I had to go to the LBS for housing and I believe it is compressionless. The housing that came with the etap kit was not long enough since the rear brake cable is housed from the lever to the caliper - through the entire frame; so a long run. I used the etap-provided rear housing on the front brake which also runs from the lever to the caliper through the fork. I don't know enough about this to know how it would have affected the alignment. I engaged the pads fully while tightening the caliper bolts. In the end I put a thin piece of plastic on the side that would rub to force space there and it seemed to work. But, wow, it is tight. I don't align BB7 calipers anywhere near that close.
PS I'm interested in your chinabomb - my next build for (hopefully) ultralight bike for the weekly club ride where weight matters.
Originally Posted by
joejack951
Are you using compressionless brake housing? That gave me some trouble on the Chinabomb due to its stiffness and the short run of housing between the internal frame routing exit points and calipers. I had to unseat the housing from the calipers in order to get them to self-align with the pads engaged (actuating the brake arm on the caliper by hand). With the housing installed in the caliper stop, I think the stiffness of the housing was high enough to flex the rotor slightly resulting in imperfect alignment after tightening the fasteners no matter how many times I tried.