You are reading a single comment by @M_V and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@M_V
Actually, gear outer compresses far less than brake outer.
Gear outer is woven or braided whereas brake outer is most commonly coiled*, at rest there is a small amount of space between the coils which gets compressed when you pull the brake.
If you used coiled outers for gears you'd never be able to set the indexing because of how much the outer can compress.
*BMX brake cable outers are often braided, braided cables suit this application as the routing is simple (braided outer is stiffer than coiled) and braided outer also suffers less from compression (across the cable rather than along it) if you do barspins and wrap the cable tightly around the steerer tube, not much of a concern for road or mountain bikes.