Compressionless housing from Jagwire - huge difference

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cpml123

Zen MBB Master
Hi,

I am tired of working on the COVID-19 issue/hundreds of emails I am getting per day, so need a little diversion.

I just wanted to share that Jagwire compressionless housing made a huge difference for my S40's braking performance. The bike was built by Cruzbike with TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes. I always thought the brakes were spongy, especially the rear one. After 1.5 yrs, I finally got tired of it and replaced the rear cable with Jagwire compressionless housing. What a difference. I can even lock up the rear brake now! No need to spend big bucks to change to TRP HY/RD brakes.

Michael
 
paco1961

paco1961

Zen MBB Master
cpml123 said:
Hi,

I am tired of working on the COVID-19 issue/hundreds of emails I am getting per day, so need a little diversion.

I just wanted to share that Jagwire compressionless housing made a huge difference for my S40's braking performance. The bike was built by Cruzbike with TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes. I always thought the brakes were spongy, especially the rear one. After 1.5 yrs, I finally got tired of it and replaced the rear cable with Jagwire compressionless housing. What a difference. I can even lock up the rear brake now! No need to spend big bucks to change to TRP HY/RD brakes.

Michael
Click to expand...

Yup. Great stuff!
 
R

Ross Jantz

Member
I switched to TRP's compressionless cables front and rear a few months after I got my S40 with similar good results - also, particularly noticeable on the rear. With the movement of the rear brake cable exit and routing in the second year, the problem was lessened, but I think compressionless is the way to go for any mechanical disc brake setup.
 
velocio

velocio

Austrian roadside steckerlfisch (fish on a stick)
I'll join the chorus on this one, compressionless is a big improvement, especially for long runs of full housing, as on my 1'st year S40. I've used Jagwire and it's very good stuff, but have also had great results with bargain priced Alligator, Q2, Lifeline and Clarks compressionless brake housing. Just make sure it's "compressionless" (i.e. has linear strands, similar to SIS shift housing) and not "low compression" (which appears to mean nothing in particular when applied to the marketing of brake housing).
 
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super slim

super slim

Zen MBB Master
For me going from a compression-less in two parts and inner only in two areas on a Silvio V 1.0 to one full length of compression-less outer was a major improvement for rear rim brakes!
 
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Martin in Colorado

New Member
Very helpful, glad I saw the recommendations (and those for cheaper alternatives). Looking at Alligator I notice they claim compressionless but say "cables are PTFE coated and feature compressionless braided brake housing" – wouldn't "braided" mean they're not linear as Velocio recommended?
 
super slim

super slim

Zen MBB Master
Martin in Colorado said:
Very helpful, glad I saw the recommendations (and those for cheaper alternatives). Looking at Alligator I notice they claim compressionless but say "cables are PTFE coated and feature compressionless braided brake housing" – wouldn't "braided" mean they're not linear as Velocio recommended?
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Braided should only be the outer covering, not the parallel wire middle layer
 
velocio

velocio

Austrian roadside steckerlfisch (fish on a stick)
Martin in Colorado said:
Very helpful, glad I saw the recommendations (and those for cheaper alternatives). Looking at Alligator I notice they claim compressionless but say "cables are PTFE coated and feature compressionless braided brake housing" – wouldn't "braided" mean they're not linear as Velocio recommended?
Click to expand...
Hiya Martin in CO,

By chance are you looking at the Alligator Sleek brake housing + cable set on offer at Jenson? (See: https://www.jensonusa.com/Alligator-Sleek-Glide-Brake-Cable-Kit) I recently ordered some of those, but haven't installed any of it yet. I've used Alligator compressionless housing ordered from overseas on a friend's bike before and it seemed the equal of anything else I've seen. I see on Alligator's website that the various Sleek sets use either linear strands as I described or a mesh as Martin noted, and both are claimed to be compressionless. I've only ever seen linear strands (surrounded by a Kevlar mesh to keep the linear strands together under braking forces), but apparently that's not a required feature to be considered compressionless. Sorry for the misdirection.

