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Converting Shimano Braided Brake Cables?
Bike Gurus,
I have a 1992 vintage Trek 950 mountain bike. I hope that this doesn't disqualify me from this forum! I am raising the handlebars to improve the fit. Because of this I am having to replace all of the cables and housings to lengthen them. The brake levers are Shimano SLX and use the braided, oversized, and now obsolete style of brake cables. The issue is with the end that goes in the lever. The original cable end barrels were smaller than the hole and relied on a plastic shim to make it fit the levers. The local LBS sold me the new cables with the larger barrels and told me not to use the old plastic shims. However the fit is still loose and the new cable barrels are too short to fully reach across the slot in the lever, an obvious problem. Is the a solution, like a smaller shim or different cable, to make the new cables work? Failing this is there any place to get the old oversize cables and housing material? Thanks, Steve |
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#2
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Converting Shimano Braided Brake Cables?
Steve Sr. wrote:
Bike Gurus, I have a 1992 vintage Trek 950 mountain bike. I hope that this doesn't disqualify me from this forum! No, but the extraneous semi-colon disqualified your post from RBT. I am raising the handlebars to improve the fit. Because of this I am having to replace all of the cables and housings to lengthen them. The brake levers are Shimano SLX and use the braided, oversized, and now obsolete style of brake cables. The issue is with the end that goes in the lever. The original cable end barrels were smaller than the hole and relied on a plastic shim to make it fit the levers. The local LBS sold me the new cables with the larger barrels and told me not to use the old plastic shims. However the fit is still loose and the new cable barrels are too short to fully reach across the slot in the lever, an obvious problem. Is the a solution, like a smaller shim or different cable, to make the new cables work? Failing this is there any place to get the old oversize cables and housing material? -- Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007 I am a vehicular cyclist. |
#3
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Converting Shimano Braided Brake Cables?
On Jun 16, 6:19*pm, Steve Sr. wrote:
Bike Gurus, I have a 1992 vintage Trek 950 mountain bike. I hope that this doesn't disqualify me from this forum! I am raising the handlebars to improve the fit. Because of this I am having to replace all of the cables and housings to lengthen them. The brake levers are Shimano SLX and use the braided, *oversized, and now obsolete style of brake cables. The issue is with the end that goes in the lever. The original cable end barrels were smaller than the hole and relied on a plastic shim to make it fit the levers. The local LBS sold me the new cables with the larger barrels and told me not to use the old plastic shims. However the fit is still loose and the new cable barrels are too short to fully reach across the slot in the lever, an obvious problem. Is the a solution, like a smaller shim or different cable, *to make the new cables work? *Failing this is there any place to get the old oversize cables and housing material? Your old brake cables were probably 2.0mm with 6mm diameter cable housing. New cables are typically 1.5mm with 5mm diameter housing. Are you sure you're using the right end of the cable, or that you did get MTB and not road cables? Brake cables often come with two soldered-on ends (what you call the barrels), one smaller than the other. The small cylindrical end is for road levers and the large puck-like end fits many MTB levers. It's hard for me to imagine a lever with a slot so big that the puck end would be sucked into it. Ben |
#4
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Converting Shimano Braided Brake Cables?
On 17 June, 02:19, Steve Sr. wrote:
Bike Gurus, I have a 1992 vintage Trek 950 mountain bike. I hope that this doesn't disqualify me from this forum! I am raising the handlebars to improve the fit. Because of this I am having to replace all of the cables and housings to lengthen them. The brake levers are Shimano SLX and use the braided, *oversized, and now obsolete style of brake cables. The issue is with the end that goes in the lever. The original cable end barrels were smaller than the hole and relied on a plastic shim to make it fit the levers. The local LBS sold me the new cables with the larger barrels and told me not to use the old plastic shims. However the fit is still loose and the new cable barrels are too short to fully reach across the slot in the lever, an obvious problem. Is the a solution, like a smaller shim or different cable, *to make the new cables work? *Failing this is there any place to get the old oversize cables and housing material? You will run into this problem again if you need to replace a cable. I dont think it is much of a problem from your description. It just sounds like the barrel diameter is a bit smaller than the anchor hole in the lever. If it really bothers you that there is less area for support you should learn to solder on your own cable nipples. Steel rod of the correct diameter, drill for inner wire, coutersink one side. Thread inner through rod, splay wires, flux, hammer in a sprig, solder, cut off stray wires and sprig end with file, resolder to make neat if necessary. Cut barrel to width. |
#5
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Converting Shimano Braided Brake Cables?
