Just for reference on this thread, I make Shimano SP41 outer cable to be 32.5g/m

I had them with campy! pain in the %&# to take out of the hoods as they get stuck in there. Small screwdriver was pushed into the trapped link and out it went but it took me a loooooong time to figure that out. Great shifting though!

Here is a comparison picture in which you can clearly see the size difference.

I made a short trip on the roadbike yesterday and I was impressed with the shifting qualities. With Nokons I had to overshift sometimes to get the rear der in the right cog. now it was just like the X.O that I had on my MTB. shift and get immedeate action from the der. GREAT!

@wezep. AFAIK there is no separate liner available for the minis. you can do without it though and just have the liner in the sections of beads.

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I think the mini's will be great for running them through some aero bar extensions and trying to get tight corners to keep the housing out of the site of the wind.

Look forward to getting mine in the near future.

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I hope so, as I built up our time trial bikes with regular iLinks but found that with the internal cable runs some of which required sharp cable bends in a confined area, the iLinks were not ideal and could not make as tight a bend as the Nokons. For example the loop to the rear deraileur on our tt bikes is run internally down through the seat stay and requires a very tight radius turn to loop down and back to the rear deraileur.

Overall I have been really pleased with iLinks so much so that I even used them on my cyclocross bikes but I will say that cleaning mud out of the links can take a bit more time than traditional housing . Now if only those of us in the states could find a realiable source of the teflon inner liner. In my experience installing complete sets on 4 road bikes and 3 cross bikes (both DA 7800 & 7900), although I had more than enough extra iLinks from each bike to do nearly another complete bike, if you run the liner the full length of the shift cables, there was not enough inner liner for the remaining iLinks.

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A table of cable housing weights that I found while researching this:

BRAKE:
Tune "plastic"5mm: 18g/m
Tune "plastic" 6mm : 21.5g/m
Alligator i-Links: 27g/m
Tune "Aluminum" : 37g/m
Nokon (Aluminium outer+Liner): 38,1g/m
Powercordz: 45g/m
Jagwire: 50g/m
Shimano: 53.0g/m
Gore Ride-on: 54g/m
Gore: 57g/m
Shimano XTR : 58.5g/m

SHIFT:
Gleitec U3 : 12.5g/m (not available anymore)
Alligator Mini i-Links(outer Aluminium+Liner): 15,5g/m
Tune "plastic": 18/m
Shimano SP81 Yumeya: 23g/m
Gore Ride-on light (without inner Liner!): 23g/m
Alligator i-Links (outer Aluminium+Liner): 27g/m
Jagwire: 32.0g/m
Shimano SIS : 34.0g/m
Nokon Carbon (Carbon outer+Liner): 35,1g/m
Transfil "flying snake": 36g/m
Nokon (Aluminium outer+Liner): 38,1g/m
Powercordz: 39g/m
Gore Ride-on: 54g/m

Anyone have the comparable weights for Campy brake and shift housings, and would there be a measurable different between the ultrashift and pre-ultra cabling?

I'm running i links on two bikes. The first bike, i installed them with little care about compressing them all before locking everything down. The second set I compressed every link before tightening them all down.
I can tell no noteable difference.
That said, I'm a very big fan of i-links. The supplier in the US couldn't be a nicer guy, or easier to deal with.
I believe they are worth the invenstment, they work great with my campy 08R10, and if i could shill harder for them, i would...

Hey all. These sound interesting, thanks for the reviews.

How does the shift quality of the Mini's compare with Yokozuna?

I just received what I think are the same cables but the packaging simply says "iLink Ultralight Control Systems" and there is no mention of the word "Mini" in the packaging. However, they appeared to have the same specs as the photos here, all-in they came to about 77g for the shifter set (housing 180cm, liner, 2 cables, caps, connectors, stoppers) and look the same (my frame protectors shields are black, not orange though). Picked them up at DuLight, who apparently have listed them since July 09.

I just don't know if "iLink Mini" is the official product name or not... if it is, Alligator isn't doing a very good job of marketing the name on their packaging (or website).
So if you are coming up empty in your search for iLink mini's, it might be possible that you can find these cables under a different name.

Can anyone confirm the official name? Or is it just a new updated version of iLink shift cables.

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Yes, mini's are on the way! Finally available.

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I've got a set of minis for shifting and regulars for brakes on the way from Ernie at procyclingdiscount.com. Fantastic guy to talk with. Answered questions and chatted nicely while directing me to his ebay store.

I will have my new frame built up over the w/e, so I'll post back on installation and use. I know Frankie is planning a full on review, so I'll just supplement with bits from my experience.

All right, here we go!

