Cables and outers best place.

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Milzy

Guru
I want to stock up on a few MTB inner brake cables and some MTB gear inners and outers. Where is the cheapest place for these parts? :smile:
 

Gillstay

Veteran
Your better going for quality rather than price as it makes a big difference to how they work and the price margin is small.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Your better going for quality rather than price as it makes a big difference to how they work and the price margin is small.

This - don't scrimp on gear cables for 10 speed and above. Below that you'll get away with good quality PTFE and stainless kits - Decathlon sell decent ones. My Full suspension runs on Jagwire, and the CX bike SP41 Optislick both 10 speed). Both those two get covered in crap, and this is where better cables are worth it.
 

Tom B

Guru
Location
Lancashire
After research and advice here, I only buy Shimano stainless inners and Shimano SP41 outer..

In any event I only use Shimano. It's a known quality and with brakes especially, even as a tightwad, I'm pretty keen on quality. The faff factor means that any price saving on cheaper stuff doesn't appeal. I tried Jagwire on my MTB and really didn't like it, especially the outers.

I usually find myself buying from Merlin as they often have some good deals if you aren't in a rush and keep checking.
I live close-ish and can swing by to collect to save on P&P

if you are not fussy about stainless, they have gear inners on for £1.50 (when buying 5)

https://www.merlincycles.com/shiman..._medium=Affiliates&utm_campaign=genieshopping


The last gear outer I bought was from eBay I bought about 10m and chop it off as I go.

I have also found buying brake cables and inners together as a set can be cheaper on eBay.
But I only buy them for my lads Frog as I'm hydraulic so was able to make a rear set do the outer for front and rear..
 
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Its worth the extra for stainless brake cables, as you can't readily see unexpected rust in cheap steel cables and having one snap from rust while heavy braking is really bad news.
 

T4tomo

Legendary Member
I use Clarks ones. If I wanted to shave three seconds off a two hundred mile ride at high speed, I might spend five times as much on poncy ones...but I don't need to.

I don't think anyone will claim a gear cable can make you go faster, but a slicker gear change (less relevant on less sensitive say 9/10sp and below set ups) , not having the annoyance of one fraying / snaping and the longer life of a stainless cable are worth the relatively modest extra pennies.
 

Big John

Guru
We use galvanised cables at the bike charity and I wouldn't give you tuppence for them. You see the state of the bikes we get in and you'd never touch galvanised again. I don't buy 'poncy' ones but I do buy stainless (but I do shop round on the net for hours before parting with my pension :whistle:).
 
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