Originally Posted by smd4

I put Aican compressionless cables on my Cinelli with Dura Ace 7700 brakes. Aican cables are pretty much the same as the Jagwire--basically the same as derailleur housing, wrapped in Kevlar, and a lot lighter than the regular coiled brake housing. They're lighter because many of the longitudinal cables that form the housing are aluminum instead of steel. Regular brake cable housing is just a coiled tube of pure, heavy steel--which, because of its design, is essentially a spring. I'm using Dura Ace 7402 levers, with the cables wrapped under the bar tape. The cables took the curves of the handlebar just fine.

The added responsiveness in the brakes--especially the rear brake--is astounding. Externally, the cables look identical to regular brake cable housing, so they look fine on a vintage bike. They don't move when the brakes are applied, so there is no stress whatsoever on the cable guides. You need to use the ferrules provided on the cable ends (they look like regular ferrules but prevent the wires that form the housing from "squeezing through" the ends of the cables. You use them on both ends of the housing). My brakes are pretty high-end, and flex is not transferred to the calipers. The improved braking I get from both front and rear brakes is in no way "negligible."

I'm a former bike mechanic, so my brakes with the coiled housing "worked good" before. Now they work better.

The technology isn't exactly "new," but you will need to use shop-quality, bike-cable specific cable cutters for the housing--diagonal cutters from Home Depot won't do the job. Other than that, the cables install just like any other brake cables.

So for the money, I got way lighter cables and vastly improved braking. A win-win-win, in my book.