Advice for top tube internal rear brake cable routing... not sure if I'm missing a part?

englander

Hi all,

Just purchased a second hand bike and I've just been stripping it down and building it back up again. This is the first bike I've had with internal cable routing; the rear brake cable goes through the top tube.

It arrived fully cabled up, but I'm having a bit of trouble with the entry port for the rear brake cable in that there doesn't seem to be for the outer to abut against. The outer seems able to run freely into and out of the port. As the outer seems to be able to mover freely, I don't think I'm able to accurately set up the brakes.

It's a Felt F65X - page 76 of the 2017 brochure. Pictures are probably more helpful, so here are a couple.

...am I missing a bit or am I just doing it wrong?

Wheelspinner

There’s no ferrule on that cable outer at the front, which seems odd. Is that the same configuration it had before you stripped it down, and did the brakes work fine?

Is the rear segment of outer the same - no ferrule?

mrdsgs

full outer cable run through top tube?

englander

Wheelspinner said:

There’s no ferrule on that cable outer at the front, which seems odd. Is that the same configuration it had before you stripped it down, and did the brakes work fine?

Is the rear segment of outer the same - no ferrule?

mrdsgs said:

full outer cable run through top tube?

I'm sure that when I took it apart there wasn't that much outer cable... Wishing I had taken more pictures now.

The exit port for the brake cable is a larger cut out in the frame, with a plastic insert into which the outer cable terminates. The reason i first thought it was all a bit odd was that I did originally put a ferule on the outer cable going into the entry port, before the whole lot went inside the top tube and I had to spend the next 10 minutes doing acrobatics to get the loose ferrule out again.

Pictures added to album.

Darius_Jedburgh

A ferrule will neither help nor hinder getting the right tension. Cables can and do work without them.

If the inner cannot be pulled tight then something other than the lack of a ferrule is stopping it.

The picture shows slack in the cable but doesn't show what is going on at the other end.

Is this a new cable? If not it's a possibility the one of the strands has come adrift and is causing friction. Other possibilities exist.

New cable with uncut ends and running a full length outer should solve the problem.

david37

the ferule on the outer should but up against a plastic fitting that clips in and out of the frame. Like the rear one. if it doesn't, its either missing or broken.

StillGoing

Run a full length outer if it will go all the way through. Merida run with full length outers.

david37

StillGoing said:

Run a full length outer if it will go all the way through. Merida run with full length outers.

or just buy the frame piece if you can

geoffh73

Pretty sure this would do the trick
https://www.cyclelane.co.uk/m2b0s305p21564/FELT-CABLE-GUIDE-INTERNAL-ROUTING

englander

Thank you all for the help. Just to feed back, it was a case of running a full length outer. The cable guide linked above is just for the exit port. I had initially thought that the distal end of the outer cable terminated at the exit port with a ferrule (and I had cut a piece of cable to that effect), but on closer examination, the outer cable will run happily through the that cable guide in the exit port.

Solution: full length outer.