PSA: Cable housing length can make or break a shift feel on older road bikes

I recently swapped the cables on my 1987 Centurion and tried both the old-school long housing loops and the modern tight routing. The difference was night and day - the long loops felt soft and mushy, while the tight routing snapped into gear instantly (like a 30% improvement in crispness). Has anyone else found that the shorter runs mess with friction on downtube shifters, or is it just my setup?

2 comments

2 Comments

richard_ramirez11d ago

Old housings loops drive me nuts too, but then again I once rebuilt a bike with the front housing so long it looped around my stem twice before reaching the brake - looked like a spaghetti sculpture. Your mileage may vary of course, but I've found on my old Shimano 600 setup that shorter housing actually helped because there was less cable compression in the turns. Broke three cables in one season testing that theory though, so take my advice with a whole shaker of salt.

grayw3210d ago

Try cutting your housing with a proper cable cutter instead of old wire cutters. That makes a bigger difference than you'd think. @richard_ramirez I feel your pain on those broken cables though. I had a set of Campagnolo stuff where the housing ends were so frayed I swore the cables were cursed. Ended up replacing the whole housing and going with compressionless stuff from Jagwire. Fixed the problem cold. Also check your ferrules for cracks or loose fit. Sometimes it's just that one little piece causing all the drama.