You probably know this: At first you don't even realise that you have to push a little harder on the gear lever to change gear. But at some point you reach the point where shifting becomes a game of chance: Does the chain change straight away or do you have to make corrections? Crisp gear changes are then replaced by doughy stirring in the gearbox.
The problem is homemade. The click stops, which determine the shifting steps, are located in the shifter, but the gear changes are carried out at some distance on the rear wheel. The long transmission path from shifter to derailleur is the weak point in the system. Every bend in the cable causes friction, which increases the operating force and reduces shifting precision. If there is friction in the cable, this can be compensated for by applying more pressure to the shift lever - but only in one direction: against the spring tension of the rear derailleur, i.e. from a smaller to a larger sprocket. When shifting to smaller sprockets, on the other hand, the rear derailleur spring alone must overcome the friction. If it fails to do so, the signal transmission is disrupted. The result of too much friction is that you always have to push the lever upwards a little beyond the next notch, and downwards the chain takes a long time and rattles. High time to fit a new derailleur cable. This provides the aha experience: shifting can be so easy - and so precise!
The shifter cables in this test:
BBB Speedline, Campagnolo Record and Centaur, Gore Ultralight and Ride on, Jagwire Hyper and Universal, Nokon, Point IFSP, Shimano XTR and Dura-Ace as well as Standard
Downloads:
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