This is a challenge for sure! I managed to procure some brake housing from a local shop, but finding derailleur housing is next to impossible. I have contacted more then three dozen dealers in US and Canada, including BianchiUSA. Perhaps the Bianchi aficionados here can steer me in the right direction? Or perhaps you have spares in your parts bin?

Many thanks in advance!

Good luck. I was hoping that Nokon would come out with a celeste color cable housing, but that didn't happen. I searched for quite a while, and then settled on good old black Campy cable housing. Now that it has already been routed through my Ram bars, there is no way I'm going to swap it for celeste.

I mixed some dye together to attempt coloring some white cables Celeste for my FC.

I used Rit brand dye, mixed and matched and found a combination that came close, but when I applied the dye it didn't take. I plugged the ends of the cable and put it in a batch of dye on the stove and let it sit for an hour, then 2, then over night. Still a VERY minor change in color. I would say light aqua/green, but not really celeste, not even light celeste.

You can go this route with other dyes, you might have better luck.

I mixed some dye together to attempt coloring some white cables Celeste for my FC.

I used Rit brand dye, mixed and matched and found a combination that came close, but when I applied the dye it didn't take. I plugged the ends of the cable and put it in a batch of dye on the stove and let it sit for an hour, then 2, then over night. Still a VERY minor change in color. I would say light aqua/green, but not really celeste, not even light celeste.

You can go this route with other dyes, you might have better luck.

Whoa - sounds quite involved, but certainly industrious on your part. It's too bad it wasn't perfect for you when you were done.

Question: What sort of performance could I expect if I used "brake" cable housing in place of derailleur housing. I do have some lined Celeste brake cable. I am aware that they are wound differently, but I've never tried it.

Shift cables, I think have less flex. I'm not an expert in cables, but I've use brake housing in my wifes MTB for shifting because at the time I couldn't find pink shift cables housing for her bike. They worked fine and I don't think she had any issues. you have to remember that shift housing is of a smaller diameter and might or might not fit in your shifter or derailleur.

Anybody have similar experiences?

Will this work?

http://images.andale.com/f2/115/106/3561856/1092774940220_cable_housing_brake_celesty.jpg

http://www.bikeville.com/brakes.html

Will this work?

http://www.bikeville.com/brakes.html

I did actually see that URL in my searches for housing. That is brake housing. Brake housing is wound "around" the lining whereas gear housing has the supporting material running parallel to the lining, making it stiffer.

Perhaps I will try using brake housing for derailleur usage and see what happens, but it seems like a lot of setting up if shifting should suck.

Whoa - sounds quite involved, but certainly industrious on your part. It's too bad it wasn't perfect for you when you were done.

Question: What sort of performance could I expect if I used "brake" cable housing in place of derailleur housing. I do have some lined Celeste brake cable. I am aware that they are wound differently, but I've never tried it.
I have used brake cable housing with DT shifters where all you have is the little piece to the rear D. For other types of shifters??? - TF

Thanks for the tips. Trying to score some authentic celeste cables on Ebay was a bit of a pain.