how often do you guys oil your cables? what type of oil and tool do you use?

 

You can lube it with just about anything; ATF fluid, WD-40, chain lube, motor oil, ect. The main thing is that whatever you decide to use, has to be viscous enough to travel from one end of the tube to the other. You can take a sandwich bag, cut the corner off, slip the pilot hole through the opening, wrap a rubber band around it and fill it with your lubricant of choice. Work the cable back & forth until it reaches the bottom end. Your other choice is to buy some cable lube, and utilize the tool below to inject it into the cable.




I bought one of these a while back but have never used it. Never lubed my cables for that matter.


Source:Dan's Motorcycle Control Cables

 

I love the baggy method myself. You can use a solvent to clean them and then chase it with the lubricant.

 

Hi. I used to be able to buy nylon lined cable many years ago that don't require lubrication, but not sure if they are still available. Search the internet and see if they still exist. Other than that a good cable oiler is probably the easiest solution.

 

Yes , they are still available , cheapcycleparts online has them . I personally use silicon motorcycle chain lube , hanging the whole line up with the cable intact and spray a little at a time while working the cable back and forth working the lube down the line till it starts dripping out at the bottom . And unless its totally wore out (frayed cable), it lasts me all summer into the fall before storage time . ATF or wd40 won't last long , or hasn't worked for me (Ive tried it , after a day of shifting , it hangs up again ) but will clean out the old stuff . I have to do this every year with my dirt-bikes until the point it no longer works ,,then I just buy new ones .
My 93 CBR1000f has a hydraulic brake & shifting system , no cables ,and why I refer to my Dirt-bikes. I like the baggie method ,,I've never seen that before ,, I've used a small covered oil funnel, duct taped to seal the cable from leaking and letting gravity do the work before , but the baggie idea is kinda cool , nice idea .