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My love/hate relationship w/ Shimano XT integrated shifters

2K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  Jayem 
Incorrect cable routing/housing length. See the other ghost shifting thread towards the top of this board.

And BTW, the cables don't actually stretch, the housing ends compress.
 
russman said:
Wow, thanks for all the input!. Here's what I've done thus far...maybe it'll help, maybe it won't...The housing I use is Shimano SIS housing, so I don't think the bad housing thing works...
No, not that simple. Old housing will have dirt and grime, no matter who makes it. Also, the cuts should be uniform and it's nice to use a dremel to cut or grind when doing the cable housing ends. Any inconsistancies here can easily add up to shifting problems, at least untill everything starts to "bed" in better, but really poor cuts can just never work right. Next, the cable routing is also important, the size of the bends. Too much cable housing is just as bad as too little.

Next, I would NEVER put any oil based lube on cables, and the wax stuff doesn't seem to do much better. There is ONE thing that I use on cables, and that is "bike aid", available from QBP. This is a molybdenum lube, which is one of the slickest substances known to man. It's a good way to keep your shifters and cables going for longer than they normally would, and a good idea if you live in a place where it's impossible to avoid contamination of the lines. Otherwise, nothing really beats a fresh set of housing and cables, but it also has the possibility of introducing a plethora of other problems, or solving all of the problems, which is why you notice that so many people switch to the "other" companies shifters and derailers and their problem is solved. It's not the shifter or derailer, it's because they had to run the cables again, and this time it was done right, for whatever reason.
 
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