Lubing cables..Yes/No?
- Thread starter TC99
- Start date
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PpPete
Legendary Member
- Location
- Chandler's Ford
Some lubricant brands sell a little syringe type thingy so you can squirt in a bit of your chain oil. Personally I'd use only the very thinnest of dry lubes for this.
Better to remove the inners from outers and from shifters to check for rust and or fraying. Replace as necessary with the best quaility cables you can afford, stainless steel inners as a minimum.
Better to remove the inners from outers and from shifters to check for rust and or fraying. Replace as necessary with the best quaility cables you can afford, stainless steel inners as a minimum.
Gillstay
Veteran
I tend to release the whole cable from the middle so you can move the outer up and down as much as possible. Then I wipe clean the inner cable as much as that allows. If it is poor access then I take the inner out clean it and return it. For lubrication I use a silicon spray and never oil as it makes some components swell to the detriment of the function.
88robb
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Netherland
If your shifting is smooth and crisp, don't touch them. Modern cable liners are great and lube can sometimes attract gunk.
If you ever feel stiffness, the best fix is to replace the inner cable. It's easier and more effective than trying to lube an old cable.
MontyVeda
a short-tempered ill-controlled small-minded troll
- Location
- Lancaster... the little city.
This. If it's not broke, don't fix it.
AlBaker
Active Member
Several years ago I bought a new cruiser and decided to lube the cables. Soon I began to notice that the gear cable wasn't operating so well. A while later it got so stiff that I had to put a new housing and cable on the bike. I tried to remove the cable from the old housing and found it was hard to pull, not just an end sticking, but tight all the way through. I found out the housing had some kind of plastic liner. I had used ordinary petroleum-based grease, very sparingly, but it was enough to damage the lining and make it swell. I mentioned it on another forum and was told I don't know what I'm talking about. Later I read that modern cables don't need to be lubed, so since then I have never lubed one, and they always work like they should. My take on lubing cables is, make sure what type of housing you have, and find out if it needs to be lubed. And never use petroleum-based grease.
