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Submitted by
Ryan
a Cross Country Rider
from Elkader, IA
Date Reviewed: October 26, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$40.00 | | Purchased At: | jenson usa | | Strengths: | Amazing feel and power! Plus they are sealed up with heatshrink tubing so no dirt gets in to contaminate anything. Get them! | | Weaknesses: | Tedious getting set up initially, but once set up they are sooooo nice. | | Similar Products Used: | Generic cables, Avid, Gore Ride-ons | | Bike Setup: | Niner SIR, rigid, single | | Bottom Line: | These are so nice. They took some time to get set-up but I zip tied everything well and you want to try to keep the sharp bends to a very minimum since that's what causes increased friction and harder braking. Since the stainless tubing has to be cut, use a pipecutter, not a hacksaw, for a precise fit. Then each joint gets covered with heatshrink tubing and seals the whole cable up nicely. Spend the time installing them correctly and you will love them too. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ifestion Papadam
a Downhiller
from Thessaloniki
Date Reviewed: January 5, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | Ebay | | Strengths: | Great feeling and perfomance, not only in my opinion since at least three mechanics in local bike shops, after looking and testing the system were amazed by the perfomance and feeling comparing if not overpassing the hydros. After one year of use the durability is still great. | | Weaknesses: | Needs attention at installation and some testing before making the final cutting. | | Bike Setup: | Canyon Big Mountain 1 frame, Marzocchi All mountain 1 fork, Manitou 4 way swinger shock, Chris King headset, Mavic Deetraks Wheelset, Thomson Elite seatpost, Shimano XT groupset, Avid BB7 203mm brakes | | Bottom Line: | Recommended 100% for anyone who want's the extra perfomance and super feeling, believe me you will not regret it!! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Lance Low
a Downhiller
from Pleasanton, CA
Date Reviewed: August 23, 2006 | | Favoriate Trail: | Joaquin Miller | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$30.00 | | Purchased At: | Pricepoint | | Strengths: | Very fluid braking, no obstructions, not effected by mud | | Weaknesses: | Long install not for someone that is mechanically inclined, metal stainless steel jackets will bend over time either from crashes or other things. | | Similar Products Used: | N/a | | Bike Setup: | 05' Ibex Apogee Sport LT, Manitou minute 1, wtb tires, mostly deore lx parts, 5 inches of travel all around. | | Bottom Line: | These cables work really well, but over time they do get damaged and bent if your a downhiller like i am, that is why i am switching to hydralic brakes. But for a cross country person they work well. Just a little expensive to replace alot. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
James Jordan
a Weekend Warrior
from Bonita Springs FL Lee County
Date Reviewed: March 25, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$30.00 | | Purchased At: | Price Point | | Strengths: | Ingenuity, linear actuation, removal of compromising cable flex. | | Weaknesses: | For the less than apt, can prove dificult to install to the best working order. | | Similar Products Used: | OE cabling | | Bike Setup: | IronHorse Warrior Hardtail 2005 with a 5.1 inch fork, 7" Hayes F and 6" Hayes R w/ MX2 calipers. Hayes levers too.
