PeopleAreIdiots

As I type this I'm realizing that this may not be the perfect subforum for this question but I only ever post here and I figure answers might be applicable the situations other than mine specifically. So here goes:

Can anyone recommend a brake cable routing solution for frames or forks with no cable guides? I'm aware of those metal clamps but those are ugly IMO and zip ties don't quite do it for me either. I'm sure some of you running rear brakes have come up with something that looks a bit more elegant.

Here are the specifics of my situation:
I'm running a beautiful wound up carbon fork with a disc brake. The fork has no cable guides so right now the cable is secured to the fork with a black zip tie. I'm totally nitpicking here, but I just don't like how it looks. There's got to be a better way right?

phobus

You could try some stick-on cable guides like these:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4Pcs-Hydro-...YAAOSwKytZOAMs

I ordered some a while back but haven't bothered to install the rear brake I bought them for. Feel free to try them and let me know if they suck.

PeopleAreIdiots

I think that's my line

bonsai171

Those look really nice! Much nicer than the metal ones on my Kilo tt. Was going to suggest a big wad of duct tape ;-)

Dave

PeopleAreIdiots

Duct tape! Of course!


Those do look nice though. Pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. I wonder how they would stick though.


So who here's gonna test them before I waste $7. @phobus *ahem*

bonsai171

If the adhesive is truly made by 3M, I would trust it. Make sure you clean the surface really well before applying the adhesive. The better the prep work the better the adhesion will be. I'm guessing the most difficult place for one of those clamps to stay on would be the fork, since it constantly moved back and forth. Would these work with traditional mechanical brake housing too? The only issue I can think of is if the diameter of the mechanical brake housing is smaller than the hydraulic housing.

PeopleAreIdiots

Bit the bullet and got 'em. Check it out:

There are a bunch if these out there all from different brands. The ones I bought are the Jagwire ones. Adhesive appears to be genuine 3M and so far seems to be quite strong (I used 2 just in case. The clips that hold the cables are pretty large so I used some heatshrink to prevent the cable from rattling. My only concern is that the clips are plastic and dont look like they could handle being unclipped and reclipped.

Overall I like how this turned out. Cleaner than the ziptie. My only gripe is that I would have liked to place these more towards the back of the fork as opposed to the side but it made the cable housing rub on the head tube. Dont want that.

seamuis

Looks good. I’ve considered those for a few different setups myself, but never ponied up the pennies. Let us know how they work more long term.

I know this is sacrilege, but if you moved the brake lever to the right side, you probably could have run the cable the way you’d like without rubbing. It would have to cross the head tube (appears to already do that) and be slightly longer, but would be better hidden on the fork blade. Not sure why it’s so common to run the front brake lever on the left side, when most people are right handed anyway. (no offence if you’re actually a leftie, or course) running my brake lever on the right hand side allowed me to run a very clean setup on my daily rider.

phobus

Looks good. Given your lever placement you might be able to route the cable behind the fork crown, instead of in front. Then you could probably run the guides on the backside of the fork blade. You can also use a zip-tie through the hole in the back of the crown.

I wonder if something that lets you use a zip-tie instead of the little plastic clip would be better for repeated removal/installation. Like a stick-on version of this:

PeopleAreIdiots

I've thought about that. Honestly I have to much muscle memory for front brakes on the left from riding other bikes that I'm afraid to change haha. Also I only have the left sided levers.

Anyways I figure brake cables are a bit of an eyesore no matter what so there's not much more that can be done.

JohnDThompson 

What makes them ugly, in your opinion?

PeopleAreIdiots

Ok well that looks pretty nice. (Cool paint job too).

Usually I dont like those because of the bolts. Just looks a bit messy. I tried one on my fork for a while and it just looked jerry-rigged to me.

I probably shouldnt say I think theyre ugly in general, just in that case.

PeopleAreIdiots

Now that there is a decent idea. Haddnt thought of that. Would definitely require a longer cable and housing but I may give that a shot eventually.

IAmSam

I'm sorry, but I gotta get in here, please...

I could swear that I recall you posted sometime in the recent past that you had switched to a hooded brake lever and pulled your top lever off. Or maybe I imagined that, since I see that you are (still?) using it?

What gives?

PeopleAreIdiots

Good eye

Still using and loving the hooded lever. I ended up adding a new cross lever after a few weeks though because I found that I like to ride the tops when Im in traffic for better visibility but I still wanted instant access to my brake in emergencies.

I work in downtown chicago but I live in one of the peripheral neighborhoods so I spend a lot of time the windy lakefront bike path where its nice to ride the hoods and get in a good groove but once I get downtown I like to slow down and ride more deliberately.

Dual lever setup is working well for me (despite the lack if fixie points )

BoozyMcliverRot

If you put the lever on the opposite side you could run the cable down the back of the leg. Might take some getting used to depending on how often you use that brake.

Edit: you would need to run a bit longer cable under the downtube and attached to the back of the fork crown.

PeopleAreIdiots

Would totally work. But like I said before, I dont really want to switch sides for the levers. Part of it is muscle memory but also I only have left sided levers so switching sides would be more of a pain than its worth.