baggy brake?

Recently i developed a a slack feeling in my brake cable.
pull is fine and stopping power is fine, but when the lever is released the lever doesnt return to starting positions completely and needs a little help to get all the way back.
i think this may have contributed to an incident in which the brake cable snapped and despite skidding i got wiped out by a left turner not looking where he was going.
After the accident i totally replaced cable and housing. But the baggy feeling is return and i am totally loosing my confidence as a result as not wanting the cable to snap again!
any ideas why this could happen?
cheers!

my really old mountain bike does this. usually as the cable isnt running smoothly in the casing. i just put a drop of oil down the cable casing to lube it up a bit. maybe its not running smoothly at the caliper either?

Also a drop of lube on the pivot of the calliper...
Keep it well away from your pads too.

Also a drop of lube on the pivot of the calliper

+1

Grease works far better than oil on the cable. Take the inner cable right out of the outer cable and rub it on. Make sure the strands of the inner are twisted tight at the end when you go to put it back in

Also check that enough cable is pulled through the clamp on the caliper so that the pads are near the rim and that it is done up tight. It might be that the cable has slipped through.

What caliper, lever, brake outer, inner, pads, and rim are we talking about here?

Most likely something with the brake,probably the pivot on the caliper. It could also be the spring. When you press the brake, a rubber sleeve slides along the spring. I've had occasions where the spring wasn't smooth enough and the rubber sleeve kept lagging over bent/rusted springs.

When you bought the cable, did you use the old cable ends? Would be unlikely, but maybe you've installed gear cable ends with a slightly smaller hole. While this may work some while, they pop out of alignment and the brake has trouble returning to its original position.

I'd say caliper though as you had the problem with an older cable as well. Good luck!

It could be the caliper but it's most likely the cable having too much friction. As mentioned at the top of the thread, a bit of light oil in the outer should free it up nicely.

cheers for the advice!
looks like it was the calliper pivot a little lubrication has done the trick nicely.
for the record its a 105 caliper on open pros and eveything else is generic.
thanks again.

cable housing most likely as OZ. says.

Loosen the bolt on the caliper and just run that inner back wards and forwards with your fingers, it should take a very small amount of force. try squeezing the outer at different places to see if the movement lessens or increases the friction on the inner.
If a new inner/outer/routing hasn't helped (do every 12months no matter what anyway) then service the caliper & lever.
Run modern cables dry, adding grease or oil is only going to attract dirt and quicken the decline of your cables. They often come protected with a thin layer of grease, remember to remove that with degrease r before inserting into outer housing.