Jagwire Ripcord - ブレーキ・ワイヤー

JagwireのRipcordアウターケーシングです。ブレーキに凝ったついでの暴走ですね。ケブラー繊維を編み込んだかなり固いアウターで、口径もやや太め。シマノSLRみたいに柔にしなりません。引き回しをスムーズなカーブに組めれば、固いこと自体は動作的に悪くないと僕は見ています。芯の部分の構造もシマノが螺旋状に巻いて金属壁を作っているのに対して、Jagwireではシフト用のアウターと同じで周囲にワイヤーをまっすぐ走らせる構造で、しなりと滑りの違いが生まれるところです。表面仕上げは艶なしで、透けて見える編み込みがカーボン風に見えます。ケーブルを突っ込んで試しに動かしてみると、シマノより内径が小さいのかやや重めの抵抗が感じられます。もしやケーブルもJagwireにしないと相性があるのか・・・？

仕様を調べてみると、シマノのワイヤー径が1.6mm、Jagwireは1.5mmで0.1の差がありました。こうなると無理はできないなあ、でも幸いなことにアマゾンに送料無料で在庫あり、価格もシマノよりむしろ安い。もう先に進むしかないので、これをポチって組み込んでみることに。



Jagwireのインナーは表面に黒くテフロン加工が施されています。一方のシマノは巻いたワイヤーの縄目がそのまま見えます。アウターにシマノを通して動かすとゴシゴシと音がするのに対して、Jagwireはスッスッという感触で、これは表面の疎密の差です。ワイヤーの滑りはオイルに依存するというのがシマノの考えなのだと思います。
こうやってあれこれ見ていくと、結局どの組み合わせでも使えるし、太くて強そうなシマノのインナーとこれまた固いケブラー補強のアウターも剛＋剛である種の信頼性を確保する組み合わせのように感じます。まあ、僕としてはデリケートなブレーキングをやってみようと考えて、しなやかなRipcordインナーをケブラーのアウターと組むJagwireセットで作業することにしました。



Here is Jagwire’s Ripcord outer-casing. This is somewhat excessive extra effort along with my special investment for the brakes. This casing is reinforced with woven Kevlar and it is rather stiff. Its diameter seemed slightly larger than standard Shimano SLR. Shimano is also more flexible. My view on this point is that the stiffness would not be an issue functionally as long as the routing is made with smooth curves. The core structure is different, too. Shimano has helically spinning metal wall structure while Jagwire lays out the linear wires along the round wall in a centric form. Each provides better characteristics for flexible bending or less friction. Jagwire has a dark, mat surface finish and the woven Kevlar reinforcement is transparently visible underneath that looked a bit like a carbon component. I compared Ripcord casing against Shimano SLR by inserting a Shimano inner wire, and this Ripcord had heavier friction partly because it had seemingly a smaller internal diameter. For a perfect match, do they require the correct counterpart of the same brand?

I looked into their specifications and found that Shimano wires had 1.6mm diameter while Jagwire had 1.5mm and this 100 microns might not be negligible. Who know? Luckily at Amazon they had Ripcord inner wire inventory, cheaper than Shimano and free-delivery, so I thought I had no other choices than going ahead.

Jagwire Ripcord inner wire had black Teflon surface finish. Shimano was obviously like a rope with spinning metal wires. Pushing and pulling against the outer-casing was smoother with Ripcord because of its finer surface. With Shimano, some lubrication will manage the job better. With these examinations, I understood any combinations would work eventually, and for example, the fat and strong Shimano inner wire coupled with the stiff Kevlar-Ripcord outer-casing seemed very much reliable. My thought was to try to achieve some delicacy in braking with fine Ripcord inner wire coupled with Kevlar outer-casing, the genuine Jagwire set, particularly when the other bicycle of mine is entirely with Shimano small parts.