Reaction cable system

Opinion & review – Competitive Cyclist.

“We’ve spent the last year riding a SRAM-Red equipped bike. As lifelong Campy devotees it was a leap of faith. And a year later it’s a leap we’re glad we made. In nearly every way it’s lived up to the hype, and while it could stand some nip and tuck work(what gruppo can’t?), there’s little doubt that Red offers the best ROI of any PRO-level componentry out there. We have only one real beef with Red, in fact. It’s the cables. They don’t befit the group. Even when they’re new they’re sluggish & high-friction in comparison to the slick, point-and-click feel of Campy Record or Dura Ace cables. It’s not a fatal flaw. But it’s Red’s most notable drawback, and we told a fellow SRAMophile this lately and he replied with a one word answer, “Yokozuna.” It was a tip that’ll change the way we think about cables forever.

Who is Yokozuna? It’s a Japanese company who allegedly manufacturers Shimano’s cables for them. We haven’t substantiated the rumor, but given that Yokozuna puts a big Japanese flag on their packaging, and in their marketing materials they have the guts to say “Some say they can tell the difference between our cables and those coming out of Taiwan and China just by the touch,” it leads us to believe there’s likely some truth to it.

So we followed our pal’s advice and bought the Yokozuna Reaction Cable Kit – their top-of-the-line stuff. And our experience? We are periodically impressed by new bike stuff. But to be amazed, that’s a rarity. And amazed is exactly what we are. No cable set we’ve ever tried – not Campy, not Dura Ace, not Nokon, not Gore, nothing can match what we felt. What ceramic bearings are to your drivetrain, Yokozuna is to cables! An astounding reduction in drag, except unlike ceramics, the Yokozuna difference is one you can feel on a moment-to-moment basis. It’s dragless. It turned our SRAM DoubleTap into HyperTap. We barely stroked the lever and the derailleur slammed the chain into gear. Amazing. SRAM could include this cable kit with Red and refer to it as “Red, Second Generation.” The difference is that vast.

Yokozuna isn’t just about shifting, either. This kit comes with a compressionless brake housing – something no other company has ever successfully manufactured. Again, the cable response is instant and has zero friction, which is especially nice for subtle braking modulation.”

Opinion & review – Velo News.

“Late in the riding season, the best ways to dress up your bike and make it feel like new include new cables and housing, new bar tape or grips, a new chain, and new tires. If you can’t afford new wheels or other components, there are little things that can make a big difference. It’s especially true for shifter and brake cables and housing. Aside from just improving the feel at the levers, actual shifting and braking performance will improve as well. At $60, a Yokozuna Reaction cable and housing set is probably not the cheapest you can find. But it’s among the best, and without a doubt will improve both the feel and performance of your shifters and brakes.

American riders are not likely to have heard of the Yokozuna brand, but the Japanese company has been around for decades. For years as a subcontractor, Yokozuna has been providing cable and housing for high-end component groups to some of the top drivetrain builders in the industry. In 2005, the company entered the consumer market and is currently distributed in the US, Canada, Australia, and Britain.

The Wrenching.
A Yokozuna Reaction cable kit includes brake and shifter cables, and housing for both. Versions are available with mountain bike brake cables, and shifter cable for either Shimano/SRAM or Campagnolo. Ferrules, cable end caps, and 2 short sections of extra-flexible brake housing (for extra-tight handlebar bends) are included.

Holding the package, it feels a little heavy, and I thought it might be due to the very beefy-looking 5mm brake housing, which is about the most highly engineered I’ve seen yet. But I weighed 36-inch lengths of Shimano and Yokozuna brake housing, and the weight was equal (about 53 grams).

The brake housing is composed of coaxial wire strands (just like shifter housing) over which a steel ribbon is wound, to keep it from splitting under compression. The whole thing is coated in a clear plastic sheathing. The see-through nature of it is cool—you can see the co-ax strands underneath the outer wind of ribbon. It’s lined internally with a slick housing, which is “Jet-Lubed” end to end with light cable grease. The whole package makes for very stiff housing that is very hard to bend.

The 4mm shifter housing looks a lot more like standard coaxial SIS housing. Like the brake housing, the plastic sheath is clear, and it’s lined internally and pre-lubed.

Also like the brake housing, the 1.2mm shifter cables are almost immediately notable for a unique look and feel. The individual stainless steel wire strands are wound more tightly than on most shifter cables I’ve seen, which makes the Yokozuna cables very flexible and supple. They are also quite smooth.

Ditto with the 1.6mm brake cables—they are wound tightly (but not as noticeably so as the shifter cables), are very flexible and very smooth.

Installation is the same as with any cable set. However, the brake housing is very, very stiff, so routing it through tight bends will be tricky. I was barely able to get it to bend to follow the groove on my road bars, but that was the only issue I had. (I preferred to use the normal housing rather than the short, flexible sections provided).

The amount of shifter housing supplied with the kit was barely enough to fit from the Dura Ace 7800 levers I have, on 44cm bars with a 100mm stem, to the downtube cable stops on my Trek Madone. Be careful with your install to make sure you will have enough shifter housing for your application.

Yokozuna brake housing is very stiff, but gives great performance.

