Front Disc Brake Internal Cable Routing
 

So I'm thinking about switching over from a rim brake to a disc brake on my fixed gear all weather commuter (new fork, new wheel etc.) I think it would give me a bit more of a controllable and reliable braking experience on snowy or wet downhills. Plus disc brakes are sooper kewl...


Anyway it just occurred to me that maybe you could route the brake cable internally from the lever all the way to the caliper and achieve ~maximum cleanliness~ just by drilling a couple of holes. I'm thinking drill a hole in the bars for the cable to enter, and another one were the bars connect with the stem. Pass the cable through the bars and out into the stem. Drill another hole in the steerer tube where it attaches to the stem and feed the cable down into the fork. Then I guess you would have to dremel a notch into the star nut or something to allow the cable to pass. After that its just one more hole in the bottom of the fork and your all connected.


So someone please tell me, is this a awesome idea or a stupid idea. Has anyone done something like this?

An old BMX trick...

Yeah I've seen those before. Definitely simpler than my idea hahaha. However l'm more interested in hiding the brake cable for aesthetic reasons. I won't be doing many barspins...

Im mainly concerned with whether or not sticking the cable through the stem would bend it too much, or if modifying the starnut is a bad idea.

what style of bars and brake lever are you using?

You don't need a star nut. Use a compression plug to preload the headset bearings then remove it once the stem is installed.
You could then just glue the stem cap in place without the stem bolt.

If using a hydraulic brake you can bend the brake line as sharply as you want with no effect. A sharp bend in a mechanical brake with generate more friction.

This came to mind right away. I can't imagine a bend/kink that tight being good.

Huh, interesting thought. That's not a bad idea. Thanks!

So I guess the real issue here is the amount of cable bend then. I was planning on using an avid bb7 or something (hydraulic for my needs I think would be overkill)

Any workarounds coming to mind?

So right now I'm using drops with a bmx lever and dummy hoods. For this disc brake situation I'd probably just replace one of the dummy hoods with a matching one of the non-dummy variety.

Either that or switch to bullhorns and a bar end lever. Either way seems like it would be the same difference as far as cable routing goes.

Sorry to resurrect this thread from the dead, but did you ever follow through with your idea? Looking to do a similar setup and after lots of google-fu this was the only thing that came up. Its mostly the part about drilling the steerer tube to pass through the cable from the stem that has me a bit worried. Would really appreciate if you could share your experience!