TIL that cheap brake cable housings cost me $80 and 2 weekends

I was rebuilding my touring bike's brakes last month and figured I'd save money by getting some generic housings off eBay for $12. Big mistake. The stuff was so stiff it wouldn't bend around my handlebars right, and the inner lining had burrs that made my cables drag. After fighting with it for hours and getting poor brake feel, I ripped it all out and bought Jagwire stuff from my LBS for $30. But the damage was done - I had already bought new cables and ferrules that were sized for the cheap stuff, so those got wasted too. Plus I spent two Saturdays messing with adjustments that kept slipping. Has anyone else had luck with budget housing or is it all just garbage?

2 comments

2 Comments

nina_lane1627d ago

I mean, I get that it's annoying when stuff doesn't work out but this sounds like a total nightmare over twelve bucks worth of housing. Like, how bad could it really have been? I've used cheap generic housing on old beaters and it was fine, just a little stiff but nothing that made me want to rip my hair out. Maybe your bike is just super picky or you were having a really bad weekend with the adjustments. Sometimes you just gotta ride a little rough to see if it actually breaks before you start blaming the parts, you know?

hollyramirez27d ago

Nina, did you actually run that cheap housing on a bike with full length runs or internal routing? Because I've found the real nightmare starts when you're trying to fish the stuff through a frame and it kinks or binds every two inches. My crew and I swapped out a set on a friend's bike last spring and it took three hours to get the shifting even halfway decent, total waste of a Saturday.