Little tiny rocks, bread, gravy, cider, mud, apples, lead... | | Bottom Line: | You can make this to be quite the braking system. DO NOT bend the tubing, it's too thin. But you can make elbows slightly with the ferrels and get a trick setup. I have one at the top tube and seat stay from the braze on boss, SS tube, small cable bend, and the run of SS tube parallel with seat stay and it's bosses/guides. The instructions are generic. Don't think you have to compromise your bikes lines to have this product. It's made to be cleaned up! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Gaz
a Weekend Warrior
from Washington, DC
Date Reviewed: April 1, 2005 | | Favoriate Trail: | All ova' NoVa! | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$25.00 | | Purchased At: | PricePoint (Price matched) | | Strengths: | A comparitively cheap component that delivers serious performance improvements. Avid BB7s + Speed Dial 7s + Full Metal Jackets = one excellent braking system. Also, the fully enclosed design means... dan-da-daaaan! Zero maintenance! | | Weaknesses: | Tricky to install. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano XTR cables... | | Bike Setup: | Ellsworth ISIS, Fox Vanilla RLC, full SRAM, Avid BB7s, XT hubs with Mavic X321 rims, yadda yadda... | | Bottom Line: | Okay. These are hard to install. If you're not a savvy tech, get a friend to help, or pay your LBS to do the job. It's worth the hassle though, because once they're on, they're like the Ronco Rotisserie. Set it, and forget it. The increased performance on the BB7s was really noticable. And - here's my favourite part - couple them with Flak Jacket derailleur cables, and after a nice muddy or sandy ride, just hose the bike down, dry it off, quick chain lube, and you're DONE! Money, money, money all the way. If you own Avid mechs - or ANY mechanical disc brakes for that matter - these babies are a must have. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
brent sheehan
a Downhiller
from hawaii
Date Reviewed: July 14, 2004 | | Favoriate Trail: | skyline | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$30.00 | | Purchased At: | pricepoint | | Strengths: | replaces almost straight runs of housing with straight runs of stainless steel tubing. | | Weaknesses: | Very hard to assemble, for something that makes such little difference in performance. Stainless tubing bends and kinks making your $30.00 brake cable worthless. Comes with shrink tubing and doesnt indicate you need a heat gun anywhere on the directions. Directions are not very clear and there diagrams are poop. | | Similar Products Used: | jagwire the fat ones reinforced with kevlar. | | Bike Setup: | who cares | | Bottom Line: | Bad idea. Might as well give $30.00 to charity than buy this product. I am embarrased I bought such a gimmicky Item. Too hard to assemble,too easy to break | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Brett Dulyea
a Cross Country Rider
from Newport Beach, CA
Date Reviewed: June 18, 2004 | | Favoriate Trail: | El Moro | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$27.00 | | Purchased At: | JensonUSA | | Strengths: | Exponentially better breaking power. | | Weaknesses: | Feurells wouldn't fit my Cannondale Jekyll had to jury rig it, but it looks clean and works fine. | | Similar Products Used: | none | | Bike Setup: | Jekyll 500, XT build kit , Marz Mx Pro fork, Avid mechs, monkeylite bars, odi grips, ea50 post, hope/mavic wheels, full metal jackets, selle trans am seat. | | Bottom Line: | Seriously, if you have Avid mechs you won't believe the difference. When I installed my Avids I was impressed, but over time, my housings have become dirty and corroded. There was so much friction that I had to pull really hard to lock up the tire, which sucked. I bought this product hoping it would help. Not only did it fix the problem, but I now have more breaking power than when I first installed the brakes. Also, since the system is sealed I'm hoping that I don't have the corrosion and dirt problems I developed before. I had pretty high expectations, and even those were surpassed. Five burning dogs. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Cody
a Weekend Warrior
from Houston, TX
Date Reviewed: May 14, 2004 | | Favoriate Trail: | Ant hills | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$28.00 | | Purchased At: | price point | | Strengths: | Completely sealed, zero friction. It completely transformed the performance of my Avid mechanicals | | Weaknesses: | Weakness? There is one thing: Avid doesn't supply enough heat shrink tubing | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano cables | | Bike Setup: | 2004 Stumpy FSR with Avid mechanical discs & SD-5 levers. | | Bottom Line: | This cable system is awesome. I immediately felt an increase in performance from my mech. discs after I put the Full Metals on. No exposed cable means they don't get dirty, which is what was causing my decrease in braking performance.
Avid only gives you enough heat shrink tubing for the front Jacket, but all you have to do is go to a hardware store and buy some shrink tubing from the electrical dept. It only costs about $1.50.
