AL NZ

Has anyone found a source of the complete Raleigh brake cables with the bolt-on adjuster ferule for the caliper end?
My '55 4 speed came with what I assume are the colour-coded dark-green originals, but one day I will need some more.
I cannot find'em on UK ebay

Any leads...?

rhm

I did see someone selling a few of those on the internet a month or two back. It might have been Yellow Jersey. At any rate, they had a few in one color and they were all rear brake cables, no front ones. Interesting, but not encouraging.

Probably more useful, there was a thread on making do without the very same cables, in this forum, maybe three months ago. I can't remember enough about it to do a search. Anyway, there were some useful suggestions there, including a cable knarp you can get from a lot of bike related internet sellers; it's not quite as attractive as the correct GB cable, but it'll do. Some people have success casting or soldering an end onto a cable; when I tried that, though, I could not make any kind of solder stick to the cable. Probably didn't have the right flux or something.

ftwelder

I am going to try casting the ends myself also. My older Raleighs have cloth covered housings.

mickey85

I've got one of those calipers on the front of my Lenton. I think my go-to move is going to be to just swap it out for a clamp-style caliper, to match the back one and be more serviceable, as I'd really care to ride this bike and not have to worry about a 60 year old brake cable.

nlerner

I have some NOS double-ended rear brake cables with white ribbed housing. PM me if interested. Otherwise, using a standard cable and on the end that fits in the caliper arm, use a cable knarp as rhm said or crimp a small piece of brass tubing on the end. You can get that tubing at hobby shops and art supply stores.

Neal

mickey85

That would work if you had standard brake levers... I actually bought a set of knarps to try that when I bought the Lenton, then I looked at the brake lever - both sides take bullet-shaped (i.e. "road" style) cable ends, so a knarp wouldn't fit in it.

nlerner

I've used the knarp for the caliper end, but I know what you're describing--there were at least two different fittings on the caliper side. On my '51 Clubman, I have brass tubing plus a blob of solder. It's not particularly pretty, but it seems to be holding.

Neal

rhm

I almost refrain from mentioning such a low-tech alternative, but you can tie a knot in a cable. The trick is to get it at exactly the spot where you want the knarp; then pull the cable as tight as possible, squeezing the knot together with pliers while pulling really hard from both ends. You'll end up with a knot about the size of the ball that was supposed to be cast onto the cable. It's a good idea to back that knot up with a second one, as close as possible to the first one (like, with nothing between them), then clip the loose end to about 1 cm and secure it with the stoutest cable end you have. A spoke nipple is good.

Amesja

I put the knarp at the caliper and use a standard brake cable in the original Raleigh cable housing and threaded adjuster (Although you could replace the housing with new material at this point since you are using a single-ended cable and it all is apart).

A spoke nipple above the knarp keeps the assembly from falling apart randomly on you leaving you with no brakes and replicates the Raleigh-branded lower "knob." If you shorten the nipple a little you can still pull it out of the caliper when you loosen the cable adjuster so that you can remove the wheel without moving the knarp.