Steve Sr. wrote:
The brake levers are Shimano SLX and use the braided, *oversized, and now obsolete style of brake cables. The issue is with the end that goes in the lever. The original cable end barrels were smaller than the hole and relied on a plastic shim to make it fit the levers. The local LBS sold me the new cables with the larger barrels and told me not to use the old plastic shims. However the fit is still loose and the new cable barrels are too short to fully reach across the slot in the lever, an obvious problem. It's not a problem in my experience. Sometimes the cable end can make a creaking sound inside the lever, but I've never seen signs of failure. I have used old Deore and Deore XT 2- and 4-finger levers designed for 2mm cable with normal 1.6mm cable for many years (sometimes with proper housing ferrules, sometimes not) without any unwelcome side effects except for occasional noise. I think the cables and housings used on those bikes may have some overlap with the motocross world. Most motocross bikes have switched to hydraulics by now, but a well-stocked motorcycle shop might have some cables and housings you could evaluate for your bike. Chalo |
#6
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Converting Shimano Braided Brake Cables?
On Jun 16, 9:19*pm, Steve Sr. wrote:
Bike Gurus, I have a 1992 vintage Trek 950 mountain bike. I hope that this doesn't disqualify me from this forum! I am raising the handlebars to improve the fit. Because of this I am having to replace all of the cables and housings to lengthen them. The brake levers are Shimano SLX and use the braided, *oversized, and now obsolete style of brake cables. The issue is with the end that goes in the lever. The original cable end barrels were smaller than the hole and relied on a plastic shim to make it fit the levers. The local LBS sold me the new cables with the larger barrels and told me not to use the old plastic shims. However the fit is still loose and the new cable barrels are too short to fully reach across the slot in the lever, an obvious problem. Is the a solution, like a smaller shim or different cable, *to make the new cables work? *Failing this is there any place to get the old oversize cables and housing material? How much time and energy is this worth when you can get a really sweet set of Tektro 354 levers for under a twenty? They'll pull cantis fine, and if you ever decide to switch to linear pull brakes on one end or both, they can pull that as well with a little adjustment. |
#7
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Converting Shimano Braided Brake Cables?
On 17 June, 11:30, Chalo wrote:
Steve Sr. wrote: The brake levers are Shimano SLX and use the braided, *oversized, and now obsolete style of brake cables. The issue is with the end that goes in the lever. The original cable end barrels were smaller than the hole and relied on a plastic shim to make it fit the levers. The local LBS sold me the new cables with the larger barrels and told me not to use the old plastic shims. However the fit is still loose and the new cable barrels are too short to fully reach across the slot in the lever, an obvious problem. It's not a problem in my experience. *Sometimes the cable end can make a creaking sound inside the lever, but I've never seen signs of failure. *I have used old Deore and Deore XT 2- and 4-finger levers designed for 2mm cable with normal 1.6mm cable for many years (sometimes with proper housing ferrules, sometimes not) without any unwelcome side effects except for occasional noise. I think the cables and housings used on those bikes may have some overlap with the motocross world. *Most motocross bikes have switched to hydraulics by now, but a well-stocked motorcycle shop might have some cables and housings you could evaluate for your bike. If it's a problem of specific housing diameter, the new housing can be centred with the aid of adhesive shrink wrap tubing for wiring cables. Using about 2 1/2" will also aid in the prevention of future housing damage. Alternatively you could leave the handlebar section with the old housing and join it to some new with the shrink wrap. Anyway, if the old stuff is stiffer and better fitting, use the old rear as the new front as long as it is still in good condition. This is the most important brake reqiring the greatest force for good operation. |
#8
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Converting Shimano Braided Brake Cables?
