Comments on: Where to run that brake cable

By: blankety blank

blankety blank — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:31:01 +0000

Running the housing on the outside of the left fork leg is smarter. I think you’ll find that most fork mfrs would prefer and recommend that method.

It also puts a less sharp curve in the cable housing, which means less friction, which means the cable disc caliper feels more hydraulic-like. And that’s a big bonus to anyone who’s ridden hydros and sometimes dislikes the switch to the mechs.

By: Blue Collar Mountain Biking » Blog Archive » The mid-week wrapup… | Mountain Bike Reviews, Deals and How Tos

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 01:10:07 +0000

[...] Where to run that brake cable [...]

By: Allan

Allan — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 15:18:19 +0000

I have a similar fork (Reba Race ‘06, 26″). RS includes a cable housing holder that sticks to the front of the arch. The housing slides into it and the supplied zip tie wraps around it, the fitted housing, the arch and is located by the nubs on the back of the arch as shown in your photos. This way the housing never touches the arch (no rub marks) and is routed very neat and clean. SRAMs website should have a pdf for all the small parts / accessories, with the right part #. But you should have gotten it in the original packaging. Its just a small piece of plastic about 1/2″ long. Email me if you need a photo, if my description is not clear enough.

By: Tim Grahl

Tim Grahl — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 05:17:54 +0000

I would think this setup has the danger of getting your brakeline caught on something in passing and having it rip up your rig or send you crashing.

Seems either way has it’s risks or benefits.

By: Keith

Keith — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 12:38:33 +0000

I was running my cable line exactly as you have it now (Reba fork/Avid brake). I learned a few days ago, at a slow speed thankfully, that it’s possible for the cable to get caught by the tire. In my case, a stick was sucked up just so to pull the cable down a bit and subsequently catching on the tire causing an instant endo. I am now running the cable line around the outside of the lower leg and the brake performs just as well.

By: Tim Grahl

Tim Grahl — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 00:39:20 +0000

Right… the problem was I had the cable tied down to the crown of the fork that moved up and down in relation to the rest of the fork. So when the forks compressed the line would get pushed up through the zip-tie, then when the fork rebounded the zip-tie would hold onto the cable housing and pull it up and out of the brake.

So I tied the cable down to a part on the fork that didn’t move in relation to the rest of the fork/brake/wheel which means everything stays put even with the forks compressing.

Does that make any more sense or did I make it worse?

By: Dave in MI

Dave in MI — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 00:35:11 +0000

I don’t wrench on my bike, but wasn’t the problem that you tied cable to things that move in relation to each other? The crown only rotates with respect to the frame, but the bottom half of the fork moves both in rotation and distance. Therefore if you simply cut the crown tie you would have also fixed the problem.

Maybe that’s what you said, but I don’t really get the “don’t tie your lines to the moving parts” statement. Certainly the bottom half of the fork is a moving part. Not moving like the wheel, but moving in rotation and the vertical plane. Honestly, all the parts of the bike are moving if you ride very far……

By: Tim Grahl

Tim Grahl — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 00:28:14 +0000

Wow… not sure what to say to that…

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 22:54:28 +0000

I love you Blue Collar Mountain Biking! I know where you can run that brake cable of yours.