I’ve had my Boardman CX for a few weeks now and the brakes have been ok’ish, on bridle ways and a few forest tracks.

Then I took it on its first proper off road ride the other night, on a normal MTB group ride and the front felt very spongy, I could notice the brake cable pulling away from the bars under the tape.

So I set about taking the bar tape off and seeing what was going on. The tape holding the cables to the bar was very loose, so I applied a couple of cable ties at the bends and just on the straight bit, liberally taped up the cables again with some electrical tape and reapplied the bar tape (nice and tight this time).

A quick test ride round the garden and they’re 100 times better, can’t wait to try them properly tomorrow

Are Halfords at fault here or not? I presume they don’t wrap the bars in store?

I could notice the brake cable pulling away from the bars under the tape.

Which would suggest the cable outer isn’t long enough. Taping the cable to the bars should just be for tidying them up.

I wouldn’t point the finger at halfords.

There’s plenty of outer, the bar tape was pretty loosely wrapped and the tape holding the cable outer to the bars under the bar tape was loose too. So it’s a factory issue.

Either way they now feel much more positive with a much firmer feel to the pull.

The thing that made me wonder about the set up initially was the fact that the brakes were perfectly fine when I used the chicken levers on the bar tops

There could be 2 reasons for this…

1. Outer not long enough. If its taped tightly to the bar at the stem end but not fully in the lever then when you pull the brake it will just take the shortest route to take up the slack, therefore pulling forward off the bar. Solution, make sure your brake is all set-up before taping the bar, and pull the brake to check its not getting pulled out the lever as you tape it to the bar.

2. Cable outer is crap and trying to straighten (to make shortest possible length) when you pull the brake. Fit some better cables, you’ll be thankful with cable discs anyway.

The outers weren’t taped to the bar near the levers at all, just on the straight bit for about 75mm either side of the taper.

The cables do appear to be very cheap and will get replaced when they wear out

ah – sooo thats why you screamed like a little girl….

Yup, distinct lack of front brake.

Should be sorted now though as the lever doesn’t pull to the bars