# Brake cable compatibility



## orange_julius (Jan 24, 2003)

Call me a heretic, but I need exactly one brake cable/housing, and I'm feeling cheap. So I'm thinking of using a Shimano brake cable/housing instead, since I haven't found a Campanolo shop in town yet. 

If I recall correctly, the brake cable diameters are identical for both Shimano and Campagnolo. Is this correct? Does anybody have any experience with this mix-match? Is Shimano brake cabling far inferior to Campagnolo's? 

Thanks in advance.


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## capt_phun (Jun 14, 2004)

The housing will work, but the cable end of shimano may be larger than the campy & get suck in the brake lever. This is not a huge problem, you can dremel the cable end to make is a little smaller. I had a large amount of generic cables & I was not going to throw them away for such a simple modification. 
As far as inferior...they work right, no need to spend big money on something that is simply braided cable. The Campy housing comes pre-lubed but really its all the same.


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## Keeping up with Junior (Feb 27, 2003)

*Generic cables*



orange_julius said:


> ...using a Shimano brake cable/housing instead...


The head size is a little smaller on Campy. You can file or Dremel the Shimano cable smaller if you want. The generic cables I get at my shop have Shimano head on one end and Campy head on the other. Just cut off and discard the end you don't need. The packageing they come in is bright green.


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## orange_julius (Jan 24, 2003)

Thanks for the info guys, exactly what I was looking for.

Cheers!


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