I have been using my Novara Gotham as my primary transportation for the last three years. I was rolling up to a stop light and pulled the break handles. I heard a odd "sprang!" sound and had no front break effect (I had already shed enough speed that it wasn't a problem).

The cable broke right where it clamps to the caliper . . . not the end of the world.

It is generic caliper, I might use this as a reason to upgrade to hydraulic.

When did you last change that cable? I have used "generic calipers" on my 1996 GT Outpost for 21 years now and never had one break ("break," not "brake!")

You've got to maintain the stuff, just as you would maintain the brakes on your car. I use basic department store-quality brake cables and replace them every couple of seasons. They work like a charm and cost almost nothing.

I remember when you got that bike.

They're not supposed to do that, I wonder if there was an assembly error or the edge of the clamp is too sharp

Them's the brakes.

<---- winkie of absolution

Brake cable need to be inspected periodically. Look for kinks and broken strands at: inside the lever, esp where it enters the base near the handlebar, at the clamp and at the entrances and exits of all housings. If the cable has been used long enough, replace it. They are cheap and an expendable, like tires. And like tires, failure at the wrong time can be more than just a bummer.

In my book, you've got a good bike. You screwed up. It let you down gently, allowing this failure to happen when it didn't matter. (It could have happened coming into a downhill intersection with traffic.) Don't ask for this favor again. This happened at three years? Start inspecting carefully at a year. Replace in two. You can be more careless with your rear brakes.

Your bike has spoken.

(I take this bit about "good" bikes seriously. My favorite bike cursed me with an uncooperative high gear cog at the high point of a 2000' of climbing ride. I nursed the bike very slowly down to the flat, gently going through the turns. (It's a fix gear.) Didn't want to kill the chain I planned to use on a major ride in three weeks. 5 miles from home, on flat ground, the bike started shuddering wildly when I use the front brake. Got home and discovered both fork blades were about to break off. My bike "decided" to have a mechanical just where it needed to to keep that fork from breaking at 40 mph as I went onto a corner I love hot at 40+.)

Ben

+1. A similar thing happened to my SO a few weeks back. We were going out for a ride and not even a couple blocks into he brakes and the front cable snaps. We happened to have a set of cables at home so he changed them and problem solved, break is good as new. He did neglect the bike for a couple years which is why I think the cable broke in the first place.

No matter what I chose, i wold have to order it online. Taking it to a bike ship is a bit absurd. First I would have to rent a car, then drive about 170 miles to a "local bike shop." I work in SW Kansas (three weeks until I go home again).

As I mentioned, I decided that this was a good time to upgrade my brakes. I ordered a hydraulic front brake set.

Take a brake. You're breaks didn't brake. You're break cable is broke.

Wayyy too much break/brake up in here.

More likely too heavy a hand on the wrench when tightening the pinch bolt. I see it all the time.

Robert C: The pinch bolt needs to be tight enough to hold so that the cable doesn't slip but it doesn't have to be as tight as you can possibly get it. As for replacement cables, look at your local Helmart. They do carry some cables in the bicycle section.

Cables are fairly easy to replace as well.

Pretty normal for it to happen early on maintenance-neglected bikes, especially commuters. On a long enough timeline it will happen on every bike. Ever heard of the term "strain relief"? Cables of all kinds (headphones, power, etc.) will break at the point where they bend or rub - where strain is applied. I had to replace a rear derailleur cable last year on my commuter because I noticed that it was fraying, right at the point of attachment to the derailleur.

C'mon guys, so OP made a typo -- give him a brake!

$2 brake cable is enough excuse to change to hydraulic brakes? May as well blame it on the tree limb in the town park that blew down when the storm came through.

i'm sure this isn't the only person on here to do an upgrade in a situation where quicker solution was warranted... at least i would have done it.

I have been considering upgrading to hydraulic, on the front, before this. As such, this is just the push to overcome my inertia. As far as quicker, no matter which way I went, I would have to have ordered it.

this happened to me years ago when i first started bike commuting, though the circumstances were far dicier.

i was approaching a 2 way stop intersection (a one-way side street crossing another one-way side street) and thought i had clearance to roll through, but there was a car coming thorough the intersection first, so i emergency stopped at the last moment only to have my front brake cable snap. my rear brake locked up the rear wheel right away, but i went skidding through the intersection anyway.

luckily for me, the driver of the car was paying attention and the brakes on his vehicle worked far better than mine, because he slammed on the brakes, narrowly avoiding a collision with me and my skidding bike. he rightfully gave me an irritated palms-up "WTF?" gesture and scowl through the windshield when i finally came to a stop on the other side of the intersection. i pointed down to my broken brake cable and mouthed "I'm so sorry", he just shook his head and drove on.

needless to say, i had the crap scared out me, but at least my guardian angel was on the ball that afternoon, allowing me to learn A LOT of important lessons that day.

My thought exactly.

By the way, I wasn't making fun of the typo. I had stated that I'd been using calipers for a long time and never had one break. I wanted to make sure that wasn't misinterpreted as "my calipers do not brake," (which would be a pretty good reason to replace them). And yeah, because the OP misspelled "brake" in his/her post, my concern was heightened.

Anyway, others have said it a little less delicately, but to reiterate my earlier comment, I think an inexpensive cable replacement (buy a "third-hand" tool to do it right) is going to be a much simpler and wiser solution, especially when you find your bike can't support disc brakes or something like that.

The rest of us were

I would say that it is abnormal. I seldom see cables that are frayed at the pinch bolt (or anywhere else) at my local co-op except when the cable pinch bolt has been over-tigtened. I've never broken a cable of any kind, personally, and seldom have cables fray even at the ends.

If you think about it, this makes sense because bicycle cable seldom make sharp turns anywhere on the bike so cable seldom wear and break because of friction.

And yet, there are plenty of stories of bike cables fraying or breaking. Ideally they wouldn't, if everything was done correctly. But that's not always the case.

I wouldn't say there are "plenty of stories". I would even go so far as to say that there are few stories of cables spontaneously fraying here on the forums. There are...or were...a few with Shimano's early 10 speed 105 shifters. I've even had to extract a cable from one of them but even that problem isn't the norm. Broken cables just isn't something that comes up all that often.

I volunteer at my local bicycle co-op weekly and I have seen everything that someone can do to a bike and a lot of things I didn't know were possible. Broken cables are an extremely rare occurrence there. But overall, cables seldom fray or are damaged except, as I said above, at the pinch bolt.

Well, the night the brak broke I ordered a replacement. I was ordered expedited freight, which I paid extra for. It arrived last night. . . Needless to say, The refunded the shipping charge after I called and complained.

The new Hydraulic Brake installed easily and works well.

Upgrading to hydraulic won't make the unlikely any less likely to happen. Just replace the cable. This stuff does happen from time to time. I'm guessing you didn't upgrade to solid tires after your first flat.

When his speedometer battery dies, it'll be an excuse to upgrade to a digital dash.

Next time he gets a flat, he'll be "upgrading" to pentagonal wheels because they look cool and some marketers swear they perform so much better.