thorstein

Does anyone know if bicycle cables can be used in Tommaselli brake levers? Originally, motorcycle cable was used.

Will the cable end of the bicycle cable cause problems since it is smaller than the slot where the motorcycle cable end would go?

Pic for size reference:


Left: motorcycle housing & cable. Right: bicycle housing & cable.



Tommaselli brake lever

imcorn

NOS cables (Giant brand) on eBay weren't too expensive last time I needed some about 2 years ago. I had these levers on an '85 Stumpjumper I refreshed. The main issue is the larger diameter housing and sitting it correctly into the brake, standard 5mm housing will wobble. I suppose it might work with a ferrule adapter though.

imcorn

Here's an eBay link to the cable and housing I bought.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203058571537

merziac

I would encourage you to use the proper cables here, if the Giants are big enough, fine, if not the wrong cables will look wrong and may cause improper wear that you don't want with these levers. If you really want the regular cable and lever setup I would gladly trade a regular set plus whatever else you would need.

On another note, we need more pics of the whole bike plz.

thorstein

That I will have to remedy tomorrow!

Thanks for the confirmation. I kind of knew I should get the proper size, but good to have the gut feeling reinforced.

merziac

Yep, you do not want to compromise them at all in any way imo, I personally like Magura's and have a couple of sets but the Tommy's are the business.

These cleaned up ok and got paired with some Mafac tandem brakes and UKAI wheels I had, still need to put 4 dot pads and holders on as these are too long and can scratch the inside of the fork.

No big deal as this is a bit rough and has had a front ender with some krinkle, not bad, adds character and is fine.

Merz MTB JW338, one of 10 or 12 according to Jim and of course he had plenty to do with Stumpy's after he got to big S.

The Golden Boy 

If there's an issue- my 84 Stumpjumper Sport came with the Shimano M700 levers-

thorstein

Very nice bike!

thorstein

Not the best pics, but here it is. Pretty sure it's an '84 Stump jumper that is all original (except, of course, the new RD).

Don't mind the background, mucky weather here in the midwest.



With original derailer.



Still needs some cleaning up and dust caps for the crank, but pretty good shape over all. Besides the Tommaselli brake levers, I am excited about the Saturae rims.

merziac

Tx, like I said, it's pretty rough up close, fine by me, battle scars and was thrilled to get it, I had never seen one in person, nor have I found anyone else that had ever seen one.

It's been to a couple of small shows where people were amazed to see one. There was a guy at the Anacortes Wa. show that said it was worth the 400mi. drive just to see it.

Guru Bob Freeman said he had never seen one and he has probably seen a million bikes in his time.

Really do wish it was bigger so I could ride it more.

merziac

No expert by any means and I'm always surprised when these have original wheels that are good but all three of mine and an Allez have the stock wheels in good condition. Kind of surprised to see the Tommy's on a sport model and not paired with Mafac's, TA crank, etc. is the straddle cable hanger Shimano?

thorstein

I'm no expert either! Hangers are Shimano:

thorstein

After doing some looking around, this is the most readily available work-around I've found:


Any reason this wouldn't work? Or why it might not be a good idea?
I'll have to file a bit of length off, but it fits perfectly in the levers.

merziac

Seems like it should be ok as long as the barrel pivots inside the lever hole freely. Used to be that MC shops could make cables of the gauge and ends you wanted, there may be custom shops that still do.

thorstein

I might have to look into that. Another idea I just came up with: skip the screw, but bend the cable inside the barrel & fray it a bit. Then fill it with solder. Think it would be more secure than the screw?

merziac

Maybe, hard to say. I think I would want the screw in there, screw it in, fill with solder and cut excess screw and barrel off?

thorstein

Haha! Yeah, I am probably overthinking it!

thorstein

I finally got around to trying out the cable end. Seems like it works well. I grabbed the brakes pretty hard & it held, so I think it's good to go!