Duuuuuude99

Hi all. I’m looking to replace my brake housing with compressionless housing (specific color as well)

im getting a 10m roll so there’s a lot.

wondering if this housing would also work for derailleur cables, considering derailleur cables are compressionless too.

I know the compressionless brake cable will be 5mm thick unlike the 4mm thick regular derailleur cables, but I don’t think that will be a problem with the cable stops in the frame in terms of that fit.

so would it work?

thanks.

KCT1986

Yes, it should work if your setup isn't hindered by the limited flexibility of the housing. Under-bar tape routing on a road bike bar and the final piece to the rear derailleur may be problematic.

With linear strand housing, a quality ferrule (brass) and proper finishing of the cut ends will be needed.

Duuuuuude99

Yea. Running old ultegra 6600 so the housing comes out of the shifter and is not under the bar tape…cool

tyrion

You might need special ferules to mate the 5mm housing to shift cable stops on the frame and on the derailleurs and on the shifters.

It might end up being easier to just get compressionless shift cable housing.

KCT1986

That works.

For the piece to the RD, possibly run it a little longer than usual so get a larger curve between the chainstay stop and the RD. A general rule of thumb is that the entry into the RD adjuster should be relatively straight with no sharp angle. I've run older 5mm SIS housing and added about 30-40mm to what would be normal.

Duuuuuude99

great idea…this is going on a tandem and the 6600 with xtr rear derailleur shifts just great as is…this compressionless housing is being used because I’m looking to add a disc brake in the rear…

the reason for this question is because the housing color matches the frame….so why not make all the cables match?!?

I think this “upgrade” will be fruitful!

maddog34

shift cable caps are the same outside diameter as brake cable caps... and the stops found on the frames/ders/calipers are the same ID...

Almost All 4mm shift cable housing sold is "Compressionless", or Stranded Housing. find the kind with a teflon liner for smoother shift cable movement.

BRAKE cable housing is rarely "Compressionless ", Stranded... And it can be difficult to find at times. Many bike shops don't stock it... sad but true. A Quality Coiled Brake cable housing with Liner is almost as good and can be found, for a premium price. I use the Pro Jagwire Kits on my higher end builds. The Standard Jagwire housing is not as nice, but still better than Sunlite and many other brands.... Clark's is somewhere in between... I've bought some Defective housing before.. the OD was so small the end caps just fall right off, internal size varied enough to cause trouble, and there were actual defects in the coil alignments too. That "bargain" cost me time and cash... i was able to salvage about 50% of it.

While you CAN use brake housing for shift cables,it's not advised since it causes vague shifting and setup struggles.
Many Box store bikes used to use 5mm for shifting... they suck.

Kontact 

You will not. Brake and shift ferrules have the same outside diameter and fit the same in frame stops.

Duuuuuude99

Yea, I'm going with Jagwire pro brake housing, which is their kevlar lined compressionless variety.

I've used them years ago, as they were formerly Jagwire "racer" housing/cable kits, but was unaware of the "compressionless" aspect of the brake housing at the time.

smd4

All of these statements are patently false. Compressionless BRAKE cable housing is not rare. Compressionless “stranded” housing is easy to find on line (I use Aican). And coiled housing is no where near as good as compressionless when it comes to improving braking efficiency and responsiveness—even with lining.

Russ Roth

Varies, I'm building a mtb for a friend right now using cast off parts, which means cable disc brakes. I can tell you the 5mm housing does not fit in the frame cable stops and it isn't the first bike I've run into with this. der housing is 4mm while compressionless brake is 5mm, the ferrules are the same thickness which means at the different diameters the 5mm brake will be wider and may not fit. Also won't fit older campy rear der adjustment barrels from my experience. I've got aluminum ferrules that are a little thinner to help the problem though they're not a perfect solution, but jagwire ships with plastic.

But it doesn't change that you were wrong, compressionless housing is noticeably better than spiral wound housing especially on disc brakes. spiral isn't close enough. Set up the same brakes with the different housing and you can even see a difference in how the housing moves in response to the compression or nar lack of compression. And not finding it at your local shops just doesn't speak well of your local shops. I can buy it at the 3 closest I use in multiple colors, they're sold as shimano or jagwire pro replacement kits, comes with two cables and enough housing to outfit a bike's shifting system. I tend to buy it buy the roll as a money saver.

OP, stick an old bit of brake housing with a ferrule on it in the frame's der cable stops, if it slides right in then it'll probably work, if its a tight fit then it may not work, and if it doesn't fit then obviously it won't work. I've done it with mixed results on fit. Every time it has fit I've been happy with the shifting results, just seems to have less resistance in the shifting.

maddog34

Long Island, NY, v. Rural NW Oregon. need i say more? but why attack MY OPINION?..i've had some great spiral wound housing... it came from factories that understand quality control better than chinese sweat shops bent on squeezing every penny out of every worker. Try just posting your own opinion next time, ok?calling someone else's opinion WRONG is WRONG. and you may want to measure some cable housing caps some time.... the ones i have here range from 5.6 to 6mm OD, shift and brake ID.. and they fit in any stop on two MTB frames and one road frame tested.(KHS, Giant, Trek.)
and, to review.. the OP has already decided to take my advice and order up the excellent Jagwire Cable kit.

