Brake & gear cable housing (mechanical) - any stand out recommends?

Looking to do some cable housing shopping for a new build. Previous attempt at economising didn't work and the plastic outer wrap on some Clarks crap I bought is degrading already.

So, are there any easy answers for good housing without being £££?

Thanks

Planetx usually has dirt cheap options for cabling

Edit: wiggle own brand stuff seems to be decent for the price and sometimes jagwire on ebay is cheap too

jagwire on ebay is cheap too

Found a retailer going 5m Fibrax 5mm brake outer for £6. The lettering is chalky white rather than crisply embossed. Works well enough but I’m still not sure they’re legit fibrax, which I remember as having silver embossing like most other brands. Is that right?

I'm not sure I've never used fibrax before. Is it something like this?

https://www.tweekscycles.com/ca/fibrax-2p-outer-brake-casing-fbxfcb3107/

Is this the ebay sale? If so the seller has a lot of fibrax stuff and photos of stuff in legit looking packaging.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-Meters-Bike-BRAKE-Outer-Cable-housing-5mm-Black-Fibrax-sale-/233021131058?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

I like Jagwire KEB compressionless brake housing. Feels great. Removes that spongy feeling from your brakes, assuming you've got stiff calipers/levers.

I bought some Jagwire Pro stuff when I redid the cabling on my cargo bike.

Not cheap but definitely worth it.

I’d been using total crap stuff from my lbs before and the difference was amazing. The stuff from my lbs wasn’t cheap either.

I like this braided stuff from velo vitality
They sell it on eBay also and do both brake and gear for matchy

You can usually find sellers on ebay that buy the bulk boxes intended for mechanics and sell them individually. It works out a lot cheaper than the retail packs. I believe it's the pro stuff but can't guarantee.

Nice, will check it out. Bought a front xt hub off you a few months ago and it's lovely, btw, ta! My first wheel I built, I'm very affectioned with it.

Yeah, I bought a fake Shimano chain from ebay recently that was total shit so totally over taking the risk on there.

With the daylight robbery prices at the lbs I figured it was better to just find some decent stuff from a reputable source and cough up for it.

Yeah fair. I agree, I only take the chance if it's a few quid for my front brake.

On my road bikes I usually bite the bullet and get campag gear and brake cables even though I hate the prices.

Great stuff, thanks everyone. This is exactly what I needed to get going, the help's really appreciated.

It seems it wasn't CRC I got it from as I couldn't find it in my past orders but it was this kit that they are all sold out of now,

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/jagwire-pro-1x-shift-kit/rp-prod183608?mx01=a&mx02=a

It's worth noting that it was the longest cable I could find too. I've never really worried about cable length on a normal bike (the routing is a bit roundabout on my cargo bike so that was why I was paying attention when I bought this) but I just did the gear cable on my neighbor's crabon Rose cx bike which is all internal but still pretty direct and the Lifeline cable he supplied was barely long enough to make it to the rear derailleur.

Bought a front xt hub off you a few months ago and it's lovely, btw, ta! My first wheel I built, I'm very affectioned with it.

Nice one.

Ah thanks I’m not sure why I worded my post like that but I didn’t expect you to know if my random retailer was legit, ha. Thanks for answering tho, and yep that looks like the same housing I bought. Again the lettering is slightly sus but might be legit, and the housing seems legit quality.

-to add Fibrax make good stuff. They’re a UK brand, and I swear by their aero levers.

On the subject of cables, I took a punt on some generic eBay cables that feel more like wire rope. I’m wondering if I should sand down the exterior, it’s not at all smooth like the stuff from established providers.

They make the smooth wire cables by forcing them through a die, and in some cases by further polishing them. The die makes each little wire into more of a D shape than an O. I think it would be total pain trying to sand a cable. You could donate those ones to a bike repair charity and buy yourself some shiny ones.

Any updates on cables recently?
Finding a decent set has become complex!

Jagwire are hard to find and Campagnolo seems to only sell from 10sp and up.
What do you guys use for vintage bikes?

What do you guys use for vintage bikes?

This looks good on a lot of stuff
https://www.velovitality.co.uk/collections/cables/products/braided-stainless-cable-kits-brake-or-gear

I got some Transfil Flying Snake Compressionless Brake and Gear cables recently.
They seem very nice, I'd never heard of them before. £20 for the set was about right too.

Lifeline were on sale @ wiggle recently.

Cheers guys. I'll look into these brands.

Price matters, sure. But sometimes if you spend more up front, you save in the long run.

I've been using segmented housing of various brands for a few years, and besides saving a bit of weight and adding bling, it turns out way cheaper in the long run because you just buy more liner sleeve and reuse the segments indefinitely.

Don't go for Alligator iLink, it's a bit nasty - my favourite so far is Jagwire Elite Link. Although I'm interested to try and find some thinner-walled liner and see how Nokon Slim goes as brake housing...

Maybe I got a bad batch, but my silver Nokon segments weren't uniformly anodised; they were a variety of shades. And the Jagwire stuff I got wasn't pure red, it was slightly purple, which was a bit bloody annoying.

Elvedes cables. Dutch I think.

LBS fitted some of these to my partner's bike. They're a bit thinner and seem super smooth. Anyone had any long-term use out of them? They seem quite nice.