lightweight cable set

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AlphaDogCycling
Posts: 55
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2013 6:57 pm

by AlphaDogCycling

I've got Nocon cables on my Merlin with Ultegra 6800, and I'm not thrilled with the shifting. The rear shifting "sticks" between a couple of cogs. I'm actually thinking of changing the Nocon for stock Shimano


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Roadrocket
Posts: 355
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2018 8:43 am
Location: Slovakia

by Roadrocket

Looking for lightweight shift/brake housing for my TCR Advanced SL weightweenie winter build, but I don´t like link system much.
Any advices? But need something reliable because I´ll put mechanical groupset on. Thinking about to stay with standard Shimano housing, but it´s way too heavy...

Thx

by Weenie


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TheKaiser
Posts: 653
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:29 pm

by TheKaiser

Roadrocket wrote:
Sat Dec 22, 2018 8:06 pm
Looking for lightweight shift/brake housing for my TCR Advanced SL weightweenie winter build, but I don´t like link system much.
Any advices? But need something reliable because I´ll put mechanical groupset on. Thinking about to stay with standard Shimano housing, but it´s way too heavy...

Thx
There are other people who have more experience with the crazy light WW options, like the Tune housing stripped of it's black outer casing, etc...but for more standard but still lighter options there are a few companies that have shown regular style plastic casing/metal stranded/teflon lined housing, but using aluminum strands rather than steel strands. That has always seemed like a smart bet to me, as it is a tried and true structure, just with a lighter material substituted in a place where it should probably still be sufficient. I don't recall all the brands I have seen it offered under, but I think Jagwire was one of them.

Roadrocket
Posts: 355
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2018 8:43 am
Location: Slovakia

by Roadrocket

Thanks, if I´d find something like that it would be perfect. I´m not searching for most lightweight possible option, but need something lighter than Shimano housing, but still reliable.
Any ideas for brand producing this? I´ve found only link housings. I´ve checked jagwire, the produce classic housings too, but I don´t think they are any lighter, because they use steel strands...
Last edited by Roadrocket on Sun Dec 23, 2018 10:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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tommasini
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by tommasini

TheKaiser wrote:
Sun Dec 23, 2018 12:11 am
Roadrocket wrote:
Sat Dec 22, 2018 8:06 pm
Looking for lightweight shift/brake housing for my TCR Advanced SL weightweenie winter build, but I don´t like link system much.
Any advices? But need something reliable because I´ll put mechanical groupset on. Thinking about to stay with standard Shimano housing, but it´s way too heavy...

Thx
There are other people who have more experience with the crazy light WW options, like the Tune housing stripped of it's black outer casing, etc...but for more standard but still lighter options there are a few companies that have shown regular style plastic casing/metal stranded/teflon lined housing, but using aluminum strands rather than steel strands. That has always seemed like a smart bet to me, as it is a tried and true structure, just with a lighter material substituted in a place where it should probably still be sufficient. I don't recall all the brands I have seen it offered under, but I think Jagwire was one of them.
I like traditional vinyl covered houseing.......For brakes I have been very happy with this aluminum strand housing (includes inner cables) from Aican. https://www.ebay.com/itm/AICAN-Superlig ... 1438.l2649
26g per meter so less than half the weight of std. Been running for 1 1/2 years and no degradation.

For derailleurs I'm runnning Jagwire XEX-SL housing (sold in cable sets named "Pro") which also is supposed to be nearly 1/2 the weight of std derailleur housing. No long term ride report but so far so good.
Last edited by tommasini on Sun Dec 23, 2018 10:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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micky
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by micky

Did you take a look at Niro Glide Turbo?
Im using the cable housing from a few years for my Di2 built with good performance.

froze
Posts: 427
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:47 am

by froze

I know this is going to sound crazy but I would use Sram's SlickWire pro cable; I seriously don't believe that aftermarket cable companies can do any better than what the original manufacture top of the line cables will do, and even "if" an aftermarket cable was better I doubt it would be more then 1 to 2% better and is that worth the extra cost? no. I think a lot of people pay extra for some fancy aftermarket cable that cost a lot of money thinks it worked better, perhaps it did when the original manufacture cable was wearing out!!! So they're comparing a worn out cable to a new one and saying "gee this a lot better than my old cables", and then there are some people who have to believe spending more money is better and they perceive that's the case because that's what they want to believe and why they spent the money.

Roadrocket
Posts: 355
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2018 8:43 am
Location: Slovakia

by Roadrocket

Thanks for inputs, I checked them all. Especially Niro looks good for the price. Any experiences with shifting Niro Glide Turbo housing?

@froze I agree with you, I don´t believe aftermarket housings will offer better performance. But it´s all about weight saving without compromising performance.

sungod
Posts: 1702
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:37 pm

by sungod

if sram's slickwire cables are like their previous coated cables, then everything is fine until the coating starts to wear, sheds inside the liner, and gums them up - how long this takes will depend on how much dust, water etc. gets in, i've found plain ss cables work better for longer

my direct experience over the years is that powercordz cable+liner in nokon are way better than sram red cable+liner, for both shifting and braking

Pop
Posts: 133
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 6:43 am

by Pop

sungod wrote:if sram's slickwire cables are like their previous coated cables, then everything is fine until the coating starts to wear, sheds inside the liner, and gums them up - how long this takes will depend on how much dust, water etc. gets in, i've found plain ss cables work better for longer

my direct experience over the years is that powercordz cable+liner in nokon are way better than sram red cable+liner, for both shifting and braking
How about powercordz cables for shifting??
(I've tried them only for my brakes...)

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sungod
Posts: 1702
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:37 pm

by sungod

used with sram red i found the shifting very good, this was powercordz with nokon beads and the powercordz ptfe liner (not the nokon liner which has higher friction and i found tends to kink over time), greatly improved over the sram red cabling i used previously

the outer layer on powercordz is low friction but eventually wears through where abrasive dirt builds up, worst spot was the section under the bb shell where i used just a few cm of liner, riding all weathers i got 2+ years on the first set

when i recabled i ran the liner all the way from shifter to the rd so it was fully enclosed, but i found friction increased much sooner and ended up removing it

since switching to etap i still use powercordz/nokon for the brakes

Roadrocket
Posts: 355
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2018 8:43 am
Location: Slovakia

by Roadrocket

Just found these housings https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Jagwir ... t-Kit/G5LW https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Jagwir ... e-Kit/G5LH
Manufacturer says it is about 50% lighter than standard housing.
Could it be true?

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tommasini
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by tommasini

That first one is LEX housing which is not as light as the xex-sl housing I referred to earlier. Both seem to be Packaged as pro sets.

eBay is a good source - look for “pro” sets and then confirm with the seller it’s Xex-sl.

Roadrocket
Posts: 355
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2018 8:43 am
Location: Slovakia

by Roadrocket

Looks like it´s quite hard to find XEX housing... Description says LEX, but when clicking on pics, you can see XEX on package.

According to manufacturer, all Pro shift housings should be LEX-SL and only Elite shift are XEX-SL: https://jagwire.com/guides/housing
Then I don´t understand XEX marking on Pro Shift housing boxes...

Pop
Posts: 133
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 6:43 am

by Pop

I think I've seen 2 kind of "PRO Shift" housing, the "normal one", and a "Lightweight cable kit". In Jagwire's website I could only see the "normal one", but in some websites I've seen the other one... Could it be possible that this one uses the XEX housing....

by Weenie


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