Yellow Saddle
Guru
- Location
- Loch side.
Bending is not the issue, premature spoke failure is.
A sartorial question…
- Thread starter CharlieB
- Start date
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gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
Nice to see the usual negative comments eh...
Yellow Saddle
Guru
- Location
- Loch side.
raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
I like em and ain't broke a spoke yet and I hover around the 15 stone mark (100kg) so "Ya Boo Sucks To You"
OP
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CharlieB
Junior Walker and the Allstars
- Location
- Therivermeadowatthepileofstones
Back on topic.
Yup, red cables it is. Looks the biz.
Now I'm just tempted to do the same on the two Bromptons (green/yellow) and blue for the hybrid.
By the by, Brompton put Jagwire cables on their new bikes, and I imagine they're pretty picky about quality.
More work needed on the front mech, though. It's not dropping to the small ring. Never could do front mechs.
Yup, red cables it is. Looks the biz.
Now I'm just tempted to do the same on the two Bromptons (green/yellow) and blue for the hybrid.
By the by, Brompton put Jagwire cables on their new bikes, and I imagine they're pretty picky about quality.
More work needed on the front mech, though. It's not dropping to the small ring. Never could do front mechs.
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CharlieB
Junior Walker and the Allstars
- Location
- Therivermeadowatthepileofstones
FTFY, JJ
Yellow Saddle
Guru
- Location
- Loch side.
Cable quality is not obvious to most people and making a faith-based choice doesn't help the understanding of it either.
Cable quality has many facets. I'll mention a few:
Material - chosen for corrosion resistance, fatigue limit, tensile strength etc.
Finish. More machining offers a smoother texture for reduced friction and wear over the cable's life.
If you look at a cable cross-section, you'll see a daisy shape. Compared to a monostrand wire, this is pretty rough and will offer more resistance as it moves up and down the housing.
By pushing the finished product through a additional manufacturing process which increases the cost but inceases smoothness, a cable can be smoothed out by flattening the outer profile. From daisy-shape to clover-shape, I suppose. In other words, the outer radius of the outer layer of wire is flattened.
In the photo above, I've laid a Shimano cable (foreground one) against a few other brand. You can sort of see that the Shimano cable is flat on the outside and the others have the traditional daisy shape. When you wind the two brands of cable a few times around a pole of say 50mm diameter
and then work the ends, the difference is obvious and remarkable. The Shimano one can move with one finger, the others require several fingers and a push and pull action.
One step further, is the Shimano polymer cable.
The diagram above compares the Shimano cable below with that of a typical Jagwire (green here) cable with a Teflon coating like your cooking pans at home. This coating lasts about 50 applications of the brake/gear lever and then wears off and crumbles, blocking the housing and increasing friction.
The photo above was taken with a macro lens. It is Shimano's latest cable. A steel cable is coated with a rough polymer, which gives a super smooth action. It doesn't crumble or peel and remains smooth for a very long time.
Finally here is a photo of a super expensive Gore cable in action. Notice how the Teflon coating peels off, revealing a rough, poorly finished wire braid.
Not all cable is made equal and OEM spec doesn't spell quality.
Tail End Charlie
Well, write it down boy ......
- Location
- In green and pleasant hills.
Interesting @Yellow Saddle. I agree Teflon coated cables are crap as the coating wears off quickly. Can't say I've used Jagwire, I've always stuck with Shimano, looks like I made a good choice!
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CharlieB
Junior Walker and the Allstars
- Location
- Therivermeadowatthepileofstones
Agreed, some interesting points there @Yellow Saddle . I'd read some stuff on coated cable before and actualy on this installation, I used the inners supplied with the levers, a) because they were pre-loaded into the levers, and b) I'm hopeless at cutting inners cleanly.
Tip for cutting outers cleanly - I use a Dremel cutting disc, but it doesn't work on inners (for me, at any rate).
Tip for cutting outers cleanly - I use a Dremel cutting disc, but it doesn't work on inners (for me, at any rate).
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
That's not a problem for you, surely?
Citius
Guest
I recommend the right tool for the job - ie cable cutters.
I did have a fettle and got it sorted, but whether it stayed sorted....
The red cables really suited the bike too...
