been a long time since ive needed cables, but setting up some BB7s now. yeah, theres loads to choose from, but i just wondered if anyone can recommend some that are better than others, such as flak jackets or something?

cheers

I run Jagwire “compressionless” brake outer with standard gear inners. I have yet to die 🙂

thanks. why gear inners? and ill be using road levers, so i spose i need the right ends on the cable.

Lighter feel at the lever more room between the inner and outer to get your cable lube of choice in there and less drag between inner and outer.

Use gear inners on my Shimano st2200 shifters on my monstercross and no problems. As long as the cable nipple can’t pull through the hole it’s fine – only shifter it wouldn’t work on was a versa drop-bar shifter for an alfine hub nipple got jammed and couldn’t rotate.

Oh and don’t bother with inline adjusters in the outers, pad adjustment at the caliper is all you should need. The adjusters just gives the carp another opportunity to get into your cables.

good stuff mate, ill have a look at that then. ill see whether the gear cable nipples seem like theyll be ok with the road levers.

cheers

+1 Jagwire Ripcord compressionless are good.

smokey, no good. the gear nipples just about pull through the road levers so ill have to use dedicated cables.

thanks to you both for the jagwire compressionless suggestion, ill go have a look for those.

ta

EDIT: can find plenty of mtb versions on planet x, high on bikes etc, can you tell me who sells a road version please? i assume they wont come double ended for me to snip off one end?

Nokon, but CRc were selling complete deore hydraulic disk brakes for less than nokon cables the other week :p

Unlucky with your nipples – I get mine from various ebay stores, depending on who has the best deal at the time. (the more gopping colours tend to be cheaper)

just had a play with some cables and outers lying around in the garage. they fixed the ‘sticking’ problem so it is ‘new cable time’, but…. they dont work particularly well.
i set up the BB7s as per instructions, but it just seems that the levers go all the way to the bars without being particularly powerful. theres movement all the way along the lever pull, but im just wondering if thats what the compressionless outers will solve.

cant see that theyll make such a big difference tho that the brakes will be sh*t hot :-/

EDIT: these are shimano road levers that are sposed to work with mtb brakes, but ive also got some dia compe levers lying around that i think i used on a surly crosscheck, so also for mtb brakes. worth a try do you think?

Ride it and try braking before you form a full opinion 😉

Dave, if these are the BB7’s I sold you I’m not convinced it is going to work. See I had the same problem and replaced them with the road specific versions (hence why for sale). If you want you can send them back and I’ll refund as I think you might be better off going for road specific. The major downer is that it cost me £90 for the set.

they are indeed those brakes mate, but i think mtb BB7s with special road levers are pretty much accepted on these bikes, so i should be able to get em sorted mate, thanks.

im guessing there shouldnt be any difference between mtb brakes with special road levers, or road BB7s with nornal road levers. were you using normal road levers?

Ah – now we get to the nub of the problem. I hadn’t seen your earlier edit.

whats the problem mate? these should work together shouldnt they? if they were road BB7s, they wouldnt/shouldnt be compatible with these levers would they, that to all intents and purposes are mtb levers?

I was using normal road levers.

not having much luck sourcing any jagwire ripcord compressionless outers (dont mind if they include the inners too). most of the links seem to be in the US, and wiggle etc just seem to do mtb or geared cables.

anyone care to point me in the direction of some decent compressionless cables/outers please? obviously must have road nipples if cables are included. id like to give the brakes the best chance of working great.

thanks

Why not buy the MTB version and then just buy a couple of road inners.

yeah, looks like thats maybe my only option, but ill be paying more for stuff i dont need :-/ dont understand why they dont do the road versions tho, surely theyd be wanting the same quality cables for road BB7s?

thanks.

assuming you have either road bb7 calipers and levers suitable for either road or canti brakes, OR mtb bb7s and v-brake levers, ( it wasn’t altogether which levers you were using to me ) this should help.

thanks del, but i have neither, ive got mtb BB7s with mtb-specific road levers.

thanks for the link tho, ive seen that on my many web-surfing sessions trying to find the best way of setting them up 🙂

cheers

mtb-specific road levers

specific for v-brakes then? if so then they should be fine. go through the process matey gives in that link. worked well for me. good luck.