Another cable-related question
04-19-05, 11:14 AM
#3
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plain stainless. cheaper, and they work fine.
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04-19-05, 10:34 PM
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Originally Posted by shane45
What do you guys prefer for cables - plain stainless, or Teflon coated inner wires?
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04-20-05, 03:28 AM
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Originally Posted by Raiyn
Generic Teflon like Nervs or Alligator cables. No need for XTR as all you're paying for at that point is a name. I run tefon cables exclusivly on my bikes
02-18-19, 07:30 AM
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Stainless, die-drawn inners, lined outers. The coefficient of friction of Teflon/Teflon and Teflon/steel are almost identical so I do not see the performance gain from coating the inner.
And the coated inners can sometimes be a bear to clamp securely; I generally end up scrapingwire-wheeling the coating off where I clamp them. PITA.
And the coated inners can sometimes be a bear to clamp securely; I generally end up scrapingwire-wheeling the coating off where I clamp them. PITA.
02-18-19, 08:10 AM
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Stainless, die-drawn inners, lined outers. The coefficient of friction of Teflon/Teflon and Teflon/steel are almost identical so I do not see the performance gain from coating the inner.
And the coated inners can sometimes be a bear to clamp securely; I generally end up scrapingwire-wheeling the coating off where I clamp them. PITA.
And the coated inners can sometimes be a bear to clamp securely; I generally end up scrapingwire-wheeling the coating off where I clamp them. PITA.
02-18-19, 08:38 AM
#8
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That's a good question. I just went through a cable search and trial building up my dream bike, which has internal routing and some difficult bends.
Among stainless cables, there's a range of quality -- some are really smooth, others not as much. One thing to notice, among brake cables, is if it has both the road and mountain ends, leaving you to clip one. A cut cable doesn't route as easily as one with a soldered end. I think the SRAM cables are good examples of plain stainless. From what I can tell, they make one cable for all their upper end road sets, and it works.
Among the coated, I have tried the Shimano 9000 and Aican Bungarus. The Aican Bungarus cable housing is super difficult and very limited in where you'd want to use it (they have fragile joinery that uses a fragmented inner liner) but the cables seem really nice. The coating doesn't shred and fuzz up like Shimano 9000 and it's slick without slipping out of the binder bolt.
I've used the 9000/XTR cables, and they seem very slick, but as others mentioned, they can slip the bolt. On road levers, particularly SRAM, I have trouble installing them without shredding the coating into a full length fuzz. As for what happens on the derailleur side, I didn't find stripping off the coating to be difficult -- it was really too easy. Just take a stamp sized piece of any grit sandpaper, fold it over and run it down away from the mark once or twice.
Also, I got some Bontrager XXX cables, which I'd guess are really made by Jagwire. They're like a highly polished stainless, possibly with some coating, but it's hard to tell. I didn't see a big advantage over plain SRAM stainless. The XXX housing is so-so; it has a plastic inner sleeve surrounded by alloy beads. I didn't notice a huge drop in friction. It seemed like there was actually more drag than with a good lined housing and a SRAM stainless cable.
It seemed like a few or several years ago, there was a real competition for great cables and housing -- Nokon, Yokozuna, etc -- and now I had a harder time figuring out the best option. In the end, I went with Shimano 9000 housing and the Aican cables, because I had it in my quest for some ultimate system. If done again, I think the SRAM set would be a good buy. Or just get the 9000 housing and use any high quality stainless cable.
Among stainless cables, there's a range of quality -- some are really smooth, others not as much. One thing to notice, among brake cables, is if it has both the road and mountain ends, leaving you to clip one. A cut cable doesn't route as easily as one with a soldered end. I think the SRAM cables are good examples of plain stainless. From what I can tell, they make one cable for all their upper end road sets, and it works.
Among the coated, I have tried the Shimano 9000 and Aican Bungarus. The Aican Bungarus cable housing is super difficult and very limited in where you'd want to use it (they have fragile joinery that uses a fragmented inner liner) but the cables seem really nice. The coating doesn't shred and fuzz up like Shimano 9000 and it's slick without slipping out of the binder bolt.
I've used the 9000/XTR cables, and they seem very slick, but as others mentioned, they can slip the bolt. On road levers, particularly SRAM, I have trouble installing them without shredding the coating into a full length fuzz. As for what happens on the derailleur side, I didn't find stripping off the coating to be difficult -- it was really too easy. Just take a stamp sized piece of any grit sandpaper, fold it over and run it down away from the mark once or twice.
Also, I got some Bontrager XXX cables, which I'd guess are really made by Jagwire. They're like a highly polished stainless, possibly with some coating, but it's hard to tell. I didn't see a big advantage over plain SRAM stainless. The XXX housing is so-so; it has a plastic inner sleeve surrounded by alloy beads. I didn't notice a huge drop in friction. It seemed like there was actually more drag than with a good lined housing and a SRAM stainless cable.
It seemed like a few or several years ago, there was a real competition for great cables and housing -- Nokon, Yokozuna, etc -- and now I had a harder time figuring out the best option. In the end, I went with Shimano 9000 housing and the Aican cables, because I had it in my quest for some ultimate system. If done again, I think the SRAM set would be a good buy. Or just get the 9000 housing and use any high quality stainless cable.
02-18-19, 09:37 AM
#9
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I’ll add a -10 to your comments and add a “it depends”. There is a benefit if your bike is used in winter weather and/or stored outside. I’ve seen a lot of bikes with cables that are rusted inside the cable housing...even in plastic lined housing. Salt can get into the cable housing and corrode the inner cable. Even stainless doesn’t stand up to salt. Corroded inner cables cause drag and makes brake and shifter housing work poorly. Teflon coating helps keep the corrosion down.
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
02-18-19, 11:16 AM
#10
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My Brompton came with coated cables , where the housing bends are , the wear-friction, rubbed off the coating ..
02-18-19, 11:42 AM
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Recent new threads so bad we need to dig through the old ones? I hope riding season returns soon for you.
