"Girl's" bikes - cable routing to rear caliper?

My son, who has odd tastes in bicycles, recently acquired an early 70's
Raleigh Sport 3-speed bike with a "ladies" frame that he loves to ride.
Sometime in the bike's past, the rear sidepull caliper was replaced with
a generic one. I've been helping him make the bike more reliable
(removing baling wire, etc.) and while routing new cables I realized
that I had no idea how the cable is supposed to "approach" the rear
brake. If the cable connects to the brake from above, as I am used to,
there is an awkward bend in the cable. Would this cable have been
connected to the brake from below?
--

Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
KG6RCR

"Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott"
m wrote in message
...
My son, who has odd tastes in bicycles, recently acquired an early 70's
Raleigh Sport 3-speed bike with a "ladies" frame that he loves to ride.
Sometime in the bike's past, the rear sidepull caliper was replaced with a
generic one. I've been helping him make the bike more reliable (removing
baling wire, etc.) and while routing new cables I realized that I had no
idea how the cable is supposed to "approach" the rear brake. If the cable
connects to the brake from above, as I am used to, there is an awkward
bend in the cable. Would this cable have been connected to the brake from
below?

Typically, yes. Old Weinmann and Dia-Compe sidepulls had the adjuster on an
eye-bolt that could be swapped with the anchor bolt, precisely so it could
be used with mixtes by the cable approaching the caliper from below. This is
still common on freestyle BMX bikes with a hollow stem bolt & headset rotor,
where the cable's coming out of the steerer tube. Conceivably, one could use
an Avid Rollamajig or a Travel Agent (in 1:1 pulley mode) or even a linear
pull noodle to make the bend a little easier and route the cable from above.

Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott wrote:
Would this cable have been
connected to the brake from below?


That's the usual method.

Nothing wrong with tootlin' about on a step through frame either. I've
been doing my recent beer runs on an enormous (fits my 6'2" body
perfectly) orange German "womens" bike with black rims. I fixed it up
for my mother as she wanted something from her youth, but she never got
around to riding it, so I reclaimed it. The lesbians smoking in front
of the local gay bar sometimes cheer me on if I ring my bell at them
while on this bike. If they can wear flannel and levis, I can ride my
orange bike--we made a secret deal. Shhhh, don't tell anybody.

You see guys in Amersterdam and Gothenburg on such frames all the time,
usually 50 years old and held together with layers of rust and paint
from a brush.

Sounds like your son has gone continental is all, I suggest you buy him
some moustache wax to complete the transformation.

On 2/13/2006 3:41 PM landotter wrote:

You see guys in Amersterdam and Gothenburg on such frames all the time,
usually 50 years old and held together with layers of rust and paint
from a brush.

I'm 56 -- wish to learn more about this technique of holding myself
together with rust and paint.


Sounds like your son has gone continental is all, I suggest you buy him
some moustache wax to complete the transformation.


Will investigate. Give the lesbians a wave for me next time you ride by.
--

Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
KG6RCR

Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott wrote:

My son, who has odd tastes in bicycles, recently acquired an early 70's
Raleigh Sport 3-speed bike with a "ladies" frame that he loves to ride.
Sometime in the bike's past, the rear sidepull caliper was replaced with
a generic one. I've been helping him make the bike more reliable
(removing baling wire, etc.) and while routing new cables I realized
that I had no idea how the cable is supposed to "approach" the rear
brake. If the cable connects to the brake from above, as I am used to,
there is an awkward bend in the cable. Would this cable have been
connected to the brake from below?

Most sidepull brakes have modular adjuster and anchorage.
Reverse them so the casing stops on the lower arm and the
wire anchors on the upper. Oil anchor and adjuster. Be
rigorous about cable lubrication as this is one of few
bicycle cables pointing up. Rainwater loves that casing run.

And mount the adjuster and anchor both to the inside so the
wire runs a straight, not dogleg, path.

As with any brake: ensure it's attached firmly to the
bridge, ensure the arms can move freely without play front
to back and get the brake shoes on the rim, not the tire.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Mon, 13 Feb 2006 15:21:58 -0800, "Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott"
m wrote:

My son, who has odd tastes in bicycles, recently acquired an early 70's
Raleigh Sport 3-speed bike with a "ladies" frame that he loves to ride.
Sometime in the bike's past, the rear sidepull caliper was replaced with
a generic one. I've been helping him make the bike more reliable
(removing baling wire, etc.) and while routing new cables I realized
that I had no idea how the cable is supposed to "approach" the rear
brake. If the cable connects to the brake from above, as I am used to,
there is an awkward bend in the cable. Would this cable have been
connected to the brake from below?

I don't know if Raleigh used them or not, but yes, there have been
calipers made whose cable routing was inverted; the cable made a
u-turn from the left chainstay to the left seat stay and approached
the caliper from the direction of the axle. I haven't seen one of
these in a long time. Most drop-frame bikes of my recent experience
just made do with the aforementioned awkward routing up the seat post
with a curve at the top to get to the caliper. V-brakes actually
handle this more gracefully since the noodle can point down just as
well as any other direction within its swing, but if the frame doesn't
have canti mounts, that's not an easy option.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
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On Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:07:49 -0600, A Muzi
wrote:

... Be
rigorous about cable lubrication as this is one of few
bicycle cables pointing up. Rainwater loves that casing run.

On the last of these setups I worked on, I added the rubber bellows
boot from a V-brake between the adjuster and the clamp to help keep
water out of the cable. Can't say if it really helped, but the bike's
reportedly in near daily use with no problems.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

On 2/13/2006 7:07 PM A Muzi wrote:


Most sidepull brakes have modular adjuster and anchorage. Reverse them
so the casing stops on the lower arm and the wire anchors on the upper.
Oil anchor and adjuster. Be rigorous about cable lubrication as this is
one of few bicycle cables pointing up. Rainwater loves that casing run.

If only we could mount a trumpet spit valve there . . .

--

Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
KG6RCR

Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott wrote:

If only we could mount a trumpet spit valve there . . .


Water key, please. =]

Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott wrote:
My son, who has odd tastes in bicycles, recently acquired an early
70's Raleigh Sport 3-speed bike with a "ladies" frame that he loves
to ride.

Uh-oh... you may have more than just a cable routing problem

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training