Crud, Mud and stuff

[goosander]

The mudlover cable has a thin plastic sheath that fits snugly over the inner wire and runs through the full length of the outer. It terminates just before the rear mech anchor point so that the cable can travel back & forth to move the mech.

Thats what I thought. Whilst I can see this type of cable preventing crud ingress where a standard cable changes from open to enclosed, I'm not sure that provides much benefit in practice as in my experience the only area where crud is a problem is the rear cable loop.

I'm not sure that a close fitting inner sheath would do any better at keeping out crud at the rear mech end than than the rubber boots etc used on standard cables, so I'm not tempted to splash out £35 or so to find out. At some point though, I'll probably give the new XT shadow mech a try and see if the improved cable routing make a difference.

 

[User482]

Thats what I thought. Whilst I can see this type of cable preventing crud ingress where a standard cable changes from open to enclosed, I'm not sure that provides much benefit in practice as in my experience the only area where crud is a problem is the rear cable loop.

I'm not sure that a close fitting inner sheath would do any better at keeping out crud at the rear mech end than than the rubber boots etc used on standard cables, so I'm not tempted to splash out £35 or so to find out. At some point though, I'll probably give the new XT shadow mech a try and see if the improved cable routing make a difference.

The main problem I've found with the rear cable loop is dirty water entering from the top - the mudlovers prevent this. All I can go on is my personal experience - they do seem to be much better at keeping the dirt out of the cable than standard ones.

I've just bought a shadow rear mech (my old one was worn out) so time will tell on the effectiveness of the new cable arrangement.

 

[goosander]

User482, hopefully the shadow mech will help.

For my hardtail, I've gone for a more drastic solution and ordered a rohloff hub. The cables are full length and being a push pull system it should be more resistant to crud but I'm also considering using silicon sealant or similar to seal the ends of the cables to the shifter & hub.

 

[User482]

User482, hopefully the shadow mech will help.

For my hardtail, I've gone for a more drastic solution and ordered a rohloff hub. The cables are full length and being a push pull system it should be more resistant to crud but I'm also considering using silicon sealant or similar to seal the ends of the cables to the shifter & hub.

Wow, that really is drastic! Still, your investment should last for years to come.