Weld new cable boss on steel frame?

it's a fairly trivial matter except for paint. Expect to pay a framebuilder ~$25

You can also use one of these for the cable issues. QBP Problem Solvers Backstops

http://www.problemsolversbike.com/pdf/PS_backstops.pdf

GiddyHitch said:

Hey there,

I have an old steel hardtail that has always had squishy rear brakes after I converted from cantis to v-brakes circa '97. I have to run a brake cable with full housing zip-tied to the top tube because the last cable boss before the rear brakes is one of the noodle bosses that wraps around the seat tube and shoots the cable right down the middle of the seat stays - poor positioning for v-brakes and no room in the boss to grab the housing ferrule. In any case, how hard would it be to have someone weld/braze on a new cable boss on the end of the top tube to stiffen up the cable path?

Here's the best picture I've got at the moment:

Cheers.

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Did you also replace the brake levers when you added the V-Brakes?

If you kept the original canti levers the brakes can be nothing be "squishy" as the levers do not have enough cable pull.

yeah, those levers look old. even if they are v-brake levers get some better ones like the avid levers. they are cheap and work quite well.

unterhausen said:

it's a fairly trivial matter except for paint. Expect to pay a framebuilder ~$25

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Ah, not bad, I'll have to look into this.

pvd said:

While cable housing can contribute to squishy brakes, I doubt that that is what the real issue is.

You probably need a brake booster. This prevents the stays from flexing when the rear brake is applied. You will notice this flex if you look for it when grabbing a ton of brake. We had to run these all the time during the v-brake days.

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Hmmm, come to think of it, I don't think that I've looked for flex in the stays while grabbing the brake, I've just seen the housing flop over instead of staying stiff like it would if there was a cable stop there. I'm wondering if a Jagwire compression-less housing would be significantly better as well.

shiggy said:

Did you also replace the brake levers when you added the V-Brakes?

If you kept the original canti levers the brakes can be nothing be "squishy" as the levers do not have enough cable pull.

Click to expand...

thefuzzbl said:

yeah, those levers look old. even if they are v-brake levers get some better ones like the avid levers. they are cheap and work quite well.

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Haha, yeah, I replaced the levers at the same time as the brakes. They are actually Avid SD 2.0L's v-brake levers that came in a set with the brakes from Supergo. I didn't think too much about the 'L' designation until I recently compared them to a set of SD7 levers, which are a much better size for one and two finger braking.

You could also use a bolt-on cable stop like the ones made by Problem Solvers.

GiddyHitch said:

I'm wondering if a Jagwire compression-less housing would be significantly better as well.

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"Compression-less" housing is an invention of the marketing departments. Standard shimano or Quality brake housing and cable should be fine.

Roadsters said:

You could also use a bolt-on cable stop like the ones made by Problem Solvers.

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Stumbling across a mention of the PS Backstop is initially what excited me about fixing this issue finally, but I'm not sure that it will work for my application. The two slots look like they're a constant diameter, so I'm not sure how they would function as a cable stop (the stops on my frame are a "cup" that grab the ferrule) and the body is so large on the clamp side that I fear that it would hinder the rear derailleur cable on that side of the head tube.

pvd said:

"Compression-less" housing is an invention of the marketing departments. Standard shimano or Quality brake housing and cable should be fine.

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Ah, good to know.

Thanks for the input, everyone, I really appreciate it.