Q: How to avoid corrosion/rust/gunk in shifter cables?

On 09/22/2009 10:27 PM, Chalo wrote:
jim beam wrote:

Chalo wrote:

Borrall Wonnell wrote:

Last year I re-built a MTB in preparation for fall/winter. I used 5mm
housing (brake/shift) unlubricated stainless cables, and followed the
'rules' for good cable routing.

Shifting performance degraded rapidly after the first couple of months
due to corrosion/rust/gunk in the last section of housing connected to
the rear derailleur (metal ferrules). The cable stop in my derailleur
is full of rust too. No problems with the rest of the drivetrain.

Do you ride in salt?

If so, move somewhere better. �Presto, no shifting problems. �And the
girls are better looking too.

do you ride outside of a nice big dry tent? �circus clowns don't -
that's why they don't have shifter cable problems.

people outside of circus tents otoh, wet or dry, get shifter problems if
they don't use a system to keep the gunk out of the cable liner like
shimano ferrules with the o-ring seals. �but you're a professional bike
mechanic aren't you chalo, so you know /all/ about this stuff.

We got 2-1/2" of rain this morning in Austin. I rode to work in it.
It's clean water, though-- cleaner than out of the tap-- and it has
never managed to fossilize my cables in their housings.

My cables become old and begin to break strands at their anchor points
without ever having been stuck or draggy in their housings. That's
what happens when they are routed appropriately through lined housings
and used regularly. They don't fail from anything else, so they
eventually fail at the stress concentration at the cable clamp, or at
a bend inside a poorly-designed lever such as Shimano STI or Rapid
Fire.

That's why I prefer aluminum 4mm cable ferrules to the stock Shimano
plastic junk, seals or no. Thick-walled aluminum ferrules are strong
and do not become flared, pinched, bent, split, or ruptured in normal
use. Plastic ferrules can be acceptable when new, but eventually they
crack or allow longitudinal housing strands to poke through. Thick
aluminum 4mm ferrules don't do that (unless you ride in a salty Hell
perhaps).

Cables become stuck or eroded inside housings through severe neglect
(being left disused in the weather for a long time), electrolyte-laden
filth (e.g. riding on salted roads in Hell, WI), poor routing that
holds water, and/or unlined housing. I have worked on thousands of
bikes, and all the stuck cables I've seen have been attributable to
one or more of the above-- but _not_ attributable to simple exposure
to rainy conditions.



you're a bull****ter in denial chalo - how you can gloss over o-ring
sealed ferrule realities so glibly and uncomprehendingly is ridiculous..
bull****ter in denial = circus clown.

Per Chalo:
We got 2-1/2" of rain this morning in Austin. I rode to work in it.
It's clean water, though-- cleaner than out of the tap-- and it has
never managed to fossilize my cables in their housings.

Having said this, I'll probably break a cable tomorrow but....

My commuter bike lives on a rack on the back of my car.

I drive part way to work, ride the rest.

It sees the inside of a garage maybe one night every two
months... like if it looks like it's really gonna pour when I get
home from work, I'll put it in the garage - otherwise it stays on
the rack.

Lots of rust on non-stainless/non-galvanized screws... but no
problems so far with cables. I go the no-gaps route: all cables
are continuous from lever to whatever they control, held to the
frame with Home Depot's finest duct tape.

Viz: http://tinyurl.com/mytckb
--
PeteCresswell

On Sep 22, 6:26*am, Borrall Wonnell wrote:
Borrall Wonnell wrote:
Last year I re-built a MTB in preparation for fall/winter. *I used 5mm
housing (brake/shift) unlubricated stainless cables, and followed the
'rules' for good cable routing.

As usual, thanks for all the helpful responses. *Here are a few
comments:

1) I use 5mm housing because that's what my LBS carries. *Probably
because 5mm is 'supposed' to shift better in cruddy conditions. *Odd
that there are no 5mm plastic ferrules. *I may switch back to 4mm for
kicks.

2) There is some rust at the derailleur end (inside the cable stop).
Probably due to water running down the housing into the cable stop. *A
bit of grease (on the outside of the ferrule) would do the job here.
The derailleur does have a rubber boot/bellows on the lower side of
the cable stop.

3) Jagwire raincoats...exactly what I'm looking for, but apparently
difficult to find. *The alternative is to run full cable housing
(which I may try instead).

www.biketoolsetc.com CABLE RAINCOAT 5mm SET, 10/Bag $6.95 plus
shipping


4) I was under the impression that lubing/greasing cables was a bad
thing, resulting in similar shifting degradation over time.

5) I don't have any Cheeze Whiz. *Even if I did, the squirrels here
are too polite to steal it.

On 09/24/2009 02:06 PM, jay wrote:
On Sep 22, 6:26�am, Borrall wrote:
Borrall Wonnell wrote:
Last year I re-built a MTB in preparation for fall/winter. �I used 5mm
housing (brake/shift) unlubricated stainless cables, and followed the
'rules' for good cable routing.

As usual, thanks for all the helpful responses. �Here are a few
comments:

1) I use 5mm housing because that's what my LBS carries. �Probably
because 5mm is 'supposed' to shift better in cruddy conditions. �Odd
that there are no 5mm plastic ferrules. �I may switch back to 4mm for
kicks.

2) There is some rust at the derailleur end (inside the cable stop).
Probably due to water running down the housing into the cable stop. �A
bit of grease (on the outside of the ferrule) would do the job here.
The derailleur does have a rubber boot/bellows on the lower side of
the cable stop.

3) Jagwire raincoats...exactly what I'm looking for, but apparently
difficult to find. �The alternative is to run full cable housing
(which I may try instead).

www.biketoolsetc.com CABLE RAINCOAT 5mm SET, 10/Bag $6.95 plus
shipping


those are better than nothing, but the ultimate are these:

http://www.paul-lange.de/produkte/sh...SMALLPARTS.pdf

#5 or #6.





4) I was under the impression that lubing/greasing cables was a bad
thing, resulting in similar shifting degradation over time.

5) I don't have any Cheeze Whiz. �Even if I did, the squirrels here
are too polite to steal it.