Abu Mahendra

The new design allows for routing cables through the truss itself, allowing a cleaner look and no inteference with attached luggage. Load limit remains 7kg. $34 in my locality. Includes mouting bolts, a velcro strap (purpose unspecified), and two keys.

BikeLite

very cool

Winfried

Out of curiosity, on Dahon/Tern bikes, why aren't cables close to the stem like on the Brompton, which would make it possible to have a compact carrier block that can carry more weight (10kg vs. 7kg) and be more stable (because of the truss, bags wobble more on a Dahon/Tern) ?

ttakata73

I like your idea, but I think it's because the angle of the B's levers are close to vertical so the cables are too. Other folding bike ergonomics and regular mtb levers force the lower degree cable angle. The Tern above has very flat levers, weird. I prefer my levers closer to 45 degrees but the cables definitely stick out more than a regular B.

I think the new truss looks sweet.

tcs

The Brompton's handlebars don't have any adjustment, so the design doesn't need any slack in the cables.

Winfried

Makes sense. Thx.

L Arnold

Cables have to with the folding process. It is interesting, where the cable arc shows to start on the Brompton. On a Dahon with internally routed cables they actually slip quite a distance through the front half of the frame when folding. Also, if an adjustable handlebar post is on the bike then there needs to be adjustability for that distance as well.

The result is that the required cable slack ends up at yhe front of the bike as it should not be at the rear with chains and cranks all turning fast enough.

I find that I can flatten yhe slack along the Handlebar post. Perhaps shortening the cable tubes coukd work on externally routed cables ala Brompton.

Ine if the reasons a Speed Uno is so popular is that it is nearly clean of cables.

berlinonaut

In opposite to what the others have said: This is not only entirely possible but has and is been done regularly by Thomas Lösch of Velowerk.ch from Swizerland. He invented this different cable-routing for his velowerx-folders that were formerly based on Dahon Speed 24 and now are based on the Tern Verge Tour. As far as I now he has been and is consulting Tern for the development of the Tour-model. But - again as far as I know - he has in some way copyrighted or patented the cabling. As far as I know he allows the individual modification for private use but not the commercial use by a company.

In detail you can see it on this page https://www.velowerk.ch/werx.html (search for the term "cablerouting"). The text seems to be available in German only. He states there as well that Tern might use this routing as a standard in future.

You can find a picture of the cable routing on his homepage: willkommen im velowerk! (scroll down almost to the bottom, green bike on the left side). As he seems to be a bit anal about copyright I won't embed the picture here.

ttakata73

A simple solution would be to add V brake elbows at the levers so the cables go down.


I suppose a more elaborate solution would be a lever with a roller wheel that can adjust its angle instead of a straight cable pull like current levers. For a minute I thought about developing this idea but with hydraulic brakes being so cheap now, I think the days of cable brakes is fading.

fietsbob

Brompton has brake levers made for them , designed to aim the cable downward.. from the lever
Tern uses levers from general parts sources around them, made for use by all kinds of TW based bike companies..

sweeks

Looks better than the original extrusion! I like the idea of using it as a cable guide. I'd have to see if that would actually work, though...
Steve

tcs

BTW, a quick perusal of the Klickfix catalog shows their mounts - like the one depicted in this thread, attached to the new Tern rack/mount - are rated @ 5~7kg.

tcs

Yeah, no. Fixed height handle post.

Winfried

I've had a Tern among other folders and much prefer the Brompton because of its much more compact fold that saved my ass a few times while travelling… but vielen Dank for the infos about Thomas' work.

BTW, will you be at the International Cargo Bike Festival in Berlin in April ?

Abu Mahendra

The new approach is superfluous on my Dash whose cables are nowhere near the truss, and are routed back via the top tube.


...Might come in handy with the FSIR, though.

Abu Mahendra

Made in Taiwan to boot, for those with concerns about PRC labor.

sweeks

The limiting factor may be the threaded holes in the head tube.

Heh... You're almost ready for your high-wire act!
Steve

Abu Mahendra

...for i (re-)purchased the truss with a tour in mind. Stay tuned for real-world, field testing...

jur

According to that pic the velcro strap seems to be for strapping the cables to the handlepost.

Abu Mahendra

Yeap, you are right. Good catch.

edelay

Too bad they kept the plastic latch. I've broken two of those.

L Arnold

That is a good idea to have it near the brake levers (so on both ends of the brakes). It would seem that it would also work for the shifters.

edelay

Hi Abu.

Sorry for not being specific. It is the lower part of the red plastic part where it latches onto the luggage. Image here.
Busted the KLICKfix handlebar adapter 2nd time, anyone find a solution to this?

Abu Mahendra

I've seen that breakage reported elsewhere too. Odd because that part should not see a lot of stress. This is what that part looks like on the new item:


Btw, Gen II is 35g lighter than Gen I.

Abu Mahendra

I just checked another Klickfix caddy of mine, and noticed that the region of the part in question has a pretuberance, that is, it is thicker. I no es longer have my Tern Luggage Truss v.1 to compare, regrettably.