cooleric1234

To follow up on a previous post, I've decided to go with the Tektro RL520 brake levers for my hybrid drop bar conversion.


I also need to get some brake cable and housing (I have cable cutters). I was thinking of getting the Standard Shimano MTB Brake Cable and Housing.



Here's my question, does anyone know what kind of cable end these brake levers use? They work on linear pull brakes, which is usually for mountain bikes, but they are road type levers. It looks like the Shimano cable set only comes with the MTB cable ends. I could get cable and housing separately, it will just cost a little more.

cooleric1234

Hey OP, why don't you try the forum search feature first:
https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mechanics/430468-tektro-rl520-linear-pull-lever-questions.html

Sorry for the lapse.

HillRider

These cables won't work with the Tektro levers. You need "road" cable ends. Shimano does make equivalent complete sets of road brake cables and housing

George

+1 I just put them on my bike yesterday and I also used the Flake jacket ones from Jensen. They are suppose to pull smoother and the jacket doesn't get flattened out. They come with a brake stop on one end and a shifter on the other. You cut the one you don't need off.

I_bRAD

I would say that's two kinds of brake ends... shifter and brake cables are different thicknesses.

HillRider

Are you sure of that? Double end brake cables are available that have an MTB fitting on one end and a road fitting on the other. Similarly, double end shifter cables have the same setup. But brake and shifter cables are usually different diameters (shifter cable is smaller) and I've never seen a cable intended for both brake and shifter use.

onbike 1939

+1
The gear cables come with two differently sized nipples on each end. One for Campag and the other for Shimano gears.

HillRider

I've seen double-end gear cables set up two ways. One version has both Shimano and Campy road ends, the other version has a road end (Shimano) and an MTB end.

mcgreivey

I've used these levers with road cable ends, and MTB (barrel) cable ends, and they've worked fine either way. When I first mounted the levers, I didn't have new cables, and I just used the old barrel-end ones, from the old straight-bar levers, for a few weeks. I installed new cables (and then used the road end of a double-ended cable) because I needed to install longer cable housing, to bury the cable under the bar tape. Otherwise, I would have been fine with the barrel ends. It is possible that they might not have worn as well--maybe there could have been a tad more flex at the barrel-cable joint with the barrel end, but I feel like this would only mean I might get 3 years out of them rather than 5, or something.

(I also installed inline cable adjusters, as well, since my (most? all?) v-brakes don't have them, and of course these levers don't, either.)

cooleric1234

Great point about the adjusters, I didn't even think of that. I'll have to buy some of those.