Folks - What's the consensus on the best/stiction free derailleur cables on the market? Links appreciated too. TIA.
Gore sheathed cables with liner were the best i've used but too pricey for me. Second would be Shimano XTR kit. I hate teflon coated cables, they wear off and clog the housing but these seem to be durable. I'm a cheap azz and use Jagwire universal kit. The end caps are alloy and o'ring sealed, a huge plus in my book. They are OEM for a few different companies.
Probably will get lots of opinions on this. The standard Shimano cables work fine for me, with the Shimano housing. In fact I recently put one of those plastic coated/sheathed cables in and it was a pain (and some cleaners/lubes seem to break the sheath down and make it bad sticky). If you turn the housing 180 degrees from the sharp bends that it's been running on every now and then you can make the housing last longer. I run full length housing and replace it when it gets sticky and the brake cleaner and lube don't help much anymore. I only replace cables if they break or fray too much at the der end. Pulling them out and cleaning them every once in awhile helps allot. jmho
I'm fine running the stock Shimano SP41 housing and the cheap $2 shimano cables on my bikes that do full housing. I've experienced slicker, but they're not worth the price premium to me, with the nicer shifters such as XX with its included coated cable and XTR's swiss watch-like feeling. I tried Jagwire LEX S3 and Aztec Duracote too, but it feels about on par with the Shimano setup. Never tried the Gore Ride-Ons before. My beater/commuter bike could prob use slicker cables for the brakes though. There's enough stiction in them to not let the brake return spring return fully, leading to a bit of slack in the rear brake lever/cable.
I like the Yokozuna stainless cables. About a buck more than Shimano. Slightly thinner, 0.1mm, than most cables, so they slip easily through SP-41 housing.
Never really thought about it. they're working and I ain't worrying! I think the bikes all have shimano SIS, no problems, smooth and shift well. Unless of course you count the broken Rear Derailleur cable breaking, twice. but that is a bike design flaw...
My XT rear derailleur eats cables like crazy. It's so weird. I burn through one every couple of months depending on how much I ride. It got so bad that I was thinking about carrying an extra cable in my pack. I've never had that issue with any other derailleur.
The original XT Shadows were notorious for breaking derailleur cables. Not a problem with the newer ones.
Mine has eaten one so far. Busted right around where the cable clamps. There's a little notch there and at some gears, the angle the cable makes is pretty sharp around that notch to the cable stop/clamp.
High end cables generally, ime, offer the advantage of stainless steel cables with more strands. The smaller the strands, the more flexible the cable. If you like short and tight cabling, jagwire ss cables do well with most any housing. All the teflon coated bs has nothing on a well greased cable. If you're breaking the cable at the clamp, you're over torquing it. Actually, most cables will only accept getting torqued once. If you readjust the cable, it will likely break where you torqued it first. When putting on a new cable, bottom down the barrel adjusters first. Pull on the cable just hand right. Don't pull too hard. Then clamp it down. Use a torque wrench if youd had too much coffe. Chase the adjustment with the barrel adjuster. Try really hard not to readjust the cable at the clamp. If you can't get it right, use a torque wrench and set it at 4-5nm when clamping a cable.
Do derailleur cables get greased? Not that I'm an expert, but I don't think I've ever done that. (I have tried chain lube on the cable, and didn't like it.)
NO GREASE! Set up this experiment on a new housing and cable: Lay it out on a table and move the cable back and forth within the housing. Notice the resistance. Now take it apart and put your thinnest grease on the cable, and put it back together. Lay it out on the table and move the cable back and forth some more. Even thin grease providing a little resistance over all that surface area adds up to a LOT of resistance over the full length of the cable. The result is added friction and sluggishness. In regards to the original question, I've always used SP41 housing, and cable ranging from expensive to the cheapest ones I could find. Honestly, I can't tell that much of a difference. Where I CAN tell the difference is between old and new. I'd rather run junky cables/housing and replace them frequently than a high-zoot setup that's been run into the ground.
I just use the standard bulk cables on all my bikes. I've used Gore, the fancier Jagwire stuff, couple other slick type cables (can't recall names)...and they've made little difference to me. I just use a bit cable magic or Tri Flow when inserting the cable into the housing. That's about it.
Perhaps this blog post may describe the same problem you guys face. http://www.peterverdone.com/?p=3734