What gear cable do I need for this bike please ?

[princeperch]

Hello

I've purchased for my son a Chris Hoy cammo road bike. The gear cable that shifts the rear derailleur looks to be in poor condition to me so I tried to remove it and change it over with a spare cable I had in the shed but the cables seem to be two different sizes.

The rear derailleur says it's a Shimano claris and the back cog has 8 cogs. I'm not very practically minded when it comes to stuff like this and will 100pc buy the wrong thing unaided - so can someone take pity on me and direct me to the correct cable please ? The shifters the cables go into says 8 speed Microshift.

Any help much appreciated...

[BOR]

Your royal highness,

gear cables are all approximately the same diameter.

Brake cables are thicker.

It sounds to me like you have tried to fit a brake cable instead of a gear cable.

Any gear cable should do.

[leyorkie]

Gear cables have small nipples and are thinner than brake cables

[irc]

Usually it doesn't matter. However Microshift gear cable is 1.1mm diameter. Shimano gear cables are 1.2mm. Usually it won't matter but a 1.1mm cable will fit in situations where a 1.2mm cable is tight. No downside to a 1.1mm cable.

I would suggest Microshift or other 1.1mm cable for Microshift gear shifters.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/cables/microshift-inte...

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/cables/standard-inner-...

[princeperch]

Many thanks to you all.