Shifter and brake cables should be made out of stainless steel, with no coatings on them. Coatings wear off. Think about that teflon frying pan you have that’s covered in scratches, or the leaky Goretex coat you have, or the poly on your shiny wood floor. It all wears off. Some of it faster than others. If you don’t have a coating, the coating can’t wear off. Teflon is especially evil as a cable coating. Or anything coating. It’s terrible, just awful for the environment. That’s why we don’t sell teflon lubricants, or polishes, coated pedals, etc. No coating means you have to run the cable thru a mandrel of some sort to smooth out the strands in the cable. Standard 5 buck cables do this process once. They work fine for lots of things, but they’re not so hot for 11 speed shifting, or full length cable housing, or any other application where friction can adversely impact performance. Jagwire Pro cables go through an additional smoothing mandrel process, and the end result is a cable that collects less dirt, runs smoother and lasts longer. Your shifting and braking will be improved with these cables, the lack of drag is noticeable. The Jagwire Ultra Slick cables take this to an extreme, they’re slicker than teflon cables, because they polish them after they run them through the mandrel. Pity the cable polisher, that cannot be a fun job. Want a really good cable for a decent price? Let’s get you set up with Jagwire Pro cables. Want the best cables made, damn the price, get the Ultra Slicks. These cables come in a few lengths. Here’s our rough guide to that: If you are running disc brakes, get one 2000mm, one 2750mm brake cable. If you are running caliper brakes, get two shorts, unless your bike is really big and you have high bars. If you are running flat bars or drops, the 2300mm shift cable will work for most set ups. Really big bikes and high bar combos should use the 3100mm cable, which is way too long, but it's better than too short. If you have drop bars and road levers, get the road brake cables. These work with any road brake lever except Campy stuff. The shift cables work with any shifter except Rohloff and Campy. Mountain and road are the same. Pair these cables with Jagwire’s lined housing and some brass ferrules.
