Brompton brake cables

Tim Woodall said:

[snip]

The replacement cables barrel that goes in the brake lever is shorter
than the old cables - does this matter - I can't see any way that this
could cause a problem.

I have just bought some replacement inners and noted the same thing.
The Avon Valley Cyclery say that those are the cables they fit and they
have never had a problem. I am actually slightly uncomfortable with
them and have not fitted them yet while I ponder further. The problem
to my eyes is that the longer barrels would transfer the pulling load to
the /sides/ of the yoke into which the barrel fits. The shorter ones
will put the entire load on the strip of metal that joins the yoke
together at the bottom. The former is a much stronger arrangement than
the latter. Monospaced ASCII rendition:

_
----| |-+
| +-+------inner cable
----|_|-+
^
| ^
| |
| +-------barrel
+----yoke

Good arrangement

--------+
|-||
| |+------inner cable
|_||
--------+

Bad arrangement

Quoted message said:

Also, anyone any ideas how I can stop the plastic splitting and allowing
water in?

When I lasted fitted new outers, I slipped some clear plastic tubing
over the cable at the points where the bend are worst (e.g. bottom
bracket area). No idea if this helps but I haven't had any splits.

Peter

--

www.amey.org.uk

Tim Woodall said:

I've just replaced the front brake cable on my Brompton that was
sticking. This appears to be because the plastic on the outer had split
because of the bending and unbending when folding the bike. Hence water
got in and the cable started siezing.

This might be a dumb idea (sadly I don't own a Brompton) but have you
thought of trying Nokon cables?
http://www.nokon.de/html/english/intro.html
They use a segmented metal outer, which would seem much more tolerant of
repeated bending than the usual wire and plastic outer. I know a number
of serious mountain bikers who swear by them.

Chris

In message <[email hidden]>, Tim
Woodall <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

The replacement cables barrel that goes in the brake lever is shorter
than the old cables - does this matter - I can't see any way that this
could cause a problem.

I get the shop where I bought my Brompton to fix things like that,
though they seem to replace old cables with slightly shorter ones. The
last time it was a struggle to get the thing unfolded. I'm not convinced
they've arranged the cable for the front light properly either.

Another visit to the shop is due this Friday as the bearings seem to
have gone in the (replaced) folding pedal. Time for a general service,
too.

--
congokid
Good restaurants in London? Number one on Google
http://congokid.com

Peter Amey said:

Tim Woodall said:

[snip]

The replacement cables barrel that goes in the brake lever is shorter
than the old cables - does this matter - I can't see any way that this
could cause a problem.

I have just bought some replacement inners and noted the same thing. The
Avon Valley Cyclery say that those are the cables they fit and they have
never had a problem. I am actually slightly uncomfortable with them and
have not fitted them yet while I ponder further.

OK, pondering further has included an interesting talk to the Brompton
factory. They strongly recommend NOT fitting cables whose barrels are
not long enough to fit in the side plates of the brake lever yoke (see
ascii picture in another part of this thread). They supply the right
cable inners and all Brompton dealers can get them. So black mark to A.V.C.

Peter