Originally Posted by
Bah Humbug
Stainless steel can absolutely rust under the right (wrong) conditions, it just takes longer.
I know that. But, whatever alloy it is, my stainless cables in 12 bikes, don't rust. Some brake cables with 10 + thousand miles. Some of my bikes don't get wet often.
Four different bikes had the cable break inside the Brifters, at about 6,000 miles Just like others here. Another one was the old style indexing thumb shifters from the first cheap MTBs. I've left 440c and 304 outside as a test, for a year. The 304 was barely rusted at all. The way I treat my bikes probably is one factor.
I never put a bike away wet, and rarely dirty. I blow off the water, snow, or ice with an air nozzle. If there is ice on anything, I heat the garage to above freezing That does not get the inside of the cables clean though. Especially if there is rust in there.