23
Noticed a huge difference in how smooth my shifts got after I swapped out a frayed cable housing on a customer's bike last month
That old housing had rust inside it from just 6 months of salty winter riding and it was causing so much friction I couldn't believe the before-and-after, has anyone else seen that much change from just a simple cable swap?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
ben_lewis1mo ago
Always surprised me how much crap builds up inside those little cable housings. Took apart a buddy's bike last winter and the cable was basically rusted solid to the housing, couldn't even get it to move without a fight.
7
the_leo1mo ago
Yeah that can happen but honestly it's usually water getting in at the ends that does the real damage, not the housing itself. A little bit of grease on the cable before you thread it through helps a ton too.
1
roberts.leo1mo ago
Respectfully, I'm not totally sold that the housing swap alone was the magic bullet. A frayed cable can bind up in ways that a good clean and lube might not fix, but I've had systems where the cable itself was beat up and the housing was fine, and replacing just the cable made more difference than a full housing swap. That rust inside your customer's housing after six months of salt? That's a sign the bike wasn't getting enough care, not that old housing is always the enemy. I've ridden all winter on cheap housing with good cables and never had that level of drag until the outer jacket started cracking.
5