Apologies if this has been covered before, I searched but could not find any discussion about this - only routing.

Should the cable adjuster be free to rotate relative to the outer?

I am trying to refit my cables and once the nut becomes captive, the motion of tightening the adjuster is tensioning the outer thereby making the throttle difficult to turn.

If it is not supposed to rotate, is there a way to tighten it without twisting the outer?

By their appearance, my cables could be original. Perhaps I have incorrectly identifed the cause of the stiff throttle?

Yes, the cable adjuster should move independent of it's black outer sheath.

One cable will have two nuts, for adjusting freeplay, on this cable it matters which nut you tighten to adjust freeplay.

On the other cable just nip it up so lang as it's tight.

Throttle action will be stiff if the cables are routed incorrectly and therefore kinked or tight in places, also if the throttle grip is tight between the housing and bar end, a common fault.

Thanks for the reply.

I bought a couple of cables (turned out not to be a pair) the top one (adjuster nut) does not rotate but the bottom one does.