Laurence--Trials Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 While i was at work today i was wondering if you could run a vee brake cable without an outer cable. Got home and tried it and it doesn't work without the cable being under tension. Im probably being stupid.. but why doesn't it work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Rainbird Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 The brake relies on tension to work - else it just takes up some of the slack. Pretty similar(ish) to running a Magura without a hose really. Throw as much water as you like at those cylinders, but unless you're a f**king pro and hit the spot ( ) then you won't be braking any time soon. You need to pull the right bit the right way, the outer effectively determines which bit at the caliper end can move and how far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyseemonkeydo Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 The outer is effectively keeping the distance between the caliper and the lever constant, due to it's more rigid structure. If you could have your lever set up with the cable aligned with the direction of pull of the cable at the caliper then it would work without an outer, but because that can't work with the geometry of the bike, location of the bars etc. it's impossible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurence--Trials Posted October 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 Ahh i see what you mean i think, managed to make a bit more sense of it in my head too! Shame i wanted to be the first to think about it haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyseemonkeydo Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 Using my immense paint skillz... kinda depicts it. basically the fixed length and rigidity of the outer allows the inner to simply pass through it when you pull the lever rather than just change it's own path to 'take up the slack'. Without an outer, when you pull the lever it will just change the path it takes to get to the lever rather than apply tension to the calipers. The one on the left tries to show what I was describing above, though because of the way V brakes work without using some kind of pulley system you'd only end up pulling the farthest arm towards the lever and you'd need to be running a 'floating wheel' (rather than a floating disc) to make the brake actually work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurence--Trials Posted October 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 Ahh i understand properly now! Thanks for the diagrams they're very usfull! -and immense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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