Dear community,
I need new shift cables for my road bike. Would you say the Dura Ace shift cables are significantly better than the Jagwire once?
I need them soon and my local shop only has Jagwire. The Dura Ace one I would only get after the weekend 
Thanks as always, Moritz
I read a while back that the Shimano cables are fractionally thinner than the compatible ones and so function better.
This may have been in relation to mixing outers and inners though (it was a while ago)
I got a new cx bike last year and had some really finicky shifting cable issues. My lbs only carries jagwire. After no success resolving the cable/shift issues by myself or the lbs, the bike went back to the manufacturer. It returned with sram Cable and housing (not shimano in my case), I never had another issue. I think jagwire is okay for certain applications but would not use it for any areas that have tight turns in the housing, it just doesnāt seem to work as well in my experience.
Dura Ace with the polymer coating will shift great- usually get those for the summer race bike but jagwire also shifts just maybe not quite as smooth as DA
one of the recent cyclingtips nerd alert podcasts had a āask a bike mechanicā question about their favorite cables. Both the mechanic on the podcast as well as the owner of the shop they record in like and often use the shimano optislik cables. They mentioned the coating on the dura ace cables is great so long as itās treated very carefully, otherwise it scrapes off and gunks up and doesnāt work as well. That being said I have a set of dura ace cables for an upcoming frame build, though for my current bike when the time to re-cable comes iām going to try those optisliks.
I had good experience with the Jagwires. I recall LBS mechanic being very impressed by DA shift cable and housing. If your current cables have gotten junky, either one will be a great improvement, and I doubt the difference between them warrants a big delay in replacing them. Either way, be sure you work in a clean setting to avoid getting grit on the cable or housing during installation; make good cuts with a proper tool, and measure twice.
Good luck
Just finished putting on fresh cables and I chose Jagwire Elite shift and brake cables/housing for a Tarmac SL6 rim brake.
Iām not a fan of the coating on the DA cables. Itās great at first but ends up a mess. Optislick is my choice from Shimano and a good value.
Jagwire Elite isnāt cheap but the details are worth it IMO. The extra flexible section on the brake housing was a godsend routing through my aero road bar, and the ferrules and extra pieces are top notch. I also like their compression free brake housing. It cuts cleaner than spiral housing with no burrs.
Of course they shift as well as anything out there, too.
I was looking through my history for that a d you beat me to it. Not very expensive either so not a problem to replace often.
I use Jagwire cables they seem to work just fine.
I have used the entry level Universal Jagwire cables and the Pro version.
I am not sure if the Pro cables are worth extra money if you are going to change your cables every year anyway which I do.