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Shifter Vs. Brake housing confusion

6K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  TheeSuperUberV 
#1 ·
I've got a mid-90's Barracuda frame I'm building up as a budget beater bike. Relevant components include

New 3x8 Alivio shifters
~'95 XT Deraileurs (front & rear)
~'95 Tektro Cantilever Brakes

I realized last night that I've got everything except the cable housings. Thinking I'd just get a 10 foot or so length and some ferrules and call it done, but it doesn't seem so easy.

Do I need different types of housing for brakes vs/ shifter?
What about size? I see reference to 4mm and 5mm

A quick & dirty education is appreciated. If you want to go as far as to make specific suggestions, I'm considering using "Build Your Bike" vendor on eBay... park tools, pedros items in build your bike store on eBay!

Thanks...
 
#4 ·
Hey Shiggy, I've noticed that a couple of my pre-built bikes use only the brake cable housing which is noticeably larger. When I asked the LBS about it when building up my Blizzard, they just told me it was because the shifter cables don't like sharp turns or bends and so many mtbs are built with the brake cable housing and not with the shifter housing for the shifter cables. So, my main question is whether or not there is a noticeable difference in shifting when using the larger housing with shifter cables? Also, were the pre-built bikes done this way just to save money?
 
#5 ·
My 1999 Kona Cinder Cone have different housing for brake and shifter. Most gruppos include shifter cables and housing and when I bought a new set of XT shifters, it include cables and housing (easy to spot because there is gold SIS markings on the housing).

The shifter cable has a smaller diameter vs a brake cable housing (because brake cables is bigger to account for the increased pulling force when braking).
 
#6 ·
IIRC brake housing has an inner metal spiral. vs shifter housing which has longitudinal metal strands runing the length of the housing. This prevents housing compression which is more critical for shifting than for braking. Its easy to tell the difference because shifter housing is way harder to cut.
 
#8 ·
The housing on my 02 RM Hammer was nondescript black housing and appeared to be the same dia, though I did not taken a caliper to measure it exactly. I also did not cut it apart to look at the internal casing. I replaced both the brake and shifter housing which is when I noticed that the original housing appeared to be the same when the replacement housing was noticeably different. When I asked the LBS and showed them the housing, that's just what they told me.
 
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