The cost of the Jackets may seem a little steep to most, but they're well worth the money. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jay
a Downhiller
from Vermont
Date Reviewed: May 7, 2004 | | Favoriate Trail: | CCC wilderness trail system | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$30.00 | | Purchased At: | Beyond Bikes | | Strengths: | NO FRICTION!! FER REAL!!! Make mech. disc brakes feel like hydraulic. Easy to follow directions, easily adapts to almost any frame or cable routing. | | Weaknesses: | Not enough shrink wrap. | | Similar Products Used: | regular cables/housing | | Bike Setup: | Avid mechanical discs, lame 'ole Shimano stock levers. SD-7's coming soon... | | Bottom Line: | WOW!!! They should provide this cable system with all their mechanical disc brake systems. Everyone I know would pay a few extra $$$ for the smooth, clean feel! If you have mechanical disc brakes, and don't have these cables, BUY THEM IMMEDIATELY!!! you don't know what you are missing!!! Way to go AVID!!! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ben
a
from Minneapolis, MN,
Date Reviewed: October 2, 2003 | | Favoriate Trail: | The Concrete Jungle | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$79.00 | | Purchased At: | Inner Net | | Strengths: | Front Brake was smooth to set-up. Shrink wrap a +++. Ample amounts of Cable Housing. | | Weaknesses: | Not enough shrink wrap and Cable guides for rear set-up | | Similar Products Used: | First of Mech Disks. V-brake only before. | | Bike Setup: | Disco Monkey. Avid Mech. Etc. Etc. | | Bottom Line: | Two Words: Customer Service. I had trouble setting up the rear brake on my F.S. bike. The cable kept pinching and locking up the rear disk after hitting drops (very uncool, especially on staircase landings). Called Avid tech service. The folks at Avid stayed on the line until we cornered the culprit (a hydralic cable guide). Think the problem is solved, a problem by the way that was of operator fault not Avids. Thanks again Avid. One more thing, Avid took care of the shrink wrap and cable guide issues. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Slim Tree Shadow
a
from Oregon
Date Reviewed: August 7, 2003 | | Favoriate Trail: | North Umpqua | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Bottom Line: | This is a great system. I'm using it with a Fox coil 125mm fork and it works well. The heat-shrink tubing for the front jacket is a great idea and seals everything up nicely. The below poster has good intentions, but 20cm is way too long! Personally I haven't had any problems with the jacket catching on the fork eyelet (that's what the heat-shrink tubing is for - keep things smooth there), but if you are having that problem then I'd say about 4-5cm should be enough extra jacket.
This is really a great system, too bad they don't make them for hydraulics yet. Avid? | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chris Herraghty
a Cross Country Rider
from Edinburgh
Date Reviewed: July 23, 2003 | | Favoriate Trail: | Dalbeattie | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$15.00 | | Purchased At: | www.Chainreactioncycles.com | | Strengths: | Improves performance, especially the rear - feels sweet!
Fully sealed - no more crap in the cables.
Looks cool.
| | Weaknesses: | A bit expensive. | | Similar Products Used: | XT, XTR, Avid FlakJacket | | Bike Setup: | Trek 8000, Marzocchi Coil Marathons, Avid discs, Full XT, Hope Bulb/Mavic F219 wheels. Easton bits. USE post. | | Bottom Line: | These cables are brilliant! Actually lighter than a full length of outer running to the back! Back brake is now no longer mushy.
**I recommend these for V-brakes and cantis too** I tried these on my hack bike and it worked really well!!
Have previously had problems with some avid stuff (flak jacket sucked hard), but this is a winner! Nice one avid!
A word of advice, make the front metal tube about 20cm longer than recommended - this means that the joint between the tube and the outer doesn't catch going through the eyelet when the forks compress. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
kazimar
a Cross Country Rider
from portland, or
Date Reviewed: June 20, 2003 | | Favoriate Trail: | North Umpqua | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$28.00 | | Purchased At: | beyondbikes.com | | Strengths: | Reduces friction
Lighter than standard cables
| | Bike Setup: | Avid mech. disc, front only | | Bottom Line: | I dig this cable system. Was pretty easy to set up, although the directions weren't really complete. Customer technical service was awesome...called them and they told me what was up. The # is 303-762-9353.
