I am almost all done building my P3C and have one last final touch…the cables. Which ones should I get? I am running a 2009 SRAM Red group with Zero Gravity brakes. The mech at my lbs said that good old Dura Ace was the best he’s come across and outperforms Gore and Nokon hands down. I asked him about Yokozuna but he’d never heard of them. I wouldn’t mind getting the Shimano’s but I believe they only come in grey housing and I need black. Advice please…
if it helps, shimano makes (or sources) shimano-spec cable housing in black. i know this because some ultegra STI levers come with black housing. also, some distributors sell to shops 100’ rolls of shimano black brake housing and shimano black derailleur cable housing.
Dura Ace outperforms everything…hands down…he said that?
Yeah, the shop has Gore, Nokon, SRAM, Shimano and Jagwire in stock and while waiting for them to do some work on the bike I asked him which would be the best choice for cables and he simply stated that “you can’t go wrong with Dura Ace, best there is hands down”. I inquired as to why and he said that of all the bikes he re-cables throughout the season the Dura Ace ones hold up the best and shift the smoothest. He said Gore’s aren’t worth the money and Nokon’s corrode too easily and are mainly for show with no performance gains.
If you like the Nokons, go with them. I have them on my road bike and like how they look. To be honest, I can’t tell the difference between them and stock DA cables. But it seems like you’re building your dream bike, so don’t compromise. Go with what will make you happy. Just my $.02.
On a tri bike, shifting isn’t really an issue. Get whatever black cables you want (I like the Gore ride-on). For braking with the ZeroGs, cable length/tension is critical and the Nokons can work well since they tend to have less ‘compression’ with the superstiff aluminum ferrules for housing.