Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - JBWeld and cable guides- will it hold?

I've almost finished my "track" bike, and would like to convert my KHS (Mercier) to a fixed/free "road bike" style with two brakes. The frame's drilled for a rear brake but has no cable guides. I have the option of sending the frame off to have guides (and bottle bosses) installed, but I'm also thinking of JBWelding some guides onto the top tube and getting a seatpost-mounted cage. I may still have it done professionally, but I'd like to know if JBWeld is strong enough to hold cable guides onto a frame. No, I don't want to use tape, zip ties or anything temporary. I know there are clamps made for this purpose, but the top tube's a bit large for those, and they belong on lugged frames anyhow, so that's out. Not moving quickly here, so I have time. Any suggestions?

no way will that ever work. maybe if you scrape all the paint off and wrap the whole tube with a big bead of epoxy putty and bury the cable stop in the putty. but that would look like total s***e

use the clamps or get 'em brazed on. or sell your khs frame and get a frame with guides and bosses

best
dave


I've almost finished my "track" bike, and would like to convert my KHS (Mercier) to a fixed/free "road bike" style with two brakes. The frame's drilled for a rear brake but has no cable guides. I have the option of sending the frame off to have guides (and bottle bosses) installed, but I'm also thinking of JBWelding some guides onto the top tube and getting a seatpost-mounted cage. I may still have it done professionally, but I'd like to know if JBWeld is strong enough to hold cable guides onto a frame. No, I don't want to use tape, zip ties or anything temporary. I know there are clamps made for this purpose, but the top tube's a bit large for those, and they belong on lugged frames anyhow, so that's out. Not moving quickly here, so I have time. Any suggestions?

who ever said zip ties were temporary? they're not going to decompose over time:).
you might be able to find some old fancy looking metal clamp on cable guides too, but going through the trouble to weld on cable guides seems crazy to me (imho).

Full cable housing and zip ties or old school cable clamps.

I heart zip ties. Need to get some black ones for the Steamroller. But seriously, I've seen many a singlespeed with zip ties securing the rear brake housings front and rear. Seems to work just fine. You can even get colored ones to make your ghetto fab style more outrageous.

Sounds like a new Dave Letterman skit, "Will it hold".

As for your question, maybe, depends on how clean the suface started and how much you used.

how'bout stick-on cable guides?

I had the tape deal for awhile, the cable just kept moving around. Same with the zip ties. I finally went over to the Bike Tools website in ashland oregon, and bought a pair of tektro clamps for $20, and put them on. They are truly ugly, but they really work. They come in several diameters, so you should be able to find one that fits. You can always use a bit of old inner tube around the top tube if the clamp is too big.

jb weld is pretty strong. Just check out the tensile strength on it. There may be other expoxies that are stronger. You'll have to strip the paint where you are going to put the guide though. Or put it on, then break off the guide so it pulls the paint off with it.

I just ran the full housing back to the rear brake. First I secured it with zipties, but the cable would rattle a little which drove me crazy. So I removed the zip ties, took an old tube, cut it open, and wrapped the cabble to the top tube with it. Wrapping it with cloth bar tape would look better.