On Jun 16, 11:30*pm, someone wrote:
*Steel rod of the correct diameter, drill for inner wire, coutersink one side. *Thread inner through rod, splay wires, flux, hammer in a sprig, solder, cut off stray wires and sprig end with file, resolder to make neat if necessary. *Cut barrel to width. You can build a LEGO Mindstorm device to do that for you, of course. |
#9
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Converting Shimano Braided Brake Cables?
On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:51:12 -0700 (PDT), landotter
wrote: On Jun 16, 9:19*pm, Steve Sr. wrote: Bike Gurus, I have a 1992 vintage Trek 950 mountain bike. I hope that this doesn't disqualify me from this forum! I am raising the handlebars to improve the fit. Because of this I am having to replace all of the cables and housings to lengthen them. The brake levers are Shimano SLX and use the braided, *oversized, and now obsolete style of brake cables. The issue is with the end that goes in the lever. The original cable end barrels were smaller than the hole and relied on a plastic shim to make it fit the levers. The local LBS sold me the new cables with the larger barrels and told me not to use the old plastic shims. However the fit is still loose and the new cable barrels are too short to fully reach across the slot in the lever, an obvious problem. Is the a solution, like a smaller shim or different cable, *to make the new cables work? *Failing this is there any place to get the old oversize cables and housing material? How much time and energy is this worth when you can get a really sweet set of Tektro 354 levers for under a twenty? They'll pull cantis fine, and if you ever decide to switch to linear pull brakes on one end or both, they can pull that as well with a little adjustment. Therse are Shimano Deore DX SLR integrated with the shifters. The rear is old 7-speed. I wasn't planning on having to replace both brifters. I doubt that I could find this combination for $20. Steve |
#10
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Converting Shimano Braided Brake Cables?
On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:45:30 -0700 (PDT), someone
wrote: On 17 June, 11:30, Chalo wrote: Steve Sr. wrote: The brake levers are Shimano SLX and use the braided, *oversized, and now obsolete style of brake cables. The issue is with the end that goes in the lever. The original cable end barrels were smaller than the hole and relied on a plastic shim to make it fit the levers. The local LBS sold me the new cables with the larger barrels and told me not to use the old plastic shims. However the fit is still loose and the new cable barrels are too short to fully reach across the slot in the lever, an obvious problem. It's not a problem in my experience. *Sometimes the cable end can make a creaking sound inside the lever, but I've never seen signs of failure. *I have used old Deore and Deore XT 2- and 4-finger levers designed for 2mm cable with normal 1.6mm cable for many years (sometimes with proper housing ferrules, sometimes not) without any unwelcome side effects except for occasional noise. I think the cables and housings used on those bikes may have some overlap with the motocross world. *Most motocross bikes have switched to hydraulics by now, but a well-stocked motorcycle shop might have some cables and housings you could evaluate for your bike. If it's a problem of specific housing diameter, the new housing can be centred with the aid of adhesive shrink wrap tubing for wiring cables. Using about 2 1/2" will also aid in the prevention of future housing damage. Alternatively you could leave the handlebar section with the old housing and join it to some new with the shrink wrap. Anyway, if the old stuff is stiffer and better fitting, use the old rear as the new front as long as it is still in good condition. This is the most important brake reqiring the greatest force for good operation. It is a problem that both the housing and inner wire obsolete. Splicing sections of housing might be a possibility but I would need more than I have. The rear wire could be reused for the front but I still would need a new rear wire which doesn't appear to be available. Steve |
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