Road Bike Gear Cables

If your bike's gear changing is sluggish, hesitant, not as crisp as it once was, your gear cables could well be the culprit. Inner and outer gear cables have to keep out water, mud, grit, gravel dust and all the other stuff we enjoy riding through - any of which can add friction to previously silky-smooth cable operation.

Feel sorry for gear cables yet?

Depending on what type of riding and in what conditions you ride, gear cables will need to be replaced regularly to maintain gear shifting performance and reliability.

No. Gear cable 'inners' are thinner, usually 1.1 - 1.3mm as opposed to 1.5 - 1.6mm for brake cables. Cable ends are also a different on gear cables, compared to brake cables. Gear outer cable has horizontal strands to resist compression forces, where as brake outer cable is wound from a single wire (under the protective top coating).