Buying cables/housing in bulk?
 

I've grown attached to Dura Ace cables and housing. Any recommendations for buying these in bulk? Or shop rolls of equivalent quality brands? Thanks!

Any shop should be able to sell "file boxes" of bulk cable and or housing. But they are big and not cheap. Shift cable file boxes can be hundreds of cables.

Thanks -- is it cheaper than buying them for single bikes though?


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This would literally be a lifetime's supply of cables and housing it would seem. While they're a wear item, they don't wear that quickly.

Additionally, I've found that buying a lifetime's supply of something leads to a dump sale later as my tastes or technology have moved on.

For your average person's lifetime, yes it is cheaper to buy a smaller quantity of cables or housing. Technically, it is cheaper to buy in bulk. But if you're buying cables and housing you're not going to use, it's a waste of money.

I bought a file box of SRAM stainless inner cables if anyone wants to buy a bundle of 10-25+

For an intermediate solution between buying single bike kit and more than you could ever use, I've never had an issue heading down to the LBS and asking for 3-4m of both kinds of housing and the inner wire for 2-3 bikes.

Of course, I still have enough for a bike sitting around from the last time I did this, 4 years ago.

Jagwire sells various packaged lengths of housing. I'll usually pick up a 10 M roll every once in a while. It keeps me on track when I decide to switch bars or bits, and it's handy when helping friends with builds/repairs.

Swap meets are perfect for this-- I don't think I've ever paid more than $1 for good stainless cables, and I've picked up premium housing super cheap as well. I only buy a few years in advance at most. The sad reality, at least for the foreseeable future, is that there will always be a failed bike shop liquidating their stock.

I have done this solely to have a good supply at home, not for saving money. I did the same recently with cork tape.

Happy I did, too. I have a lot of bikes and in the past not having those things handy (my sponsor shop is hard for me to get to) has stopped me from keeping them dialed in.

The Dura Ace cables you like are only available in single bike kits. You might be able to get a qty discount though. The Shimano file boxes of bull cables and housing are not at a Dura Ace quality level.

This is how I ended up with three 50M(!) boxes of Jagwire cable housing. I'm putting it to good use though!

QBP has a 20 pack of the DA/polymer der cables...not cheap tho..about $185 wholesale(yikes!!)

I ended up buying a 25' (or was it 10 meter) Jagwire small bulk shifter housing roll. Needed it to replace the housing for my TT bike with internal routed housing. The Jagwire road kit with cables & housing wasn't long enough for the entire bike (just the front really). The the bulk hosing roll wasn't that expensive actually (paid $20ish on Amazon for it). Now I have spares for the next time and just need to buy cables only. Didn't need fancy housings/cables for this bike since the routing is pretty straightforward and bar end shifters don't have those sharp bends like Shimano STI's do.

The brake kit actually was plenty of cable though (since front calipers don't need such long lengths of housing).

I know some pals would frown on this and I have mentioned this before. I get my lifetime supply of cables from here.

It costs me less than $4 for a complete set (enough for a full build) and I have used them on all my bikes. They worked fine and at that price, I can overhaul or rebuild as many times as I like. Obviously, if you gonna compare it to Jagwire or the other brand names, this option won't be viable for you.