Mushy rear brake - ideas for improvement?

Just built up an old Trek 2100 frame. It has internal brake cable
routing along the top tube, rather than cable stops there like my
other bikes. Hence the rear brake cable housing snakes from the
lever, thorough the top tube, then out to the rear brake without any
cable stops along its run.

The rear brake function is very mushy. I'm thinking this is due to
the long cable housing run without stops. I have had the exact same
wheels, brakes (105) and levers (sora) on a bike with cable stops and
it worked fine.

By mushy I mean to say that the power generated by squeezing the lever
doesn't seem to be crisply applied to the rear brake. In my mind I
wonder if the long "unsupported" cable and housing run is allowing
enough minute flex over its' distance to cause this.

Anyone have any ideas on how to improve this?

Thanks,

TG

"tony the tiger" wrote:

Just built up an old Trek 2100 frame. It has internal brake cable
routing along the top tube, rather than cable stops there like my
other bikes. Hence the rear brake cable housing snakes from the
lever, thorough the top tube, then out to the rear brake without any
cable stops along its run.

The rear brake function is very mushy. I'm thinking this is due to
the long cable housing run without stops. I have had the exact same
wheels, brakes (105) and levers (sora) on a bike with cable stops and
it worked fine.

By mushy I mean to say that the power generated by squeezing the lever
doesn't seem to be crisply applied to the rear brake. In my mind I
wonder if the long "unsupported" cable and housing run is allowing
enough minute flex over its' distance to cause this.

Shouldn't be a problem. All my bikes use continuous housing from lever to
caliber. I would suggest you replace your brake housing with modern teflon
lined housing. And lightly oil the inner cable. See:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...31#productinfo

Also, make sure the housing ends are clean and square. File if necessary.
See:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/cables.html


Art Harris

On 18 Oct 2003 03:58:15 -0700, (tony the
tiger) may have said:

Just built up an old Trek 2100 frame. It has internal brake cable
routing along the top tube, rather than cable stops there like my
other bikes. Hence the rear brake cable housing snakes from the
lever, thorough the top tube, then out to the rear brake without any
cable stops along its run.

The rear brake function is very mushy. I'm thinking this is due to
the long cable housing run without stops. I have had the exact same
wheels, brakes (105) and levers (sora) on a bike with cable stops and
it worked fine.

Are you sure that the housing on that cable is brake housing? Some
der housings have a big enough ID that a brake cable will fit through,
but using them for a brake will produce exactly the result you
describe. I think I'd grab some fresh, good-quality brake housing at
the lbs and redo that run.

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tony the tiger wrote:

Just built up an old Trek 2100 frame. It has internal brake cable
routing along the top tube, rather than cable stops there like my
other bikes. Hence the rear brake cable housing snakes from the
lever, thorough the top tube, then out to the rear brake without any
cable stops along its run.

The rear brake function is very mushy. I'm thinking this is due to
the long cable housing run without stops. I have had the exact same
wheels, brakes (105) and levers (sora) on a bike with cable stops and
it worked fine.

By mushy I mean to say that the power generated by squeezing the lever
doesn't seem to be crisply applied to the rear brake. In my mind I
wonder if the long "unsupported" cable and housing run is allowing
enough minute flex over its' distance to cause this.

Try a thicker cable and outer (as others have suggested) but if this
doesn't solve the problem you may have to live with it - long cable
housings do tend to degrade the feel of a brake due to friction and
housing compression, which is why most bikes use them as little as possible.