Shifter cables 1.1mm vs 1.2mm

[ixiz]

I only recently found out that there were 2 diameters and about to buy a box (100). I hate to buy the wrong diameter - most of my bikes are campy 9 and 10 speeds and eventually 11.

I am about to purchase a box and split with a friend but unsure which diameter to purchase.

IS there any guides as to which cables are for what models or just get the 1.2mm and call it a day.

[AMuzi]

Do not- and I cannot emphasize this strongly enough - DO NOT
install not-Campagnolo wires into your Ergo shifters[1].

The gear wire heads of the classic era were small, as
Campagnolo uses still. The revisionist modern larger gear
wire heads (everybody else who makes gear systems) will go
in, pop down inside the lever and only come out with extreme
effort = time = $$$.

[1] Big head wires in classic era downtube shifters are even
harder to remove, an often fatal exercise.

--
Andrew Muzi
<www.yellowjersey.org/>
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

[Sir Ridesalot]

Dremel is your friend because a few quick light passes of the oversize cable head over a Dremel sanding drum will reduce the head in size so that it fits perfectly in the shifter without binding. I've been doing that with my 9-speed Mirage Ergos since about 2003 with no problems at all.

Cheers

[John B.]

"Fatal" You kill the shifter? The cable? The stupid customer? :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

[AMuzi]

Guys bring in drilled/crushed/macerated Campagnolo 1013
levers with cable stumps in the remains.

[John B.]

As opposed to clapping your hands with glee and saying, "Yes Sir! Here
we have the newest, upgraded, shifter, that is guaranteed to be
totally idiot proof. Just pass your credit card here for a moment" :-)

A notion apparently first mentioned in print by Thomas Tusser in "Five
Hundreth Pointes of Good Husbandrie", in 1573, the precise wording of
the expression comes just a little later, in Dr. John Bridges' Defence
of the Government of the Church of England, 1587:

"If they pay a penie or two pence more for the reddinesse of them..let
them looke to that, a foole and his money is soone parted."
--
Cheers,

John B.

[Frank Krygowski]

On 3/10/2017 5:55 PM, AMuzi wrote:
> On 3/10/2017 4:04 PM, ixiz wrote:
>> I only recently found out that there were 2 diameters and about to buy
>> a box (100). I hate to buy the wrong diameter - most of my bikes are
>> campy 9 and 10 speeds and eventually 11.
>>
>> I am about to purchase a box and split with a friend but unsure which
>> diameter to purchase.
>>
>> IS there any guides as to which cables are for what models or just get
>> the 1.2mm and call it a day.
>>
>
> Do not- and I cannot emphasize this strongly enough - DO NOT install
> not-Campagnolo wires into your Ergo shifters[1].
>
> The gear wire heads of the classic era were small, as Campagnolo uses
> still. The revisionist modern larger gear wire heads (everybody else who
> makes gear systems) will go in, pop down inside the lever and only come
> out with extreme effort = time = $$$.

Lack of standardization on such simple things often astounds me. It
shouldn't, because it's so common. But it still astounds me.



--
- Frank Krygowski

[Doug Landau]

Had he forgone the purple prose, his books might have been twenty percent shorter in print.

[Sir Ridesalot]

Ah but the Campy button is the original standard. The other larger ones were introduce a fair bit later by other companies who do NOT want standardization of components or parts.

Cheers

[John B.]

Why should it. Here is a very small group that cannot agree on the
type of lights, chain lube, helmets, presidents, or practically
anything else.

Why should cable ends be different :-?
--
Cheers,

John B.

[AMuzi]

Mr Brown often quipped, "Standards are wonderful, so we have
a lot of them".

[AMuzi]

On 3/10/2017 8:35 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

Two gear wire heads - quelle horreur!

http://www.traveloasis.com/World-Power-Plug-Adapter-Guide-c18/

[Frank Krygowski]

Regarding electric plugs, I can see how each nation was tinkering around
independently in the early 1900s when there was less travel and many
fewer electric appliances and users. Standardization was a fresh idea
and not so popular. I can see that by the time someone smacked their
forehead and said "Damn, we should have all used the same system!" that
it was too late; the investments were made.

But for another example: I worked with industrial robots. Those
generally come with no end-of-arm tooling, because a major point of
robots is they can be used for such a wide variety of jobs (welding,
material handling, painting, etc. etc.) So they come with a round
flange on the "wrist" with a circle of bolt holes. You bolt the gripper
(or whatever) to that wrist.

One "True or False" question I commonly put on the exam was "The ANSI
standard wrist makes it easy to attach most grippers." False. There is
no ANSI standard wrist (or at least, there wasn't when I retired). Each
manufacturer comes up with their own wrist diameter, boss diameter,
number of tapped holes, etc. By the time this industry came into being,
everyone knew the benefits of standardization. Why make every company
machine its own adaptors?

And gear cable heads? Why say "Ours are going to be 0.1mm different"?
Do they really make that much profit by forcing people to buy their own
brand's special cables?


--
- Frank Krygowski

[cycl...@gmail.com]

I don't get what everyone is talking about Ixix = there are two different cable diameters because shifters use the smaller and brakes the larger. As Al pointed out the end caps on Campagnolo are different from those on everyone else but Campy will work properly on everyone else. Though in older brifters it's possible to stick the smaller Campy ends though usually it isn't any problem to free them.

The BRAKE cable ends are two different sizes for road bike brifters and mountain bike levers.

So there are TWO different diameters of outer cables as well.

The newer levers from Campy and Shimano are very similar cable-wise. but Campy is easy to thread and Shimano decided to make them the hard SOB's possible where you have to pull off doors etc. and then remember to reinstall them.

Modern carbon fiber integrated handlebars/stems often have the outer cables threaded through tubes. And frames also often have the rear brake cable threaded through the top tube. Setting the outer cables up properly the first time is a great pain in the ass on these. Though once installed they are neater and cleaner. Cyclocross bikes often use a top pull front derailleur so you may have a second cable to contend with on the top tube.

There are also cheap inner cables made of steel and higher prices made out of stainless with almost an infinite lifespan. Some of the steel cables have a teflon coating so that even if they rust a small amount they still pull OK.

I prefer buying the top grade Shimano or Campagnolo cables for the specific purposes.

[AMuzi]

You suffered serious injury from carbon fork failure and yet
you ride carbon bars with cable ports???

[ixiz]

My original question is not of the cable head. FYI i have been using cables of non ergo shifters for decades and all i do is i Drexel them and checke the size before i insert int the shifters with zero issues

And yes i realize the brakes are larger in fact 1.6mm or more.

My question is shifter cables diameter 1,1 or 1,2mm

[lou.h...@gmail.com]

Doesn't matter imho. I used both. IIRC SRAM were the only 1.1 mm. I think is all about weight.

Lou

[patrick]

Re; the use of 1.1 vs 1.2mm cable- I had a rocket 9 sp twist shifter on a (yeah, I know) swb recumbent that required 1.1 mm cable. Couldn't get 1.2 through the shifter assembly. Now using a cheap microshift analog ( I don't think they make the attack 9sp twister any longer) yet still using the store of 1.1 cable. Pat

[cycl...@gmail.com]

Well wouldn't it be easier to just go to Bikeman on the net?

https://www.bikeman.com/bicycle-repair-tech-info/bikeman-tech-info/1641-cables-a-housing

[Frank Krygowski]

Oh, I know! Ever since switching to 1.1mm cables, I surge past my
friends on the uphills! ;-)


--
- Frank Krygowski

[John B.]

But with that lighter weight you will be a bit slower coasting down
the hills :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.