Gore Ride On cables used to enjoy a premium position in the mind, if for no other reason than the cost and “cool” factor…but that was five-plus years ago.  I had a set on my mountain bike, but to be honest, I don’t remember how they performed, it’s been so long.  One of the issues with the original cables was the teflon coating frayed too easily during set up, leading to further degradation of the coating over time.
At Interbike this year, they released their new fully-sealed system after being off the market for a few years.  We’ve got a set of the derailleur cables that we’ll be doing a long-term mountain bike test with over the winter, which gets good and wet here in NC.  In the meantime, read “more” to see what’s in the box, what’s new and how they’ve improved…ÂÂ
Gore’s rep gave me these four bullet points to describe what’s been improved:
- The cable coating is ten times thinner than the original coating while maintaining the low friction characteristics. This means you no longer have to trim any coating off of the wire before fixing the cable in the pinch bolt of your brakes or derailleurs.
- The coating is much more durable, and it is better adhered to the cable. This means your cable system will no longer suffer from the coating peeling off of the cable and binding within the liner.
- The liner that seals the system from beginning to end is much tougher than the liner in the “old” system, ensuring your cables will stay sealed from contamination.
- Cable housing, ferrules, and other finishing hardware are made of the highest quality materials. Not only will the entire system last, but it’ll look good from the day you put in on your bike.
Here’s the new box.  This one’s a little beat up after traveling back from Vegas crammed into an (overweight) suitcase.  They’re available for both brakes and derailleurs, and they offer an extra long set for tandems, triathlon bikes, etc.  Click on any of these images to enlarge.
Open it up and you get a nicely packaged set of cables, ferrules and housing.
Everything is kept in it’s place nicely.  If you open it gently, it makes it easy to keep it all organized during installation.
The secret to these cables’ performance is making it a fully sealed system.  The cable ends go into your shifters and immediately become enclosed in these clear sheaths that run the duration of the cable all the way to your derailleurs.  Same idea for your brakes.  SRP is $64.99 for a set of sealed cables ($69.99 for extra long).  Each set includes cables, sheaths and housing for front and rear derailleur, or front and rear brakes.
They are offered in a non-sealed system, too, the only difference being the exclusion of the clear sheaths.  Otherwise, you still get the slick coating on the cables, the housing and the ferrules, caps, etc.  MSRP is $49.99 for non-sealed set.
Come spring, we’ll post our long-term review of their performance through the winter…which’ll give you time to throw them on for the race season if you like what we have to say.
