bianchi10

I would like to get some lighter cables simply to save some weight, but I don't know anything about the options I commonly see. I have heard several stories that certain models can be difficult to set up and shift or brake smoothly. I know there are several people I have spoken with who are interested to know this information also.

This is what I'm looking for:

-Lightweight options. Anyone know the lightest options and is there anything compromised by the lack of weight?
-Easiest to install
-Anything to stay away from?
-Cost
-Best performing

Any other tips you feel to share or add would be great as well!

deacon mark

You cannot save weight with cables and housing they are basically all the same. Frankly the best bang for the buck is jagwire and I buy it in bulk. Smooth shifting will far exceed and weight savings so change the cables and housing as soon as shifting starts to get sticky. Usually the rear derailleur loop is the problem it takes the biggest beating. When my shifting starts to degrade on the rear this is always the problem. New housing and cable and it shifts like a dream again. If you want to save weight this is not the place to look.

pdedes

qft

bianchi10

Well that's good to know. I thought weight Weenies switched them out for weight savings

rpenmanparker 

There are some lighter weight options but they are hokey and hard to work with. As already said, cables are not the place to chase weight reduction. The Jagwire Pro Road kit is hard to beat for performance, price, and also weight.

Drew Eckhardt 

Powercordz Prime use polymer cables and aluminum housings which are much lighter.

Too bad speedups are proportional to total weight reduction - dropping 24g of shift cable only speeds up a 70kg bike+rider combination 0.03% climbing a steep mountain which is just 1.2 seconds per hour.

Looigi

Agree. I've used numerous different cables, plain Jagwire, Shimano, Gore, Yokozuna, .... The JW PR are good. Hard teflon coated wires don't gum up like Gore. Compressionless brake housings work as well as Yoks but are normal diameter and a bit less stiff.

soma5

Surprising that it speeds you up that much.

znomit

Minus whatever you lose for a missed shift. Ask Schleck if its important.

rpenmanparker 

(Bold) Yeah, I just installed a new set of SRAM Red levers to replace broken ones. Unfortunately it has only been about a month since I had completely redone the cables on that bike with Jagwire Pro Roads. The levers came with inner wires, but no outers. Fortunately I could reuse the Jagwire outers, but the inners were kinked enough at the brake and derailleur clamping bolts as to be impossible to thread into the new levers and run back through the outers once they had been removed from the old ones. So I am using the new Gore inners that came with the levers inside the old Jagwire outers. Just running the Gore inners back and forth through the outers a couple of time to get the lengths right (inners and outer cable lengths had to be adjusted to account for different positioning with the newer model levers) damaged the inners enough to make them really ratty. Strings of Teflon hanging all up and down the wires. Maybe I just don't have good technique, but in my experience the Gore coating is complete trash. Anyway, they work okay, and that is all that matters, but I have to clean them up to make them presentable.

Herbie53

+1 on the Jagwire and in comes in pretty colors.

Harun

Jagwires and other more 'standard' cables are good, in that they are compression-less, easy to set-up, and affordable. But most of these have steel reinforced inners, which corrode over time, and you will have to replace them to regain that shift/brake performance.

I use Alligator I-Links. In fact , I've had them on my road bike for almost 4 years and they still work like new.

pros:

• compression-less
• segmented (so you can get the perfect length without irreversible snipping). You can lengthen/shorten the housing if you change stems/handlebars.
• light (less than half the weight of regular housing). My complete shift/brake set weighs less than 60 grams without cables (low stem and head tube means shorter housing distance).
• corrosion-free - given you use stainless steel cables, all parts of the housing are aluminum with a teflon liner. Yes Al corrodes, but not like steel, and I have not noticed any significant corrosion of my housing, even riding in the rain.

cons:

• One drawback to segmented housing is that the initial install is a bit tedious and requires patience. If you're a bit attention to detail OCD like me with my bikes, I actually enjoyed installing these, and recently installed a set for one of my riding buddies with a smile on my face the entire 2-3 hours of install time.
• only other drawback is the price (on ebay maybe $120 for a complete set), but if you consider having to replace rusty steel housing, it's actually cheaper over time...

Homebrew01

If OP is at the point of trying to save weight with lighter cables, one must assume there's a world record hill climb attempt coming up.

bianchi10

Thank you for the info. very much appreciated.

I'm really not concerned about how it effects my speed. I'm trying to find additional ways to lower the overall bike weight.

znomit

Drillium frame?

adrien

I use Nokons. Segmented, zero compression, easy to move around for mechanical work and cleaning, and you can replace inners only.

They also provide somewhat crisper shifting (SRAM plays Campy) and MUCH more direct, instant braking.

They are pretty, and expensive. Not worth it for weight, but worth it for performance, based on my data set of, um, one.

link0

Love Alligator and Aican segmented link cable housing.

carpediemracing 

I use Nokons and find them to work super well. They happen to be lighter (the housing is aluminum instead of steel) but the segmented bit is the critical part.

The housing doesn't crush itself when you put the housing in a tight bend. I initially got the Nokons because I had to turn my bars until they hit my frame to get the bike in the car. I blew out two sets of Campy housing in less than a summer. I went to Nokons, no more blown out housings. By definition you can't blow them out - they're cylinders, not wires spiral wound into a tube.



Because the housings don't compress when you force the housing through a curve there's virtually no friction on the cable, especially on a thinner (1.1 mm?) derailleur cable. When I set up one bike for a teammate (aka very distracted while trying to explain to him what to do) I initially thought we forgot to put the cable through - it was that smooth. It literally felt like an electric rear derailleur, a switch that had no mechanical thing reaching to the actual derailleur. The front, fine, it has more drag due to the derailleur spring strength, but the rear was exquisite. Brakes are good but I have nothing to compare them to.

I also run the liner for most of the length of the cable, even the exposed cable bit. This keeps the cable in better shape, especially in rain, sand, etc (note the cable between the BB area and the rear derailleur):


Tip: I use White Lightning wax lube for cables. It works really, really well, reduces friction (that's what we used when the cable felt like it wasn't there), etc. Buy the thinner derailleur cable (1.1 mm I think, versus 1.2 mm)

A thing I wrote on Nokons:
https://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...nt-nokons.html

gc3

lightest = AICAN Bungarus...check the table here

they work well, too...at least the brake cables that I have do...

gc3

Reading this post took me more than 1.2 seconds, and I'll never get it back...