Unpopular opinion: those $4 brake cables from the hardware store are a trap
I laughed at the guy at my local shop in Reno when he said cheap cables would stretch and fray within 300 miles, but mine snapped climbing a hill at mile 280 and I walked home. The $12 cable with a real liner has held up for two years now. Anyone else had one go on them mid ride, or did I just get a bad batch?
My uncle ran a bike shop in Boise for 20 years and he always said the same thing about cheap parts. The $4 cable is just the start, then you're out a $15 tube and a $60 rim strip when the frayed end pokes through, plus the ride you lost. It's the same deal with those dollar store phone chargers that fry your battery or the 99 cent spatulas that scratch up a good pan. You're not saving money, you're just paying later with interest. That liner on the $12 cable is doing real work keeping grit out, and grit is what chews through the strands. Sorry you had to walk home to learn it, that hill climb must have been brutal.