denada

is it ok to give a squirt of dumonde tech lite formula into the housing before running the cable through and calling that good? all these lubes are like $10 - $15 a piece and i'd prefer not to buy a bottle when i need a drop if i have something that will suffice. thanks.

sdmc530

Right or wrong i do. Never had an issue.

Jon C on GCN just uses what ever lube he has at hand too.

DOS

Between slick, polished or coated, cables and lined housing, I call that good enough and don't bother lubing cable. Hasn’t been an issue.

denada

i did. thanks for the input.

dsbrantjr

Me, too, I find that lubing them just helps them to pick up dust and grit better. I use the die-drawn(slicked) inners and lined housings, the coated ones are difficult to clamp securely and the coating comes off and causes problems.

DOS

Agree about coated cables. Die drawn is the way to go.

cyccommute 

Shouldn’t be a problem. Grease will work as well. You could also use a cable luber. You can just spray an aerosol lubricant like WD-40 into the cable while it is still on the bike.

canklecat

Depends on the lube. I tried Park CL-1 chain lube on cables a few years ago. When I finally replaced the cables I realized the CL-1 had become tacky, making the cables feel a bit sluggish. That's probably the same characteristic that makes CL-1 a good wet weather chain lube.

But not problems with Boeshield T9, Tri-Flow and most other wet lubes, especially penetrating lubes. They don't get tacky after the carrier evaporates.

UniChris

Just did that thisafternoon to the "slow" rear brake cable on the sat in a garage for years craigslist find that became my nephew's new ride, because it was borderline unusable the can was right there.

Made a huge difference in the short term.

But what about all that "WD 40 is NOT a lubricant!" conventional wisdom?

It freed things up, but I can't help feeling like we really need to use something else for actual lasting lubrication?

Gresp15C

WD 40 is a mixture of mineral spirits and light mineral oil, that comes in a handy spray can. When the mineral spirits evaporate, the oil remains and functions as a lubricant. There's some other stuff in there as well, possibly of minor or even negligible importance. Whether it's a great lubricant is a matter for the engineers, but a bike cable is also not a heavy duty application.

I'd use it if I had it, before going out and buying something else to sit on my shelf.

Oddly enough I just found out that chain lube works as a tapping fluid.

UniChris

Everyone knows that's a job for bacon grease

70sSanO

Depends.

Over time I’ve use a lube and not used one at other times.

I’ve stopped using a lube on my mountain bikes as dust goes everywhere. I’ll clean my housings with WD-40 and leave it at that. If find that using the “slick” cables are the biggest improvement with trigger shifters.

John

Rolla

Slotted cable stops allow you to very easily pop the cable out, slide the housing out of the way, and lubricate the cable within. I regularly apply a little Tri-Flow to mine, and notice an immediate improvement in brake response and lever feel. But if you really want them to be slick, use a bit of this: