Shimano brake and gear cables, worth it?

[C R]

The last Jagwire set I installed had instructions which said that no cable lubrication was required. But personally I use normal bike grease, thinly spread like the King's marmalade, on those stretches of the cables that will spend their time inside outers, and a dob in the under bottom bracket guides.
Most important thing is good cable cutters and opening out the brake cable outer ends (before ferrules) with an awl or similar (big safety pin sharp end).

Thanks, I have a good cable cutter, which also has pin for opening the ends, and for good measure I file the brake outer ends after cutting, I like when they look neat .

High performance is not much of an issue, my bike is rather low end and I don't cycle huge distances, I just need something reliable that doesn't need readjusting every five minutes.

Thanks everyone again.

 

[bpsmith]

Another vote for Jagwire. Celesté variant presently on my Bianchi, strangely enough, is amazing been on there for about 3,500 miles in all weathers. No complaints whatsoever. The cable itself is coated/painted and feels ultra smooth, so no lubing needed with their liners. Road Pro kit iirc.

 

[C R]

Another vote for Jagwire. Celesté variant presently on my Bianchi, strangely enough, is amazing been on there for about 3,500 miles in all weathers. No complaints whatsoever. The cable itself is coated/painted and feels ultra smooth, so no lubing needed with their liners. Road Pro kit iirc.

I saw those, but they are as expensive as the shimano stuff, and as I said, I am a bit tight fisted. Though if I had a Bianchi, maybe I would splash a bit more, for the good stuff .

 

[bpsmith]

I saw those, but they are as expensive as the shimano stuff, and as I said, I am a bit tight fisted. Though if I had a Bianchi, maybe I would splash a bit more, for the good stuff .

I bought because if the colour, plus good reviews on the cables too. No complaints for either and weren’t expensive buying through a bike shop via eBay. Have stuck with it since on othe Bikes too.

 

[C R]

I bought because if the colour, plus good reviews on the cables too. No complaints for either and weren’t expensive buying through a bike shop via eBay. Have stuck with it since on othe Bikes too.

Do you have a link? The ones I saw were all north of £25.

 

[Blue Hills]

By the by, have used fibrax gear cable (with a snazzy red outer) with no noticable ill effects.

 

[bpsmith]

Do you have a link? The ones I saw were all north of £25.

It was quite some time ago, but will see what I can find.

 

[Adam4868]

Be careful as a lot of the really cheap jagwire sets on ebay.are not.what.you think.Fitted some to my everyday/winter bike and cables have rusted allready, Stainless my erse !

 

[bpsmith]

Usually worth sticking to actual bike shops that sell via eBay. Packaging and associated ferrules, etc usually give the game away.

 

[Nibor]

I like Wiggles Lifeline performance inner cables they are silky smooth and useful for topping up orders

 

[C R]

Be careful as a lot of the really cheap jagwire sets on ebay.are not.what.you think.Fitted some to my everyday/winter bike and cables have rusted allready, Stainless my erse !

Usually worth sticking to actual bike shops that sell via eBay. Packaging and associated ferrules, etc usually give the game away.

I didn't go for the cheapest, found a set for £6.99, and that is what I ordered, it is supposed to have all the ferrules and packaging, and according to the picture the outers have the jagwire logo embossed. Will report when I get them.

 

[Adam4868]

I didn't go for the cheapest, found a set for £6.99, and that is what I ordered, it is supposed to have all the ferrules and packaging, and according to the picture the outers have the jagwire logo embossed. Will report when I get them.

Good luck,but 6.99 is cheap....any cheaper they'd be for nowt.

 

[bpsmith]

£6.99 is rather cheap.

Mine were £22.99 iirc and ended up with a free second set as the first set was missing the ferrules pack.

Would be dubious at £6.99 tbh.

 

[mjr]

Can you test stainlessness without waiting to see if it rusts or dipping it in acid to accelerate it or otherwise damaging it? I don't remember... if I ever knew.

 

[chriscross1966]

There are four levels of Jagwire cables, Basics, Sport, Pro and Elite... The Basics stuff is pretty similar to Clarks, you definitely aren't getting a high-end cable, and it's the outers that seem to suffer most for it, I don't bother with Sport cables, if it's going on a bike I'm shifting on and it needs new cables it'll get Basics (or even Clarks), but if it's going on a bike I'm keeping I want better so tend to shell out for the Pro, they're very nice cables, and once again it's the outers where you see the money... I do have a Brompton with a full set of Elite Link on it.... they are fabulous cables, and the good thing is the expensive bit (the links themselves) will last a very long time, you just replace the relatively cheap inners and liners, but they are shockingly expensive initially (like 200 quid to do one 5-speed Brompton), you can't get them in Celeste and they take an age to fit from scratch ..... Definitely second the fact you need to sort out the ends of the outers before feeding them your inners..