-Jack
 
P

Pollock

Guru
I’ll have to keep this in mind. I found my OG S40 brakes to be soft / spongey since I received it. I had the bike shop work on it recently, but have not had any outside riding since then to see if it is any better. This might become a future weekend project.
 
paco1961

paco1961

Zen MBB Master
Just installed the TRP compressionless brake housing w Kevlar lining. Great stuff. The only problem is, and this is the same for all brands, that none of the companies have kept up w the trend toward full length housing. Most include 3000mm of housing in a set. That’s fine for rear brake line but not enough for rear and front. Fortunately, the front run is much shorter and the need for the fancy housing is not as essential. Of course I could pony up for the 30 yard box . . . but really, do I need enough for the next 25 years?
 
C

cpml123

Zen MBB Master
paco1961 said:
Just installed the TRP compressionless brake housing w Kevlar lining. Great stuff. The only problem is, and this is the same for all brands, that none of the companies have kept up w the trend toward full length housing. Most include 3000mm of housing in a set. That’s fine for rear brake line but not enough for rear and front. Fortunately, the front run is much shorter and the need for the fancy housing is not as essential. Of course I could pony up for the 30 yard box . . . but really, do I need enough for the next 25 years?
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I know. So annoying. The left over is short by an inch or so for the front! Aahh! And the price is at a tricky point where it doesn't make sense for two people to split a set for two fronts due to shipping cost and time to go to post office.
 
BikeGary

BikeGary

Well-Known Member
paco1961 said:
Just installed the TRP compressionless brake housing w Kevlar lining. Great stuff. The only problem is, and this is the same for all brands, that none of the companies have kept up w the trend toward full length housing. Most include 3000mm of housing in a set. That’s fine for rear brake line but not enough for rear and front. Fortunately, the front run is much shorter and the need for the fancy housing is not as essential. Of course I could pony up for the 30 yard box . . . but really, do I need enough for the next 25 years?
Click to expand...
Well you could buy another Cruzbike... that would then justify the extra cable.
 
Merczak73

Merczak73

Active Member
Where does one get the JagWire compressionless cable housing? I have visited the website - can't find a place to buy the stuff. Looks like there is only one distributor noted on the website? Lemme know!
 
paco1961

paco1961

Zen MBB Master
Merczak73 said:
Where does one get the JagWire compressionless cable housing? I have visited the website - can't find a place to buy the stuff. Looks like there is only one distributor noted on the website? Lemme know!
Click to expand...

That's why I went with TRP . . . well that, and the fact that TRP is the same thing but cheaper.
 
paco1961

paco1961

Zen MBB Master
velocio said:
Paco, TRP housing is rebadged Jagwire?

I order a fair bit of stuff from the EU, my last batch of Jagwire housing came from Bike24; i.e. https://www.bike24.com/p2224353.html?q=jagwire%20compressionless If you're ordering online to be shipped from within the U.S. then Nashbar, Performance, Treefort, Jenson and Amazon all carry the Jagwire compressionless brake housing kits.

-Jack
Raleigh, NC
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Not rebranded necessarily but basically the same in concept and execution.
 
E

ElyDave

Guru
cpml123 said:
Hi,

I am tired of working on the COVID-19 issue/hundreds of emails I am getting per day, so need a little diversion.

I just wanted to share that Jagwire compressionless housing made a huge difference for my S40's braking performance. The bike was built by Cruzbike with TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes. I always thought the brakes were spongy, especially the rear one. After 1.5 yrs, I finally got tired of it and replaced the rear cable with Jagwire compressionless housing. What a difference. I can even lock up the rear brake now! No need to spend big bucks to change to TRP HY/RD brakes.

Michael
Click to expand...
That's my experience on the rear as well, spongy as hell (BB7 Road), so vastly different to my experience on my Airnimal with the same brakes. I've not checked the housing on the Airnimal and I was just looking at compressionless housing for another new build gravel/tourer when your post came up in a search, just as I was thinking "I wonder if it would help on the S40 with that long run to the rear?"

:emoji_thumbsup:
 
Merczak73

Merczak73

Active Member
Yup. Did my conversion earlier this year. Love to compressionless housing. Got mine on Amazon as well
 
billyk

billyk

Guru
I read this thread with interest since I also have TRP Spyres (with the original cable housings on my Q45).

But my rear brake seems pretty useless since it locks up very quickly, especially downhill. In any hard stop the weight is thrown forward enough that the rear wheel has little traction and the brake doesn't do much. It works ok to bleed off speed coming up to a stop light or sign but that's about it.

In fact I recently inspected my brake pads for wear. The front is getting close to needing replacement, the rear looks nearly new.

So will there be any gain by improving the rear brake performance with compressionless housings?
 
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