Product: I-Links & Mini I-Links
Period in use: ~200 km
Pros: light, nice finish, Can make really tight turns, compression less
Cons: looks, first installation can be a handful

First impression:
Nice packaging, very neat and sturdy plastic bags that hold the products. Delivered very complete. The anodized finish is very neatly done when compared to Nokon. The liners are nice and the inner cables that come with the I-Links are nice as well. It is quite funny that the parts interlock so you need to make 'chains' of it. They disconnect quite easy to make the segments that go onto the bike. For the Mini I-Links goes all of the above, but they are not that easy to disconnect. As a matter of fact, they are bloody hard to get apart. they often don't split at the part where you want them to split.



Installation:
Let's start of with the statement that I have mounted cables to a bike before. Both standard in a wide variety of brands as well as Nokons. The first time you install I-links make sure you have plenty of time on your hands as they will test you patience.
It is always of importance to cut your cables to the correct length, with standard cables you cut the cable, 'clean' the inner cable and put a ferrule on it. With Nokons you start with the liner, slide the beads on it till you find the correct length and the correct bend and then install.
With I-Links Alligator changed the game a bit. The segments are already connected to each other and you need to 'break' them at the right length and thread the liner through. Threading the liner can be a bit hard as it constantly runs into the shape of the inside of the beads. But, once you have found the right method things get easier.
When you are installing the I-Links compress them as hard as you can. This way they take the shape they will have once they are completely set up. I use an inner cable to compress the cables, this keeps one hand occupied while the other can still tweak things. If you forget this simple step you will end up with cables that are too short. You can shorten, or make the cables longer by taking beads off, or putting some on.
The Mini I-Links Are only to be used as gear cables. Not as brake cables. Because they are smaller then the normal I-Links you can make some crazy small bends. The Mini's have a radius of 2 cm's. That means that a fool loop of minis measures 4 cm's across. They are ideal for the bars that have weird bends or bars that are notorious for their bad shifting because of friction in the cables. You can also use a shorter cable for the rear mech as the loop can be much smaller.
Do not forget to put a drop of your favourite lube to make the inner cables sliiiiide through the liners.
The regular I-Links are easy to install and behave as expected. The Minis are hard to split, but the install is as easy as the regular ones.
The hardware that comes with the package do make the installation easy. There are ferrules that you can click onto the cables and that slide nicely into a cable stop. The tubes that catch the cable again are a bit on the long side, but you would only need to use one. The rubber pieces can be slid on to protect the frame.



In use:
If the installation has gone well the first thing you notice is the boost in braking power, Shifting is also smoother and more direct. The extra braking power is caused by the (near) compression less housing. All the power that you apply to the lever goes directly into the brake. The same thing happens with your shifts and therefore causes the more direct feel.

Weight:
The most important factor for us is how the product scores on the scales. I have weighed everything and took a pic of the products on the scale. (take a good look at this scale, because a new more precise model is on order)
Total weight before installation:
I-Links complete (liner, links, and all extras): 71 gram
Mini I-Links compl. (liner, links, and all extras): 43 gram
Brake cables (inner): 38 gram
Shift cables (inner): 25 gram
Installation leftovers:
I-Links (liner, links, and all extras): 48 gram
Mini I-Links (liner, links, and all extras): 20 gram
weight per meter (outer cable and liner):
I-Links 27 gram
Mini I-Links 15,5 gram
Total weight before installation: 71 gr. + 43 gr. + 38 gr. + 25 gr. = 177 gr.
Installation leftovers: 48 gr. +20 gr. = 68 gr.
Total weight of cables: 177 gr. – 68 gr. = 109 gr.
109 gram is a very decent weight and puts the Alligator I-Links on a well deserved first spot in the modern light cable category. Alligator has set a benchmark with these cable systems. The weights per meter are proof of that. Perfect!



Conclusion:
Alligator created a new benchmark on the cable market. It is quite time consuming, but easy on the first install but once set up right it is a great product!
Now it is up to the competition to make an even lighter and better system.
The looks of the outers will not be of every bodies likings, but that is the only concession you have to make to ride with the lightest modern cables.

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Another + for procyclingdiscount.com - ordered 2-sets from the ebay store this morning and since we are located in the same city, I should have them in a a couple days. Having spent way to much time crawling under the wife's Volvo last weekend, I can hardly wait to install a couple more sets of Alligator iLinks. Hopefully the rubber bumpers are now black instead of orange as was the case with the orginal iLink cablesets.

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Michael - The Anaerobic Threshold is neither...

Just placed a big order with Ernie and in that order was a set of mini and reg I-links to be sent out today. Not sure what build to run them on at this time. They lend themselves to the TT build better than that SLC but on the same note, they will make the SLC much nicer and lighter.

_________________
BIG DADDY B FLOW
AERO & LIGHT is RIGHT

Cervelo SLC 5890g/12.98 lbs