The stainless bar end housing is only good if you're making it period correct, but even then most folks I knew replaced it with vinyl coated and as soon as it was available, nylon or Teflon? lined housing. The spiral stainless is a total loss grease system. You'll lose all the grease on the first hot day. And you really want bar ends as smooth and loose as possible, especially if you're using Campagnolo bar-ends which are a pain in the a** to take apart, clean, grease and adjust. It's tough enough just to pull cable out of the thing to run fresh grease without taking the shifter apart, and it's bend is so tight, you might fray the cable at the shifter. Then when it starts to stick you with that stray wire, you'll have to take it apart and do it all over again! ... Sorry, I got carried away. And the Campy shifters are still the ones I use. When done right they work great.
If it's friction, you really should run nylon lined coil housing and shot with teflon grease or Triflow, something that'll be easy to maintain and smooth enough for great shifting, and easy to find in most any color. The bike's gotta look cool!
Regards, and Happy trails,
Dan Artley in Parkton, Maryland USA
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As I'm converting to bar-end shifters, I went to several LBS looking for the metal-(SS?) wound cable sheaths with no luck. They said most folks now use regular vinyl-coated derailleur outers. Is there a source for the metal
ones or have they too gone the way of the Dodo? (also used between stop and rear
deraill)
Jack Romans
Sacramento, California