corki Shift set: 4 mm (0.16 in) housing, 2 × 1.1 mm (0.08 × 0.04 in) cables

What you are getting

A complete shift cable set: two 1.1 mm (0.04 in) stainless, PVC-coated inner cables at 2,100 mm (82.7 in) each, 4 mm (0.16 in) housing, clips, ferrules and cable end crimps. 121 g (4.3 oz) total. $11.49 — the cheapest item on this page.

Its housing length is published twice, as two numbers

Bullet three: “Dia 4 mm (0.16 in) Length 2000 mm (78.7 in) reinforced linear strand housing.” Bullet four: “the cable housing is 2500 mm (98.4 in) / 98.4 inches long.”

Five hundred millimeters apart, and it is the figure that decides whether the set does the job. A rear derailleur run on a full-suspension frame can want 1,500 mm (59.1 in) on its own; 2,000 mm (78.7 in) for both derailleurs is tight, 2,500 mm (98.4 in) is comfortable.

Everything else about the set is consistent, so this reads as an editing error rather than two products. Ask the seller, and if the answer is 2,000 mm (78.7 in), measure your old housing before committing.

“Reinforced linear strand”, which is the right construction named

The tag on this shelf is that brake and gear housing look alike and are built completely differently, and this listing names its own side of it: linear strand.

Strands laid along the length cannot compress, which is what indexed shifting needs — the Jagwire shift roll on this page calls the same thing “straight wire structure” and forbids brake use outright. Corki does not state the prohibition, but the construction says it: this housing in a brake would split at a tight bend.

1.1 mm (0.04 in) inner cable, which is the thinnest in this group

Brake wire is 1.6 mm (0.06 in); this is 1.1 mm (0.04 in). The Shimano gear cable already published on this shelf is 1.2 mm (0.05 in), galvanized.

So 1.1 mm (0.04 in) is at the thin end even for shift wire. “PVC coated” is the compensation: a slippery jacket over stainless strands, which reduces friction in the housing and resists fraying. It also means the cable cannot be clamped quite as hard without the coating creeping.

Two cables of the same length, which is a difference from the brake set

Both inner cables are 2,100 mm (82.7 in), “extra long to fit all bikes, including full-suspension mountain and road bikes”. So the front one gets cut down.

The Shimano brake set on this page does the opposite: 1,000 mm (39.4 in) and 2,050 mm (80.7 in), each for its own end. One long pair fits anything and wastes some; two matched lengths fit properly and fit less universally.

And two of its seven bullets are the installation

“Pull out the old inner gear cable and remove the housing. Take the old cable housing, measure against the new housing to see if length adjustments are needed… attach the gear cable to your shifter and derailleur… secure tightly with an Allen key… attach the gear nipple and pinch with pliers. This prevents the gear cable from fraying at the end.”

That is a genuinely complete procedure, including the step people skip — crimping the end so the cable does not fray — and the crimps are in the box. No other listing in this group explains how to fit anything.

The first instruction is also the answer to the housing-length contradiction: measure the old one.

121 grams, published as a total

A whole shift set at 121 g (4.3 oz), against 45 g (1.6 oz) for the Shimano brake set — which has less housing and two cables of a thicker gauge. The difference is that this set carries 2,000 or 2,500 mm (98.4 in) of housing plus clips and crimps.

What is not published

No ferrule count, no clip count, no crimp count — “clips, ferrules, and cable end crimps” with no numbers — no internal housing diameter, and no strand count. Color options are offered, which is the one thing on this shelf that has no mechanical consequence at all.

Availability

Read on the day this page was built: $11 at the American Amazon shop.

Read from Keepa on the day this page was last revised; stock and price both move without notice.