brake cable/housing sets

HuffyMan said:

i plan to install mechanical discs (BB7s) soon and plan to change cables/housings as well. The bike has split housing w/ the exposed cable on the long straights, etc and i want to run full housings.

Do most cable/housing sets (like Avid's) come w/ enough housing to run full length housings? or is it assuming you'll keep it stocklike? Also if theyre designed for Vbrakes, will the front be long enough to run all the way down the fork for the front caliper?

Any recommendations for the best bang for the buck cable and housing set? just buy it by the foot maybe? but then what else would i need?

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Housing length for a set will obviously depend on the set, but if you measure your current housing lengths, and add the lengths of the exposed cable sections, you will arrive at the neccessary length you need.
HOWEVER, it has been my time tested experience (almost 10 years as a pro mechanic) that the name brand or price of your chosen cable/housing is about 10% as important as the preparation and proper installation of your choice. For housing ends, file or lightly grind the end of the housing so that it is TOTALLY SQUARE WITH NO BURRS. After doing so, ream it with a sharpened spoke to make sure that the inner plastic lining has not melted or pinched closed (I prefer a spoke over an awl because the full 1.8 or 2.0 mm cross section will go more fully into the housing than just the tip of your garden variety awl). After reaming, LUBE YOUR HOUSING. You will like a full on grease if your area is muddy and wet or particularly dusty. If you ride in pristine conditions, injecting triflow into the housing will make your brake/shift action much lighter and smoother. If you use ferrules on your housing ends, don't worry about crimping them on (sometimes you can overcrimp and deform the housing, or the crimping action will cause the housing end to migrate slightly from the inside stop of the ferrule. Use a good quality stainless steel slick cable (Teflon coated black or regular, whatever tickles your pickle). Lace it through, snug your anchor bolt and prestretch it by pulling the brake lever with both hands really hard for about 5-10 secs. After that, you can proceed with your normal set up and adjustment procedures. You will find that if you take the time and set it up right the first time, you won't have to constantly back out your barrel adjusters due to cable stretch, nor will you have to deal with the brakes feeling like crap right after set up or after just a few rides due to gunk fouling things up.

Regardless of which method you chose to purchase, there will still be measurments involved. Since the Flacjacket is full coverage (no exposed cable between cable stops) it will come supplied with special ferrules that hold the cover between stops. As you can see in the picture, my brake cable dosen't use closed stops so measuring was simplified. If your stops are enclosed like my shifter runs, a little tweeking with a dremmel tool might be required to fit the special ferrules.

Avid supplies more than enough material for a couple of routing options for the std 26" mtb frame. If you're not interested in full covers, buying by the foot would be cheaper.

I ran Flakjackets on my old GT for both shifters and brakes with no problems. I also fitted them to my new bike (also a Jamis XC, but with hydraulic brakes) and wouldn't run anything else.

I don't think you will get enough outer housing to run them full-length front/back. But that kinda defeats the purpose of the flakjackets.

As the other poster mentioned, using the dremmel and making sure you clean-out the inner housing is important. Although I would disagree about lubing. I have found that running them dry works best, as lube seems to pick up any dirt that gets into the system, and eventually makes everything start to stick.

You should also search this subject as the "full length" question comes up ever couple of months. Some riders swear by them, so I don't think you can go wrong either way.