The is no other way to explain it. I pulled out an old mountain bike I use on a weekly basis, to go on a ride with my son. Did a quick tire check, added a little air and snapped back the brake levers; the front brake lever went all to the way to the bar. Okay, probably a housing jumped out of a boss; nope all is well. There seemed to be no other explanation other than the front cable had elongated since the time I hung it in the garage last week; I tightened the cable and I was on my way. Damn Gremlins!

Not a good sign. Even with the help of Gremlins (yes, they exist) cables don't stretch by that much. So, either you've had housing not pocketed in a ferrule for a while and it finally settled, or something slipped. Check all fittings, and the condition of the wire near the cable head, lest the second Gremlin that stays with the bike treat you to a nasty surprise at a critical moment.

Hi,

Most likely by far it slipped and in adjusting it you tightened the juncture.
Gremlins are not understanding the cause and fix, can lead to a plague .

If it wasn't that, then the same Gremlin will be waiting to bite you again.

rgds, sreten.

1. The clamp on the brake arms has loosen allowing the brake cable to slip when the brake lever is pulled hard. Loosen the bolt that secures the brake cable and take up the slack, tighten it.

2. The cable housing has pulled through the brake levers. Remove the brake cables and check the part that is near the brake lever adjuster barrel. On some cheap brake cables, the housing can get pulled through the brake levers. You will need to get new cables if this happens.

Don't water them..

The brakes are 20 year old XT Cantis, which I had not touched for at least 5 years other than cleaning the pad. The brake anchor bolt was very tight when I loosened it to take out the slack; since it's the front brake there is less than 12" of housing and ferrules in the brake and hanger look as good as the day I installed the new cable and housing.

Old generation XT cantis use brake pads that have a long smooth post unlike v-brake pads that is secured by a threaded post that tightens with a 5mm allen key. When the brakes are pressed hard sometimes the brake pads slide on the posts. Check the 10mm nut that holds the brake pads is tightened.

That was also a possible culprit. I noticed that one side looked pressed in (pad closer to the brake. Even if it was not the cause, I decided to make it symmetrical. T#1 the nut was very tight; #2 after I adjusted the one side to match the other, I had to re-center the brakes as they were now over tensioned toward the side I adjusted. While it made the most sense that the brake could have been pressed out, the fact that it was centered before, leads me to believe it had been uneven for quite a long time.