Good cable cutters are absolutely necessary, because both cables and housing are made of stout material. In fact, cutting the brake housing requires a bit of post-cut care, as the outer steel ribbon tends to pull away from the coaxial strands when cut. I had to re-cut the ribbon and bend it away from the cable path. Then, using a machinist’s pick or other sharp tool to open up any crimping of the inner lining is helpful. Once ferrules are in place, everything looks and behaves as normal. The plastic shifter ferrules are not sealed (in contrast to Shimano SP-41 ferrules, which use little rubber o-rings).

The Riding
Correctly installed, both braking and shifting feel fantastically positive. I would venture to say that the brake cable and housing combination is the smoothest, most solid I have ever used. Squeezing the brake levers, the cable pull is consistent and easy, and when the pads hit the rim, zero flex or sponginess is felt. It’s remarkable how positive and uniform both the front and rear brakes feel.

Action at the shift lever was very smooth and consistent, more or less on par with my previous best experiences of cable and housing combinations. I would rate correctly installed and lubed PowerCordz shifter cables alongside the Yokozuna combination for extremely low-friction performance, but with the Yokozuna stainless steel cables, you gain easier, more familiar installation and possibly a measure of durability as well. The Yokozuna cables are heavier, but easier to adjust, and less finicky in terms of final adjustment.

My “go-to” shifter cable and housing combination is a 1.1mm, Teflon-coated cable with 4mm Shimano SP-41 housing and sealed ferrules. The Yokozuna set was as good as this combination at first, and better with time. Most of the Teflon coated cables I have used are not so slick underneath the coating, and when it wears off, shifting performance degrades. The Yokozuna set was very consistent in the 40 or so hours that I rode it.

If you’re in the market for a nice cable and housing set to match a nice bike, or if you just want to make your favorite bike feel better than new, give the Yokozuna Reaction cable set a try – you will not be disappointed.

5-Star!”

Opinion & review – Bicycling Magazine.

“The Yokozuna Reaction cable system is a new addition to the list of must-haves for the most fastidious riders. I’ve ridden the system for several months on a road bike with Shimano’s 7900 Dura-Ace, and a cross bike with 2010 SRAM Force and Avid Shorty cantilever brakes. I’m as impressed by this product asanythingI’vetestedrecently.

Yokozuna have long been said to produce the higher-end cable systems for a number of component companies, and the Reaction is claimed to be their finest product. The kit consists of front and rear derailleur cables and housing, two brake cables and housing, and all housing stops, ferrules and cable caps. At $59.99, it’s competitively priced against Shimano’s Dura-Ace housings and cables or Campagnolo, and actually cheaper than Gore’s sealed or Nokon set ups.

Quality is apparent. The cables are tightly wound – on close inspection tighter than Shimano or Campy’s house cables – and had noticeably less stretch on initial installation than any cable I’ve seen.

Another departure is in the use of compressionless housing throughout – for brakes as well as derailleurs. The compressionless derailleur housing looks about like normal – except for a cool translucent casing that showcases the coaxial housing cords. The brake housing is also striking.

The larger diameter compressionless housing is wound with a single layer of what looks like normal steel brake cable housing. This keeps the inner housing from bursting under hard braking loads. Because of this, the brake housing is nominally heavier than normal brake housing – about 6g for a bike’s worth, I found, but the feel more than makes up for it. Power at the brakes is dramatically higher even compared to high-end groups. I initially suspected that this would make the brakes also feel grabby and decrease modulation, but that was not the case. If anything, the increase in power and the solid, crisp feel made it easier to apply exactly as much braking force as I needed. Force at the lever decreased as well.

Shifting is similarly significant. I’ve ridden three test bikes now with Shimano’s cable-activated 7900 group, and all suffered from finicky shifting (even when properly set up) and required constant re-adjustment. The Yokozuna kit cleared that up immediately. But what was really revelatory was how the Yokozuna system worked on the Force-equipped ‘cross bike.

My main quibble with SRAM shifting has always been that the 1:1 exact actuation ratio requires a strong return spring in the rear derailleur and more force for downshifts. Add in the usual contamination that hits cable systems over time, and you get sluggish, heavy shifting. (SRAM has moved to address this by offering its own sealed cable systems manufactured by Gore.)

The Yokozuna’s Jet-Lubed setup, however, made the Force’s shifting effort almost as light as Shimano’s (the lightest downshift action in road drivetrains). It was literally transformative and I predict the Yokozuna setup will be most popular among SRAM users.

The system is not sealed like Gore, however, so I’m interested to see how it does over time. In several months of testing I’ve experienced no decline in shifting or braking quality, but cyclocross may change that.

The system is slightly difficult to install. The brake housing is so stiff that even coaxing it into a decent bend inside the handlebar is a bit tough – if your bike’s cable routing is convoluted it may not work. Similarly, the brake housing is 5mm in diameter, meaning that it may not fit some internal cable routing setups – I had a heck of a time getting the housing through the guided top tube hole for the rear brake on a Giant TCR Advanced SL.

But if you think you (or your shop) can surmount those difficulties, it’s worth it to look at the Reaction system when it comes time to replace your cables.

5 Star”