Sealed cable advice?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chris Mayhew on October 7, 2011 at 7:12pm

I've run the SRAM fully sealed and partially sealed systems. They're ok but not great. They work really well till they don't. If you get any contamination in them they're done for. And the cable is proprietary so if you crash on Saturday you better have spare SRAM sealed cable on hand if you want to race on Sunday. (ask me how I know!)

 

Really, for what they cost I don't think they are worth it. You can get the Shimano XTR cable kits and while they don't last quite as long they also cost half as much.

 

You can get the tandem cables and that will get you a bike's worth of shifter setup if you run a single ring.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Joe B on October 7, 2011 at 7:18pm

Thanks Chris. I read a review on Competitor.com where the guy says he likes Gore Ride-On sealed system, can get a full year out of one ...

 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Chris Mayhew on October 7, 2011 at 7:22pm

I've had the Pro system on my road bike. It held up for the road season but not longer than that. I've had the fully sealed system on my road bike for 9 months and only been thru one cable so far which is nice.

 

I had the fully sealed systems on both 'cross bikes two years ago and they didn't even make it thru a full season. I eventually ditched it all about halfway thru the season. A lot of us had it on that season (we were friends with a developer on the team) but ended up agreeing they weren't that great.

I currently have the fully sealed systems on both 'cross bikes right now. (local shop cut me a deal, I didn't want to turn them down). We'll see how it goes. I've only got 5 races on them right now.

 

All of that is to say my experience does not support getting a full year out of them. If nothing else you want to change 10spd cables 2-3x a year just so they don't break off in the shifter. SRAM cables are pretty inexpensive though.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by David whitlock on October 7, 2011 at 8:27pm

How about buying some cable liner, a jagwire Racer cable kit, some heat shrink housing and a heat gun and doing it yourself? It's really simple and quite cheap; I did both derailleurs and brakes on my bike for less then the price of one Gore kit.

Or drill out your cable-stops and run continuous housing (nothing's getting through that).

Oh and don't forget the Grubs.

Have fun :)

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jason Gardner on October 8, 2011 at 7:16am

I have had a great experience with the Gore sealed system.  I have installed them on dozens of bikes and I'm seeing them last a couple years.  That said, here in Denver we don't generally deal with a lot of really wet and nasty stuff so that needs to be considered.  I am also a fan of using Shimano's pre lubed housing with their nosed ferrules and rubber grubs  It's not "fully sealed" but it's almost as good and quite a bit cheaper.  Nokon is expensive and a pain in setup but once you have it, the housing beads are yours forever and the teflon liner can be replaced on its own if necessary.  It works well and one of the great benefits is that the housing beads can allow tighter bends without affecting the shifting.  Also, the Nokon uses a regular stainless cable so that can be replaced as needed without replacing the other stuff; you can just blow out the liner with some brake parts cleaner and an air hose.  I'm not experienced with Yokozuna.  Jagwire's kits are cheap and like someone else said, a little heat shrink in addition to the liner seals it off better.   TMI?  happy hunting

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Compton on October 12, 2011 at 11:24am

I'm getting ready to install a set of the Gore fully sealed on the CX beast in the next few days.  I have used the Yokozuna's on my road bike and while I didn't notice a big difference in the shifting the brake cables were awesome!  Highly recommend the brake cables and housing from Yoko.

• ▶ Reply