Commuting - Front light battery pull on brake cable

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bert37
11-29-06, 10:15 PM
hey all

I'm (finally) switching over to the heavy-duty (mountain biking) front light for my winter commute, but I don't have a nice thick down tube to prop the battery on, like with my old bike (I'm riding a Marin Mill Valley now). So I've got it velcroed to the top tube, hanging down. This pulls the rear brake cable out slightly though. I've check to make sure the rear brake isn't tightened so much as to rub, but I want to be sure that there's no real harm done in having a constant, slight pull on this cable..? Could it weaken/loosen/fray the cable over time?
If so, I suppose I can just take the light battery off during the day and 70 minutes of riding a day can't do too much harm...


thanks for your thoughts!

slvoid
11-29-06, 10:19 PM
Get a thick piece of plastic tube, slit it and wrap it around the cable, then put the battery over it.

The cable is pretty tough. We've had one in an experiment at work sawing through a piece of fiber glass reinforced nylon back and forth with a 10ft stroke for about 8000 cycles so far, no problems.
RonH
11-30-06, 05:28 AM
Get a thick piece of plastic tube, slit it and wrap it around the cable, then put the battery over it.

The cable is pretty tough. We've had one in an experiment at work sawing through a piece of fiber glass reinforced nylon back and forth with a 10ft stroke for about 8000 cycles so far, no problems.
You must be REALLY busy where you work. ;) Can I get a job there? :)

slvoid
11-30-06, 05:32 AM
Haha, it wasn't me, we had a PLC controlling a setup.
CliftonGK1
11-30-06, 09:19 AM
I have all sorts of junk on my top tube (including my brake cable) and I've got no problems because I run all my clips, clamps, and velcro underneath the cabling. Why put the possibility of interference out there? Are the cables run in such a fashion that you can't wrap the battery strap underneath them?
Scorer75
11-30-06, 09:28 AM
+1 try routing the strap under the cable. There should be room there since there is no housing around the cable at that point.

But as Sheldon says, why do you really need a rear brake anyways?.
bert37
11-30-06, 06:08 PM
I have all sorts of junk on my top tube (including my brake cable) and I've got no problems because I run all my clips, clamps, and velcro underneath the cabling. Why put the possibility of interference out there? Are the cables run in such a fashion that you can't wrap the battery strap underneath them?

Yeah, sorry -- guess I didn't explain well. I'll post a pic I took if I can find a quick place to stash it.
The rear brake cable runs along the (left) side of my top tube. I have the battery straps running underneath/inside them (directly against the top tube), but because the battery weight is lopsided, it slopes to the side, and therefore the straps bulge out slightly, pulling out on the brake cable. Does that make sense?
Anyways, like I said -- it does not cause the rear brakes to rub, and as slvoid suggests, I imagine the cable is tough enough to deal with the wear.

Scorer75 -- I googled sheldon rear brake and read his article on it -- interesting, cause even though I know front brake provides much more stopping power, I use rear brake 90% of the time (for coasting to stop lights, slowing to coast through signs, etc.). I guess that makes me an inexperienced cyclist. ; )


thanks again for the responses...