Unsafe brake line design?

[NightZT]

Hello,
I have found an old bike with a nice steel frame which I'm overhauling. I removed the old and non-functional cantilever brakes and added new Shimano V Brakes. However, the brake cable design is a bit puzzling. The housing for the rear brake is interrupted along the top tube—there, the cable runs 'naked,' (there is only some rubber protection around it) and the housings are held in small brackets. Here are some pictures:

If I were to accidentally pull the front housing forward while riding, it could slip out of its bracket, which would make the brake non-functional. Are my concerns exaggerated? If not, how could I fix this? I was considering drilling through the brackets to run a single housing all the way to the rear brake.

Thanks in advance!

 

[BikeGremlin]

Hello,
I have found an old bike with a nice steel frame which I'm overhauling. I removed the old and non-functional cantilever brakes and added new Shimano V Brakes. However, the brake cable design is a bit puzzling. The housing for the rear brake is interrupted along the top tube—there, the cable runs 'naked,' (there is only some rubber protection around it) and the housings are held in small brackets. Here are some pictures:
View attachment 479
View attachment 480
If I were to accidentally pull the front housing forward while riding, it could slip out of its bracket, which would make the brake non-functional. Are my concerns exaggerated? If not, how could I fix this? I was considering drilling through the brackets to run a single housing all the way to the rear brake.

Thanks in advance!

Hi,

Those are housing stops (also, technically inaccurately called "cable stops"). They are actually a great thing! Why?

Briefly put, it lets you inspect (and replace) cables quickly and easily, while keeping the whole system a lot more rigid (frame tube is a lot more rigid than even the most expensive, most rigid cable housing). There is no risk of that coming loose in practice (cable is always under some tension, thus preventing the housing from getting out of the stop without your conscious effort when inspecting or swapping it).

You can see chapter 2.1 here for more details (and photo explanation):

https://bike.bikegremlin.com/12108/the-best-road-bicycle-buying/#2.1
Relja

P.S.

This might be interesting if you're swapping cables and housing:

• BikeGremlin cross and cable routing advice
• Bicycle shifter, brake cable, and housing standards

 

[NightZT]

Hi,

Those are housing stops (also, technically inaccurately called "cable stops"). They are actually a great thing! Why?

Briefly put, it lets you inspect (and replace) cables quickly and easily, while keeping the whole system a lot more rigid (frame tube is a lot more rigid than even the most expensive, most rigid cable housing). There is no risk of that coming loose in practice (cable is always under some tension, thus preventing the housing from getting out of the stop without your conscious effort when inspecting or swapping it).

You can see chapter 2.1 here for more details (and photo explanation):

https://bike.bikegremlin.com/12108/the-best-road-bicycle-buying/#2.1
Relja

P.S.

This might be interesting if you're swapping cables and housing:

• BikeGremlin cross and cable routing advice
• Bicycle shifter, brake cable, and housing standards

Thanks a lot, then I will keep everything as it is and be glad that I got a frame with such housing stops