DRLski

What exactly is the difference between brake and derailleur housing? If I run derailleur cable in brake housing would I have any issues?

nitropowered

Brake housing has a coiled metal inner and is rather flexible. Derailleur housing has steel wire running the length of the housing and does not compress.

If you use brake housing for your derailluers, you will not get correct shifting. I am assuming you are using indexed shifting. If you are using friction, you can use either or.

You can use derailluer housing for your brakes but you risk losing your brakes if the housing explodes and brakes apart.

cuda2k

In other words - Don't mix and match!

DRLski

dang, well, is there more flexible derailleur cable then Shimano or is it supposed to be stiff?

cuda2k

I have found Shimano stuff to be pretty stiff, but not sure what else is any more flexable.

baxtefer

nokons?

pinky

Generally you want housing to be as stiff as possible so you don't lose any brake or shifting pull (though compression-less housing with brakes takes a little getting used to). If you're looking for more flexible housing that doesn't give up performance you should probably look at Nokons. They're expensive but they'll give you the best routing options of anything out there - Zabel even used to use them to loop his shifter cables back onto his bars to roughly replicate Campy. That said, be aware they can rust if you dont maintain them (they're aluminum) and they are compression-less so braking will be much stronger.

fogrider

also, brake cable is .5mm, derailluer cable is .4mm.

brianappleby

nokons for shifting = huge can of worms

BikeWise1

First, it would be difficult to get a 1.6mm cable through housing made for a 1.1mm cable, but even if you can, do not under any circumstances use normal stiff derailleur housing for your brakes!. It is not made to withstand the heavy cable tension of a hard stop and may blow apart at a most inopportune time!

Brake housing is wound to withstand it. Derailleur housing is designed to not compress, but at the cost of ultimate strength.

BikeWise1

+1

That stuff is poo. Honestly, if Shimano and Campy thought a different housing design would work better, they'd already be using it on their premier groups. An edge in the marketplace, ya know...

phantomcow2

I Derailleur housing is pretty stiff, with all the strands of metal.

I never have heard that about the Nokons, interesting. Has anybody used Gore ride ons? I saw a sample set at my lbs a few days ago, it felt nearly frictionless. But, this was only a 2ft section with no bends.