Shortening Brake Cable

[shinjinian]

How do you shorten brake cable? I'm not talking about the housing but the inner cable itself, I need to shorten the whole cable but if I cut the inner cable the cylinder that holds it in the brakes will be gone. So how do I got about it, or do I just need to order a brake cable that's the length I need?.

 

[crassius]

solder the inner & cut in middle of the solder to prevent unraveling

end cap isn't important, but they slide right on - any bike shop will just give you one

 

[HeadSmess]

use REALLY GOOD CUTTERS!

cus that stuff will fray and go all over the place with cheapo cutters.

oh wait. solder it...yeah, that would work too

cylinder...that holds it in the brakes? huh? the ferrule, that lil aluminium bit is crimped to the end of the cable? its to do what the solder above does, nothing more! just...once its been cut.


jab your finger or leg on a stray strand of inner cable and youll literally squeal like a girl...or pig...that stuff hurts

 

[butre]

use a cutoff wheel to cut steel cable, using manual cutters of any sort is a sure way to mess up the end of that cable

 

[crassius]

makes one wonder how they survived for that first hundred years of bikes before cutoff wheels came out

 

[butre]

knowing how much nicer a job an abrasive cutoff wheel does, I'd probably use the corner of a coarse stone to cut the cable if I didn't have access to a cutoff wheel.

 

[HeadSmess]

with good old rod brakes

so much effort to cut a cable. i find my knipex side cutters are the best. faster than searching for anything else in my junkheap... tin snips or most other "bypass" type blade that arent tight and sharp makes a mess, though the notches in many fencing pliers work well. as for the anvil cutter on vice grips...yuk.

strewth, even a sharp cold chisel and hammer is better!


when buying side cutters... grip a coin between the blades...if it doesnt stand up square to the blades, they arent in line, test the next pair, etc. you get what you pay for.

plasma cutter works too