Bowden cable...

[bitwrx]

To what does it refer?

Just the inner?
Just the outer?
A cable formed only when an inner and outer are brought together to form a mechanical element capable of transferring relative motion between the two elements? (i.e. clutch, handbrake)

Sorry if this makes no sense to anyone else. I'm having long held preconceptions challenged at work, and short of a technical dictionary, PH is the only place I can head for independent reaffirmation.

[kambites]

I always assumed it was a term for the whole system - inner and outer combined.

The term is also used for a cable where only part of the system is sheathed, though - for example the rear brake cable on a bike where part of the metal inner is between two rigid points mounted on the top-bar. I don't think you can use it for a system where none of the cable is sheathed though.

I could be completely wrong.

[Auntieroll]

+1 The two parts, "inner" and "outer" are AFAIK both called Bowden cable.