couldn’t really comment on longevity as I rarely have a cable last more than a year anyway.

Depends on routing, first of all I think. A nice easy route without any nasty bends (and I suspect without BB routing…) it matters less – decent basic make will be ok, just not bargain bin.

However, really nice cables can make for a nice light feel. I was a big fan of Ride On cables for this reason, but sadly no-one else was because they apparently couldn’t figure out how to install them properly…

I do lube, but I use silicone spray which is super light, and doesn’t gum up. I say use – I use it when fitting then really never need to re-lube. Back in the day I used 3:1 which would see me re-lubing every time I cleaned the bike, cos it’d get gummy.

However, really nice cables can make for a nice light feel. I was a big fan of Ride On cables for this reason, but sadly no-one else was because they apparently couldn’t figure out how to install them properly…

Another fan here, I’m still annoyed that they stopped making them. Especially now that my stockpile has finally run out. Properly fitted they felt like brand new cables and outers for well over a year of riding, had them on all my bikes for as long as I could find them. 🙁

New FS bike had noticably heavy shifting when I first got it, initially put it down to the internal routing maybe being a bit tight in places or the XT shifter having a heavier feel than the XTR I had on the old bike. Then I noticed that they had cheaped out on the cable, low end Jagwire LEX stuff.. ripped it out and replaced with SP41 and Optislick (I have found the Optislick to be better than the polymer which I find tends to fur up inside the outer after a while). Shifting was night and day, heavy lever feel was transformed to a light feel that is similar to the shifter without a cable fitted at all.. shifting noticably improved at the mech end as well, faster and snappier.

The Shimano XTR/DA polymer coater ones are rubbish – the coating peels off and jams in the outer.