The thing about the last two generations of Shimano STI stuff, with the shift cables routed along the bar under the tape, is that they are extremely sensitive to cable friction, so much so that the 11 speed stuff is specified with special polymer-coated shift cables and according to Shimano, it will not work properly without them. My impression of SRAM stuff is the same. So if you're racking up the miles on most brifters these days, you're going to feel your shift performance degrade from cable friction, and I would guess most people end up replacing their cables and housing for this reason long before they've stressed the cable head to the point of fraying. As a mechanic I haven't seen frayed cables stuck inside of recent Shimano, SRAM, or Campy brifters, only on the older external-cable Shimano units, but maybe that's because they route the cable so cleanly that they keep on working and working and working until you snap your cable?
On Monday, December 21, 2015 at 7:57:43 AM UTC-8, William deRosset wrote: > > >Right hand Shimano STI levers - especially those with the cable exiting > >sideways - are known for eating shifter cables. Dear Steve, > > The current generation (6800;9000;5800) 11-speed shimano shifters > reportedly eat cables faster than the 8/9s stuff ever did. The cables are > now consumables--replace cable inners with every other chain to be on the > safe side? The sad thing is that the minimum bend radius to prevent fraying > is known (or easily calculated anyway if the cable is specified), and > Shimano has consistently failed to make that effort. The Campagnolo shifter > drum is probably pretty close to that radius. Their 8/9/10s Ergo levers and > index-only downtube shifters didn't/don't eat cables at all. Honestly, > neither do Shimano's DT levers, but the Simplex and Suntour drums were > smaller sometimes did. I can't speak to bar-ends, as I've never really > warmed up to them. I reluctantly use them on cyclocross bikes (not > high-mileage machines, and the bike in a race only needs two gears--42X25 > and something in the middle of the freewheel given my skills. I end up > running a lot), tried really hard to like them back when I first adopted > half-step gearing. John Forrester said they were the right thing to use > with that gear system, and I just can't agree. Downtube shifters win > there). If I must keep my hands on the bars (some tandems, mtb, and cx), I > prefer thumbshifters or Ergo levers. > > Best, > > Will > William M. deRosset > Fort Collins, CO > > > On Monday, December 21, 2015 at 8:25:11 AM UTC-7, Steve Palincsar wrote: >> >> >> On 12/21/2015 09:55 AM, Brian Campbell wrote: >> > >> > I did a 200k with the downtube shifting with no ill effects. On a >> > subsequent ride, one rider broke a drive side shifter cable using >> > Shimano brifter. Eventhough he had a replacement, getting the broken >> > cable out of the shifter proved difficult. There is an added layer of >> > complexity to brifters. >> >> Right hand Shimano STI levers - especially those with the cable exiting >> sideways - are known for eating shifter cables. There's something about >> the cable routing inside the shifter unit that tends to fatigue and fray >> the cable, and it happens inside the mechanism where you can't see or >> feel it (bar ends fray cables too, only much more slowly, and when the >> cable frays the loose ends stick you in the finger and alert you to the >> problem before it gets anywhere near the point of failure). Your first >> alert usually is poor shifting, and sometimes you only have one or two >> shifts left before the cable lets go entirely. And then, good luck >> getting the pieces out. By contrast, downtube levers don't seem to >> fray the cable at all. >> >> >> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
