[BikeMike]

Anybody have recommendations for good brake housing/cables?
I'm particularly interested in housing that is good with sharp-ish bends, if such a thing exists.

A very petite friend recently acquired a *tiny* 650C entry-level road bike with correspondingly small bars and stem. The small-radius bends in the crappy brake cable housing seem to be causing significant friction, which makes it hard for her to apply enough power to the brakes (tiny hands.) What do you monkeys like? Is the Nokon stuff any good?

 

[Bicyclist]

I have heard good stuff about Yokozuno (sp?) but haven't used it - it's next on my list. High-end Shimano properly installed (i.e. open up the ends of the housing w/ a scratch awl, make sure everything is cut to a proper length) has worked well for me in the past.

 

[ire]

I have heard good stuff about Yokozuno (sp?) but haven't used it - it's next on my list. High-end Shimano properly installed (i.e. open up the ends of the housing w/ a scratch awl, make sure everything is cut to a proper length) has worked well for me in the past.

Interesting. I've spent a bunch of time looking at the various sealed systems and decided to seal my current SIS housing using heat shrink tubing. I like the look of this housing, and it looks very flexible.

 

[loco-gringo]

I do not love to install Nokon, nor do I really love it, but it takes pretty good bends at the bars and it does a nice job limiting compression. There are lots of good set ups, but I know this works pretty well for what you are wanting.

 

[-dustin]

The Yokozuna stuff doesn't bend any more easily than anything else. And, well...to be honest, I don't think it's really worth the premium. I haven't measured the cables yet, but I swear the derailleur cables are a smaller diameter than 1.1. Shifting feels the same as the newer SRAM stuff. Brakes feel like everything else.

For tight radius applications, nothing will really work better than Nokon (specifically on for the rear brake, that last bit of housing...everything else should work properly with housing cut to the proper length).

 

[BikeMike]

Cool. Thanks guys.

After checking out how $$ Nokon is, I might see how it goes with Shimano housing cut to proper lengths. Although Nokon housing on an OCR3 would be interesting...