Cable housing, friction shifting
01-06-22, 08:29 AM
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Cable housing, friction shifting
Maybe a dumb question.... back in the day of friction shifting, were brake and shifter cable housings the same thing, or different as they are now? (I understand why they're different now, in the age of indexing, etc)
01-06-22, 09:08 AM
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that's my recollection.
It was all just spiral wound metal with a plastic outer layer.. except for the nifty stainless steel wound housing used for rear derailleurs sometimes.
Of course, it was common to use very little cable housing for derailleurs. With downtube shift levers, about the only derailleur housing that was needed was right at the rear derailleur.
Steve in Peoria
It was all just spiral wound metal with a plastic outer layer.. except for the nifty stainless steel wound housing used for rear derailleurs sometimes.
Of course, it was common to use very little cable housing for derailleurs. With downtube shift levers, about the only derailleur housing that was needed was right at the rear derailleur.
Steve in Peoria
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01-06-22, 10:13 AM
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For some old-school builds, I still like to use the bare coiled steel housing for the RD loop. Supposedly it drains off the wet stuff, but I also put a dab of grease on the shifter cable to ensure smooth passage.
01-06-22, 12:36 PM
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I use brake cable housing for my friction shifting, because it's more flexible, cost efficient, more easily available, and perfectly matches in color the rest of the housing on the bike.
Also, shift housing often separates uncontrollably when not using the exactly correct diameter ferrule, an ugly problem you needn't worry about with brake cable housing.
Also, shift housing often separates uncontrollably when not using the exactly correct diameter ferrule, an ugly problem you needn't worry about with brake cable housing.
01-06-22, 01:11 PM
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01-06-22, 01:28 PM
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Ah, of course- I didn't think about the fact that most/many BITD bikes had down-tube shifters and no cable housing other than from the chain-stay to the RD... Mainly wondering because I have a bunch of old, unused brake housing I was wondering about using on my PX-10 refurb- but of course, it's really just the little bit at the RD that needs something, and the bare steel housing would look apropos there...
01-07-22, 05:30 AM
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My late-50s/early-60s Frejus TdF originally had full housing for the derailleurs. When I got it the previous owner had cobbled together some combination of barrel adjusters and funny little ferrules to eliminate most of it. I returned it to stock. The shifter housing is definitely smaller diameter than the brake housing. (Fortunately, it appears Schwinn bought similar housing from Huret that matches the brake housing (a small crosshatch detail), so I was able to get pretty good matchy matchy.
I don't have any good photos of that part of the bike, but in this shot you can see that the "cable stop" on the drive side chainstay isn't a stop at all. It just guides the housing to the real stop on the derailleur.
I don't have any good photos of that part of the bike, but in this shot you can see that the "cable stop" on the drive side chainstay isn't a stop at all. It just guides the housing to the real stop on the derailleur.
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