Pulling on the brake feels instant. The straight metal section makes a lot of sense, and it is well designed to be fully sealed if you set it up right.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
mark tomaszewski
a
from Lewiston, NY - near niagara falls
Date Reviewed: April 14, 2003 | | Favoriate Trail: | ...Urban | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$25.00 | | Purchased At: | Cambria Bicycle Outfitters | | Strengths: | Great power | | Weaknesses: | took 5 minutes longer to install than traditional cables | | Similar Products Used: | None | | Bike Setup: | bombshell sputnik, xt derrailleurs, raceface bb/crank, easton bar, FSA stem, RS Psylo XC, xt disc on rhyno xl, avid CPS disc, i dont wanna keep typing | | Bottom Line: | Takes a bit to install, ut if you deduct pts for that then you're a girlie man. They have a much more solid feel than regular cable housing and... i think the look cool.
if i could give it 6 chilis i would | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Charles
a Racer
from Chicago
Date Reviewed: March 1, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$25.00 | | Purchased At: | Jenosnusa.com | | Strengths: | Nice and smoth action | | Weaknesses: | may take some time installing but if you machanily inclined its easy | | Similar Products Used: | None | | Bike Setup: | 2002 Jamis Eureka Frame with Race Face Prodgy XC crank and stem, Race Face Singnture XC BB. Sram 9.0 SL rear derauler 9.0 front, 9.0 casste PC 69 chain 9.0 sl half pipe shifters. sun ryno lite rims with shimanio delore XT disc hubs Hayes HMX-1 Mech disc brakes Manitaou Black super air fork and WTB Matuno Raptors 2.4 tires | | Bottom Line: | These so far and been working great in my test rides nice and smoth action | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Robert
a Cross Country Rider
from Dayton, Oregon
Date Reviewed: September 13, 2002 | | Favoriate Trail: | Happy Trail | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$19.00 | | Purchased At: | Discovery Bike in Hood River | | Strengths: | No Friction
Works just as advertised | | Weaknesses: | Look a little funny on the bike | | Similar Products Used: | Flak Jacket
Ride-on
Shimano Cables | | Bike Setup: | SC Superlight | | Bottom Line: | OK...when I installed the FMJ's, I was not so sure about them because they do look a little funny on the bike. Once I took to the trails, I was sold. They took my Avid Mech's from good to great. Now my brakes have more power and better power than the hydros I have tried. Just be careful with the front brake your first time out.
By the way, my package came with a full set of ferrules and a fork guide, as well as inner cables. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mike
a Cross Country Rider
from Michigan
Date Reviewed: February 1, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$24.00 | | Strengths: | Feels great...good modulation, rear feels as good as the front | | Weaknesses: | Not the easiest to install, but if you have some time it isn't all that hard...just read the directions | | Similar Products Used: | jagwire (with v-brakes) | | Bike Setup: | Giant NRS 3 now with avid mechanicals, otherwise stock | | Bottom Line: | Nice feel, I think they'll last a long time. Installation isn't too bad...I used a dremel to cut the metal tubes and it worked great and left smooth edges. All of my ferruls and cables were included...I guess the other guy here just got unlucky. For brake cables they are pretty expensive, but I figured as long as I was paying $150 for the brakes, I could spend a little more and have them feel good. 4 chilis only because installation is time-consuming. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Rick
a Cross Country Rider
from Phoenixville, PA
Date Reviewed: December 5, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$24.00 | | Strengths: | Cable protection (in theory), low friction. | | Weaknesses: | Hard to deburr after cutting, not a smart idea for front cable, awkward to mount on FS bike, no inner wire, no ferrules provided! | | Similar Products Used: | Gore Ride-On. | | Bike Setup: | Intense Uzzi SL, Avid Mechanical Disc, Crossmax Tubeless Disc, XT/XTR mix, MonkeyLite risers, etc. | | Bottom Line: | This product was advertised as a cable system, but it really isn't. It is simply a bit of "rigid housing". When mounted on the front fork, in standard "non-moto" configuration (front brake controls on left), even a reasonably mild crash will put a big stress/bend on the housing (not the metal part, but the standard housing that feeds into it). I was surprised to open the package and not find any cable inner wires. Required another trip to the shop & a delay in installation.
I'm sure there was a good idea behind the concept, but it needs a lot of work. Perhaps a semi-flexible jacketed cable with a large diameter opening/channel that tapers to standard housing would be the ticket. | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
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