cable support for front cantilever brake?

neeb

My commuter is a cyclocross bike with cantilever brakes. The front brake cable pulls from a little hanger that sits between the stem and the headset, but this makes the cable routing very cramped and means that I can't flip the stem to a lower and more horizontal position. Anyone know of a solution to this? A much longer hanger would be one, but these seem to be very difficult to find and I guess would flex, making the brake feel spongy.

This would be a good solution (click on one of the closeups of the stem), but I'd worry about drilling holes through my stem and it would be a hassle to do (hole would need to be just the right diameter, etc). I guess it's not possible to buy stems with holes drilled like this?

P.S. Hate the canti brakes, they're ugly and they squeal. I'd love to get calipers but the drop is somewhere between 70 and 75mm. Not possible I assume?

leonlikestrees

not sure what the current one you have is like, but I have one like this, and l-bend entry point gets around the stem quite nicely:



Something like this might give more clearance:



Nokon cable outer allows you to get a tighter bend, which is helpful too.

Failing all that, get some mini-vees if you are not using it off road (which I guess you are not if you are thinking of using calipers), and then you don't need a hanger.

http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/product/109369.html

leonlikestrees

why didn't any of those images work?

neeb

why didn't any of those images work?

Hmm, don't know.

But thanks, that looks ideal!

redvee

Got this kicking around at home.



Yours for the cost of postage + a little. Just bolts through the crown of the forks. Bolt not supplied.

neeb

Thanks for the offer redvee. I think it may not be quite high enough though - what's the vertical distance between the centre of the bolthole and the lower surface of the hole where the cable housing is inserted?

redvee

The dimension in Q is 15~16mm

neeb

I think I would need at least 20mm. The brake has a big round alloy thing where the cables join, and this would bump against the bottom of the hanger. Possibly I could shorten the two side cables and lower the alloy thing, but then I might run into problems with the cables snagging on the mudguards...

Thanks a lot though, it might have been brilliant!

The hanger with the bent tube is what I need I think.

aracer

I've got one of the hangers on http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/category-Cab ... rs-683.htm on the tandem for similar clearance reasons to yours (low stem). I think it's the Syncros one with the lead pipe, but not 100% sure - in any case any of those deep drop ones might help.