Spiral-wound, 907 g (32 oz) for 15.2 m (50 ft) — double the shift housing
Jagwire CEX brake housing, 5 mm (0.20 in), 15.2 m (50 ft) roll
A 15.2 meter (49.9 ft) roll of 5 mm (0.20 in) spiral-wound brake cable housing with thirty end caps, for brake systems only.
What you are getting
A 50 ft (15.2 m) roll of 5 mm (0.20 in) Jagwire brake cable housing in black, with 30 brake end caps. Made in Taiwan. 907 g (32 oz). $26.99.
Its third bullet is this shelf’s whole tag, published
“Inner spiral bending with plastic sheath lining and wound cable housing construction, designed specifically for brake systems and not for shift cable applications.”
The tag on this page is that brake and gear housing look alike and are built completely differently. Here is the brake half, in the manufacturer’s own words — and the Jagwire shift housing on this page says the mirror image: straight inner wire, “not for brake cable use”.
Wound is the key word. Brake housing is a steel strip or wire wrapped in a tight helix around the liner. A helix resists being burst open sideways, which is what brake lever force tries to do as the housing curves — and it is why brake housing can be bent round a head tube without collapsing.
And the weight proves it
907 g for 15.2 m of this housing. The Jagwire shift housing on this page, the same brand and the same length, is 454 g.
Exactly double, and the difference is the spiral steel. That is the clearest confirmation in this whole survey that the tag on this shelf describes a real structural difference rather than a marketing one.
Fifty feet is a workshop quantity
“A roll of 50 feet, approximately 15.2 meters (50 ft), provides enough cable housing to assemble five bicycles”, and “recommended for professionals”.
A bike needs roughly 2.2 to 3 m (7 to 10 ft) of brake housing. Fifty feet is therefore five bikes or a lot of spare, and at $26.99 that is $1.78 a meter — against the Shimano set on this page, which supplies 2,200 mm (86.6 in) of housing and two cables for $15.49.
So: a roll for someone who services bikes, a set for someone servicing one.
Thirty end caps, which is the right number and a hint
Thirty ferrules for 15.2 m (50 ft). A bike uses four to six brake ferrules, so thirty is five or six bikes’ worth — consistent with the five-bike claim.
What the roll does not include is inner cable. This is housing only, and brake inner wire is a separate purchase at 1.6 mm (0.06 in). The Shimano set on this page includes both.
Five millimeters, and that is the brake standard
External diameter 5 mm (0.20 in). Brake housing is 5 mm (0.20 in) and shift housing is 4 mm (0.16 in), near-universally — which is the practical way to tell them apart in a parts bin, and the reason a brake housing will not pass through a frame’s gear cable stops.
The internal diameter is not published, which is a small gap: a 1.6 mm (0.06 in) inner wire needs a liner bore comfortably above that.
What is not published
No internal diameter, no liner material beyond “plastic sheath”, no inner cable, no minimum bend radius, and no compression figure. The description field is the two words “JAGWIRE CEX” — CEX being Jagwire’s own brake housing designation, and the thing to search by.
Availability
Read on the day this page was built: $27 at the American Amazon shop.
Read from Keepa on the day this page was last revised; stock and price both move without notice.
Prices quoted in this text were read on 2026-10-06. The live price is at the top of the page.
