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How much slack in control hoses/cables?

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GrantA

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
When installing hydraulic brake hose and shifter cables, do I need to allow enough for the handlebars to hit 90degrees? Even further? Not that far? On my bike nothing hits the frame, without cables I can spin the handlebars 360. The brake hoses I have will let me get 90deg with the line tight around the head tube so I'm leaning towards leaving them alone but wanted to ask some opinions.
Thanks!
Grant
 
#2 ·
I’d go longer... there are crash scenarios where the bars go 180. Make sure that the brakes are a bit longer than the shift cables.
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
Thanks, I located some Shimano hoses across the pond through Evans (white seems to be out of style?? - or maybe just popular) for a deal and I noticed some excess play in the headset today, so I picked up an FSA MX headset in white too for a great deal, maybe I'm about done buying parts finally!
 
#7 ·
99% of my bikes/the ones I setup are 90 degrees+ a bit more. My reasoning: if you crash in such a way that more than that happens, there's a pretty damn good chance you're not going to be worried about the bike.

YMMV.
 
#8 ·
wschruba said:
99% of my bikes/the ones I setup are 90 degrees+ a bit more. My reasoning: if you crash in such a way that more than that happens, there's a pretty damn good chance you're not going to be worried about the bike.

YMMV.
Click to expand...
90 is not enough.a decent crash isnt going to stop at 90, itll most likely go around to 180. And if you're good at bailing, youll be unscathed but the bars are likely to spin 180. Shouldnt need more than that, unless your planning some Barspins. So i set mine so they can go 180, but itll be tight at 180.
 
#9 ·
Depends. If the bars hit the top tube, then I run everything long enough for that and not much more.

If the bars don't hit the top tube and will rotate freely, then I go a bit farther, but generally not a full 180.
 
#10 ·
Until something stops the bars rotating or 180 degrees, whichever comes first. Generally, once the cables/hoses are long enough for 90 degrees, it only takes an inch or two more to allow 180+. When picking up my bike after a get-off it hasn't been unusual to find the bars rotated 180.

...and I hate having cables longer than necessary.
 
#11 ·
As a lot of the others said, I like to have about 180 degrees of range, as I've had a few crashes where the bars rotated to face backwards or worse. I go as long as I can once it doesn't leave the cables to get into any trouble with say maybe fork control or remotes they might catch on if they hang down.
Only time I'd go shorter is if the bars can't spin further than 90 degrees because you're running your bar so low it hits the top tube first, then I'd also be looking to put some protection on the TT to protect it from damage from the controls.
 
#12 ·
wschruba said:
My reasoning: if you crash in such a way that more than that happens, there's a pretty damn good chance you're not going to be worried about the bike.
Click to expand...
If I have that big crash, there's probably nobody coming for me and I probably really need the bike to work well enough to get me out of the woods.

I leave the brake line just longer than the shift cable and then secure them together with zip ties. If I crash, the shift cables have to pull free before I can lose my brake line( at least on the bars). As Ranger pointed out, the extra cable/hose length you need to add to go another quarter turn around a 1.5" headtube is about 1.25"
 
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