Front light battery pull on brake cable
11-29-06, 11:15 PM
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Front light battery pull on brake cable
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!
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!
11-29-06, 11:19 PM
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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.
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.
11-30-06, 06:28 AM
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Originally Posted by slvoid
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.
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.
Can I get a job there? 
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11-30-06, 06:32 AM
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Haha, it wasn't me, we had a PLC controlling a setup.
11-30-06, 10:19 AM
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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?
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11-30-06, 10:28 AM
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+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?.
But as Sheldon says, why do you really need a rear brake anyways?.
11-30-06, 07:08 PM
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Originally Posted by CliftonGK1
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?
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...
