Road bike brake cable Black Friday on sale

What the road selection includes

Road kits combine cable, housing, and ends for a bike: Slickwire from Sram in black or white, BC-9000 sets from Shimano with polymer-coated cable. In addition, there are cables alone, stainless steel, galvanized or PTFE, boxes of 25 to 100 cables for workshops and clubs, individual ends, and a hydraulic hose from Shimano for disc brakes. The page also features derailleur kits, marked 4 mm and 1.1: they are not suitable for brakes.

Head, housing, and length: the three checks

• The head: pear-shaped for road levers from Shimano and Sram, the specific format for Campagnolo levers, like on Elite Workshop cables from Jagwire.
• The housing: 5 mm for the brake, with ends of the same diameter at both ends.
• The length: the Slickwire road kit from Sram includes a cable of 1,750 mm; a large frame, a time trial bike, or a tandem needs more, up to the 2,750 mm cable from Sram. Velox indicates the length on each box, from 0.80 to 3 m.

Kit, cable only, or workshop box: read the discount

A strikethrough price on a kit covers cable, housing, and ends for a bike; on a workshop box, it covers 25 to 100 cables, rarely accompanied by ends. So, relate each discount to what it contains, and check that a kit marked 4 mm and 1.1 is not a derailleur kit before comparing it to a brake kit.

The brands of road brake cables from Black Friday

Jagwire supplies workshops with its Workshop ends, sold in packs of 30 to 500 in 4, 4.5, or 5 mm, and offers a Pro Quick-Fit kit for Shimano hydraulic brakes.

Shimano pairs its coated brake cable sets, BC-9000 or SIL-TEC, with stainless steel cable ends and housing ends, and also offers SLR cables.

Velox classifies its road and city cable boxes by length and finish, either stainless steel or galvanized, including a version for Shimano levers.

Sram offers its Slickwire road kit in black or white, to match the cabling with the bike, and an extra-long Pro version.

Elvedes completes the range with housing with internal liner, including the Superflex, and ends for internal routing.

Levers, calipers, and other helpful pages

Aside from sales, the page on road brake cables and housings details materials, lengths, and hoses. During Black Friday, new cabling is set up with road brake calipers on promotion, and the general selection of brake cables also includes those for city and MTB. The clearance and new items complete the offer.

Frequently asked questions

Why change your brake cables on Black Friday?

Happening on the Friday after Thanksgiving, the event comes just before the wet months that clog up the housings, and its discounts on road cabling run throughout November. New cabling before winter restores smoothness to the lever and precision to braking.

Can a derailleur cable kit be used for the brake?

No. Kits marked 4 mm and 1.1, like some Slickwire from Sram, are derailleur kits: their housing is not made for the stresses of strong braking.

How can you tell if a cable is suitable for Campagnolo levers?

Look for the mention Campagnolo in the name, like on the Workshop Elite cables from Jagwire. A head made for Shimano or Sram does not fit properly in the lever.

Are the ends included with the cables?

Most often in kits, rarely in cable boxes. Count on one end at each end of the housing, of the same diameter as the housing.

Stainless steel or galvanized cable for the road?

Stainless steel is more resistant to corrosion and remains the common choice on the road; galvanized is suitable for simple replacements on a bike stored safely. Velox offers both finishes.