madpogue 

Picked up an '80 Raleigh Super Record (one step below the Grand Prix) mixte at the swap yesterday. Bike is complete, except for the brake cables and housings. Trying to figure out how the rear was routed.

The bike has Raleigh-branded DiaCompe center pull brakes. There's a bridge a few inches aft of the head tube, with and adjuster barrel installed. Then another bridge a few inches forward of the seat tube, with a rectangular hole in the middle. Then a built-up set of bridgework linking the seat tube to the mixte stays, and finally the brake bridge itself. Brake is mounted to the underside of the brake bridge. It contains a long straddle that goes around the seat tube. Fortunately the yoke is still present. I've seen mixtes with rear calipers mounted both ways (above and below the stays), but from a few photos I've seen of this vintage and model, I think it's had the underside mount all along.





Excuse the pics; bike is "swap fresh", in need of some loving.

So obviously it takes a piece of housing from the lever to the adjuster on the first bridge. But if I run it without housing through that slot/hole in the second bridge, it would change direction going down to the yoke, and would rub on the edge of the hole. So should the un-housed part of the cable just go directly from the adjuster to the yoke?

All the photos I can find of this vintage and model of the bike are "full-body" shots, with no detail of the area in question.

One thing I considered was to run that "inner" type tubing over the cable core from the adjuster to the yoke, to help it pass through that slot. But then, maybe the slot is not supposed to be in the equation at all.

Oh, something just came to mind -- might there have been something mounted to that slot in the second bridge, that supports/guides the cable core in that span? Again, not finding any pics that show enough detail of that part of the bike.

Any intel from anyone who's owned or wrenched on one of these, or something similar, would be greatly appreciated.

thumpism 

Skip the second bridge and run from the barrel to the yoke. I suspect the cable angle is such that there will be no rubbing on the skipped bridge.

madpogue 

^^^^ You are correct, the cable would pass with several mm clearance below the second bridge if I run it right to the yoke. I've since found more detailed photos of two clones of this bike, both for sale here in the midwest. One is in Indianapolis, and shows the cable running right to the yoke, not through the second bridge, with plenty of clearance. The other, remarkably, is in Lincoln Park / Chicago, a time capsule bike that was just unboxed and assembled. That person passed the unhoused cable through the second bridge. Just for grins,I Emailed him and asked if there were directions in the box about that particular aspect of the assembly.

But my gut is telling me you are right thumpism ; even the profile of that first bridge seems to orient the stop/adjuster so that as the cable exits the housing, it'll be pointed to pass below the next bridge. Well, I gotta stop speculating and go cut some housing and start setting it up. Thanks for the info.

Edit - confirmed - they actually went to the trouble of orienting the first bridge so the cable stop orients the housing juuuuust slightly downward. When the core exits the stop barrel dead center, it passes directly to the yoke. If I pass the core through the second bridge, it actually passes "high" through the stop barrel. For what was such a "cheap" bike BITD, that was some careful, thoughtful design.

elcraft

I have the same Japanese Raleigh Mixte! The bike came exactly as you guys suggest, i.e., skipping the second bridge. Works well, in this arrangement.