Kuwahara klunker

One issue I have is with the brakes. The cable from the lever goes into the straddle hanger and is tightened by a bolt, but if I pull on brake lever too hard, the cable slips up. I tried to do the routing slightly different with the included washers, but the cable can’t fit through the hole it’s supposed to go through.

Currently it’s bolt > cable > washers.

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I have those same brakes on my current touring bike, and after some reading & tinkering I think you can get better performance out of them if you tweak how the cables are set up (if possible, clearance wise). basically I reckon that higher straddle hanger = more brake pad travel & less brake pad power (because leverage), so it would be worth trying to get the hanger lower. reckon that would help with the slipping cable too, as for the same braking force you'd be putting on less force at the brake lever & therefore less force at that cable clamp you highlighted. compare the angle of your front straddle cable to this random photo I found on the internet of a rivendell - the hanger is much lower & the straddle cable presents at a different angle to the arm.

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That looks fine.

Are you using a spanner on each side (or a socket on the back can make life easier) to really horse them up?

You need to really tighten that up!

Nice tape, where can I see more of the bike?

here ya go https://www.flickr.com/photos/45758191@N04/albums/72177720300383026

@ibob Ah thanks!

I might play around with it. See if I can drop the straddle hanger down a bit, particularly on the front.

@M_V Yeah, can’t get it much tighter. But I’ll try again.

Blue Lug just posted this on Instagram. Same brakes. The straddle cable is quite low.

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Nice.

Adjusted the straddle cable height this morning and really cranked down on the bolts. Probably could’ve gone a touch lower, but the cable doesn’t seem to slip anymore.

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nice, I reckon that looks a lot better - as you say could maybe go a little bit lower still, but see how they feel when you actually use them!