So my pal Pisgahproductions doesn't like zipties (commie!) We found what we *thought* was a good solution - run full length housing (or a hose, if anyone ever makes a hydraulic brifter) for his rear brake through some little double loop eyelets, like you'd find on an old-school road bike.
Problem is, the eyelets turned out to be too big, so the housing was going to bounce around like crazy. On a whim, I mentioned that we could use the conventional ziptie guides and that he could use safety wire instead. I used to safety wire my dirtbike grips on to keep them from coming loose (inexplicably, no moto people had figured out to use lock-on style grips at that time), and it works well for pretty much anything.
I thought this was something everyone knew about - I used to attach all kinds of things that were in danger of coming loose with safety wire. But apparently it's not commonly used on bikes, and I'm not sure why. Anyway, that's your weekend tip - safety wire rocks. And no, you don't *need* to have the special pliers, it's just nice if you're doing a lot of wiring. For a bike, use do it with some needle-nose. Remember to wear some safety goggles when you clip the ends!
5 comments:
Oh Eric and his weird requests... ;)
I use C-clips, never had one fall off. Then again he's bombing Pisgah descents at warp speed...
You've not lived till you drilled stainless, TI and grade 8+ hardness bolts for safety wire minutes before a big race!
Bah to safety wire for bikes*. Even on motorcycles, it may be as much a rules-mandated affectation as anything else (I notice that it's almost unheard of outside of racing circles, despite the great number of bolts in the world that must not come off), and thread lockers are generally the best solution.
But of course, bicycles mostly deal with fairly normal bolts and threads in non-vibrating environments, and most people don't lose bolts very often.
*that said, your application seems reasonable, though I think zip ties would look better. Maybe velcro cable ties? Though anyone who doesn't like zip ties would probably hate those. Some kind of open-sided cable guide for full housing that has little plastic "jaws" that let you snap-fit a housed cable into the guide?
I have used twist ties from loaves of bread to secure housing before .....not a long term solution though
ragley bikes makes a cool bolt-on cable guide/cradle thingy. It's like $12 from chain reaction cycles.
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