NEXT!.

Kontact 

You're wrong. The ferrules are not the same thickness. 4mm ferrules are made of thick plastic or brass to come out to a bit under 6mm. 5mm ferrules are made of thin, stamped brass that you can crush between your fingers. They also come out to a bit under 6mm.



These are typical MTB top tube cable stops, sold by Nova Cycles, a frame building supplier. The three holes, designed for the rear brake and two derailleurs, are all the same size. Nova doesn't even give specs for their cable stops - because all of them are the same ID. You use them interchangeably.

I have no idea what kind of stuff you encountered, but modern cable stops are pretty standardized. This is certainly true as it pertains to the OP.

smd4

I provided nothing but FACTS and did not call you any names (unlike you), nor was I rude (unlike you). You clearly don't understand the meaning of the term "troll." Reported.

StanSeven

Let’s stop with the insults and stick with helping the OP. It’s a question with some good reposes that other members may find useful and informative.

rosefarts

I think it was when I got Jag-wire compressionless brake cable, but I can’t remember. Something I bought came with a bunch of ferrules, some were necked down so I could use them in shifters.

I don’t actually remember if I used them this way. I do remember the ferrules though. So at least one other person has thought about it.

Leisesturm

You are correct, but until the other poster came into the fray, no one had bothered to observe that shift cable housing has essentially been 'compressionless' since index shifting. Maybe before. So I'm giving them that. O.p. premise was bound to pit practical types vs go for it types. I am (slowly) learning to stay away those kinds of doomed discussions.

smd4

No, true compressionless shifter housing--with lengthwise strands--came a bit later after indexing was introduced in 1984; probably because they figured out that compressionless shifter housing increased index shifting performance. Back when indexed shifting was introduced, you only needed to use about a foot of the stuff, so using coiled housing didn't make as great a difference.

OP should also be aware that compressionless brake housing is something like 40% lighter than standard coiled housing.

Duuuuuude99

Yes, when I last used Jagwire's "Racer" kit, it was 10+ years ago. Both housings were 5mm, which was different than normal, but I used the brake portion for the brakes and the shifter portions for the shifters.

Since then, I've started a family with multiple kids and the time required to build bikes and experiment has diminished significantly! Hence the question as I need to be most efficient with my time when I'm wrenching!

Thank you all. I'm going to go ahead and try it out and I'll report back in a few weeks (assuming I've made the switch by then!)

rosefarts

Story of the last few years. I’ve got a 3 and 5 year old. I work full time, 3x12 and my wife works part time 2x12 other days. I try to keep active but it’s super easy to slide into complacency.

I think the most absurd thing I did as a hurried dad was reinstalling my Campy cranks less than (more than?) 180 degrees apart. Didn’t realize it at first and went on several rides before noticing.

2_i 

For a few years already I use the same TRLREQ bamboo/bead housing both for brakes and shift cables, this now on 6 bikes and counting. I had problems only with Shimano in-line adjusters that I had to drill to accommodate the beads wider than standard diameter for shift cables. With that housing I got rid of ferrules and other cable junk of this type. Given that the housing accommodates both shift and brake cables, I started using a brake cable for one of the derailleurs on a folder, that required a higher tension. I only needed to file a bit the cable stop.

Russ Roth

When I post an opinion I state it as such. You're just wrong and I don't care if its your opinion, wrong opinions are still wrong, quality compressionless brake housing is better than any traditional coil brake housing. I don't know if there's a cheap version, I buy jagwire, why you dragged Chinese into it I'm not certain. I'm happy you live in Oregon, good for you, we have lousy shops here too, I just avoid those. Also glad they fit your frames, I never said they wouldn't, I suggested there was the possibility they won't fit every time, I'm basing that on the fact, not opinion, that I've had actual fit issues on occasion which I stated. OK.

So those aren't necessarily compressionless housing ferrules, and you need to watch that they strands in the housing are completely covered by the ferrule and not visible through the hole, or just like can happen with der housing the strands can come out, I know this from experience and have witnessed the issue with poorly fitted ferrules on brake and der. The issue is less so with brake I suspect, as it tends to come with the appropriate caps, none of which, in either of my 10m rolls of jagwire housing, were actually made of metal, they were plastic making them thicker than the cheap metals ones you're talking about.

'02 nrs

if you can live with blue this is a great bargain.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N3007DM...ding=UTF8&th=1

smd4

To rectify something I was accused of not doing (by someone who didn't provide a link):

Here's a link to eBay for Aican compressionless ("Superlight") housing. Kevlar wrapped aluminum and steel wires. Several colors available. Probably about the same as Jagwire, but cheaper (for those of us who have kids and who have kids in college!). It's been awesome for me.

Aican Housing on eBay

Kontact 

You're not getting this. It doesn't matter what the housing needs - what matters is that the housing needs to work on existing bikes and components. And bikes use a fixed ferrule outer diameter. If the ferrules that come with compressionless housing are thicker, it can only be because the outer diameter of the housing is undersized and not a full 5mm.

There are also the POP ferrules, which are stepped on the end. But the step is to make the terminus of the housing 5mm to fit into calipers like Shimano that are designed for bare housing going into the adjusting barrel. Every other cable stop on a bike is the same universal outer diameter whether it is on the frame or at the derailleur barrel.