smontanaro 

My Fuji The Finest is now all disassembled and I'm starting to clean individual bits in preparation for reassembly. I'm a bit confused by the brake cable hangers. As they were assembled on the bike, they seemed "backward" to me, at least in comparison with my MAFACs. Here's a side-by-side view of the two hangers. On the left is as it came off the bike. Note that the bolt (with the chrome head) is "behind" the hanger. In my (MAFAC) experience, the shiny bolt head goes on the same side as the lettering (the "front", "outside," or user-facing side). On the left is as I reassembled the other one, the way I thought it "should be." Note that while the bolt head is now on the user-facing side (same side as the lettering), the hole in the bolt also winds up on that side, so the brake cable doesn't go on the "back" of the hanger. Is this the way Dia-Compe did things, or is this the result of manufacture after one too many glasses of sake at lunch on Friday?

etherhuffer 

Needle nose pliers!

unworthy1

I guess you can route the cable to either side, and seems to be up to the mechanic's (or grease monkey's) preference, cause I've seen both over the years.
But my pref is to route the cable as shown in the LH example since (tho it's a but more hassle to string it up) that keeps the straddle cable in place in the hanger.
'course this doesn't answer the other great controversy: where do you place the flat washer?

smontanaro 

Yeah, can't route the cable to the back with the bolt in front. The cable hole is obscured by the hanger itself (the bolt head seems too close to the bolt head).

Here are a couple more pix. The second should be a slightly tougher tool identification test for etherhuffer.

Pompiere

I just finished installing Dia-Compe brakes on my Kabuki. The example on the left is how I did it. I tried it the other way, but the cable did not come down in a straight line from the cable stop.

smontanaro 

Thanks, that seems to be the only functional way to set it up. It just seems odd that the uglier fastener would be user-facing.

Edit: On the other hand, running the cable out front would keep the brake and straddle cables from interfering with one another.

juvela

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on older MAFAC anchors there is no slot/notch on the back side for the transmission cable to drop into

IIRC it was about 1974 that the slot was added

late type -




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79pmooney

The structurally better approach is the one on the left, ie Fuji's, because it lines up the cable and the straddle cable. Since the hole and the bolt head should be on the same side of the hanger to keep the alignment correct, you are stuck with head and working part of the straddle assembly being on the same side. (Edit: I wondered as I wrote this what my Mafac hangers looked like but was to lazy to go out and look. Posted, saw the Mafac photo and that I am wrong, Humbled.)

If you don't like that, nothing is stopping you from going out and getting a fancier hanger. (I like the fancier aluminum ones with the set screws.)

jadmt

smontanaro 

Thanks jadmt. Maybe all I need are acorn nuts.

abdon 

I do mine with the tail on the straddle cable side so it helps to hold said straddle cable in place when I disconnect it for maintenance. Not that this point is a big deal.

Steel Charlie

Those kind suck goat balls. There are about a thousand different and better ones on fleabay.

JMO of course, but I've always thought that the old ones were simply trash. YMMV

alcjphil

I always used to install my brake cable as in the left hand example. In order to remove my wheels I would have to disconnect the straddle cable to open up the brake calliper. With the brake cable on the rear side of the hanger, the straddle cable is captured making it easier to reconnect the straddle cable

unworthy1

small wire brush handle!
What did I win?

oneclick 

I just pull the straddle out of the yoke (unless it's a Mafac/CLB/Favorit etcetera).
For this, you need the brake cable on the opposite side of the straddle.
For Weinmann/Universal/Ballila/Zeus etcetera the straddle stays captured as the slots to take the nubs out are not in line with the cable run.

smontanaro 

Bragging rights over etherhuffer.

DiegoFrogs

I had to look at my two examples, Brazed on Dia-Compe "G" and Paul's racers. Both are setup just as your left-hand example, but both have acorn nuts. That's what makes it aesthetically pleasing and functional.