Geez...
Back here. On my bike there's a metal J-shaped piece that takes the pressure off the bend in the shifter cable.
I also found a little J-shape cable piece like this on my rear brake just now too. That was pretty cruddy on the inside. Same question for that too -- Does that J-shaped piece for the brakes come with the V brake set or do you buy it separately?
This pic of the shifter cable doesn't have the metal J-shaped piece. It's just straight cable, but this is the spot where my J-shaped metal piece is. The purpose of that is to control the pressure on the cable, right? And to keep the whole section of cable in place better so it doesn't tangle in anything, right?