Is this brake housing too short?

norvernrob

Evening all

After Evans couldn't fit my Yokozuna brake outer due to the stiffness pushing the caliper across I decided to have a look myself to see if I could do it. I had to shorten the length considerably compared to the old outer, but the run looks as straight as it's possible to get and there are no issues with the caliper moving.

Can anyone see any potential issues with this?

Thanks, Rob.

jgsi

Looks very neat.
I take it these cable outers are quite stiff compared to say Jagwire?

norvernrob

JGSI wrote:

Looks very neat.
I take it these cable outers are quite stiff compared to say Jagwire?

Yes, they're miles stiffer than the Gore cables that came off or the Shimano one that Evans fitted. I just can't understand why the mechanic at Evans couldn't fit them but I managed to do it in 10 minutes despite never having fitted a cable before. I thought I'd done something obviously wrong which is why I'm asking! :oops:

DKay

Install looks fine. It's not like you have to leave any slack, unlike the cables leading fom your handlebars.

norvernrob

Excellent, thanks.

chrisw12

mmmmm, not sure, is the end cap of the cable 'bottoming out'/fully inside the adjustment screw?

Anyway if it isn't you could just unscrew it slightly i.e. use the adjustment screw to to effectively shorten the cable, you might then have to adjust the inner cable.

If everything is ok, potential problems you may have in the future,if you use wider rims and need to slacken the brakes off with the adjuster you may start encountering the problem above.

What I'm trying to say (badly) the screw adjuster is there to move the brake pads in and out, but you can also use it to effectively lengthen or shorten that rear outer cable by a few mm.

DKay

chrisw12 wrote:

mmmmm, not sure, is the end cap of the cable 'bottoming out'/fully inside the adjustment screw?

Anyway if it isn't you could just unscrew it slightly i.e. use the adjustment screw to to effectively shorten the cable, you might then have to adjust the inner cable.

If everything is ok, potential problems you may have in the future,if you use wider rims and need to slacken the brakes off with the adjuster you may start encountering the problem above.

What I'm trying to say (badly) the screw adjuster is there to move the brake pads in and out, but you can also use it to effectively lengthen or shorten that rear outer cable by a few mm.

If you were being picky, you could say that the housing is right on the limit of being too short and ideally, it could have been made been one inch longer to make the entry into the brake caliper more perpendicular, but
I guess this would result in the OPs original issue. If it works ok, then everything is fine.

Zipp 202s are 25mm wide, so the OP is very unlikely to run anything wider. Also, the barrel adjuster looks to have around half a dozen turns available to open the caliper more if required. If not, it's a very simple job to just unbolt the cable, let more inner cable through and re-clamp.

mr_evil

It looks the right length now, but it may be too short when you apply the brakes because the cable entry point moves away.

norvernrob

Thanks for the replies, I've got loads of outer left so could try it a bit longer and see if the caliper still stays in place.

Monty Dog

If the top arm doesn't move down when you pull the lever, then the outer is too short - try unscrewing the brake adjuster a few turns first.

norvernrob

Everything seemed to work fine, brakes felt really sharp - until disaster struck! I was squeezing the lever (quite hard) just making sure everything was working as it should and suddenly the cable went slack. On investigation the cable guide on the frame had broken inside and hence allowed the inner to pull through.

Coincidence? Was I over-enthusiastic with the lever on a stationary wheel (the pads were close to the rim so not much travel before they bit), or something to do with the length of the outer?

Only place that stocks cable guides is Westbrooks, £20 a set delivered! :oops:

norvernrob

Well the new cable guides arrived and seemed to answer my question. The original ones are made of plastic, the ones ones are made from metal so I'm guessing they were a known weak point and upgraded. I've fitted the same length of outer and everything works perfectly so I'm leaving it at that.

DKay

Hmm...interesting. My Foil has the original plastic cable stops and they've been fine, as have thousands of others.

keezx

NorvernRob wrote:

Coincidence? Was I over-enthusiastic with the lever on a stationary wheel (the pads were close to the rim so not much travel before they bit), or something to do with the length of the outer?

Should NEVER happen with brakes, not your fault.

norvernrob

DKay wrote:

Hmm...interesting. My Foil has the original plastic cable stops and they've been fine, as have thousands of others.

Of course, there's always the chance that whoever 'serviced' my bike at Evans dropped the cable guide and stood on it or something. It wouldn't surprise me going by the standard of the other work.

This is how the bike came back, bearing in mind the bike was perfect when I dropped it off, barring the rear wheel being well out of true. I just fancied trying the Yokozuna cables, and as I haven't got a clue how to true a wheel thought I might as well let them do it all.

Rear brake caliper not centred, spring adjuster seized and shattered when I put a small amount of pressure on it.
Unable to fit rear brake section of Yokozuna outer.
Front brake cable tensioned with the caliper quick release wide open, so opening the caliper to remove the wheel wasn't possible.
Rear indexing totally out, skipping and missing all over the place.

After complaining to customer services they kept telling me to take the bike back to the shop. I kept refusing, telling them there was no way they were going anywhere near it again. Eventually, after half a dozen emails they gave in and refunded all the money I'd paid them, plus what I'd spent on replacement parts.

I think I'll do everything myself in future, even if it does mean a lot of cursing and shouting at things.

Ben6899

Or support your LBS.

(Evans are not your LBS, even if they're next door)

norvernrob

Ben6899 wrote:

Or support your LBS.

(Evans are not your LBS, even if they're next door)

That's the problem, I don't know any around here. Planet X are local but fluffed my front derailleur setup twice with a bike I bought from them (a simple mistake - not enough tension on the Sram mech causing it to overshift as the limit screw was set incorrectly - but setting it up like that twice?).

As it happens though my mate has just had his Di2 sorted and some other bits by a local mobile mechanic and was well happy with the service, so if I fancy anything else doing I'll give him a try.

wishitwasallflat

Ben6899 wrote:

Or support your LBS.

(Evans are not your LBS, even if they're next door)

All my lbss are hopeless so I've learned to DIY it and would thoroughly recommend it to others. Doesn't matter how technically good and nice they are no mechanic working as part of a business will ever be able to lavish the time, love and care you can on your own bike.