While we're on the subject, I've had a couple of funny (strange) things re brake cables.

1. this winter my brake cables were awful, and we were out of solid grease, so i went to the bike store to ask what they'd recommend to lubricate. "Lubricate?" the guy said, and just stared at me. They never lubricated the cables when they had a bike in for service

2. I found another bike store that *did* know what I was talking about. He recommended very thin oil, and said that grease would "freeze" in winter.

3. I replaced the housing on the rear brake cable a week ago, but there was a terrible "lag" in the braking after I'd done it. I finally figured out that the culprit was the little metal endpieces on the cable housing. There was a tiny rubber ring inside each endpiece, presumably to keep water out but also creating a huge amount of friction I just picked them out with a sharp pair of scissors (and the brakes were perfect), but am still confused as to why they were there/why they didn't "work".