making cables 101

[Rain Man]

Any one have any experience with shortening  
or making cables ends up[?]
I took 2" off a front brake cable today and made a nice braze puddle on the shortened end then formed it to fit the Magura perch.  it worked great with plenty of adjustment left, and the brakes work too, again.
    It appears the original Penton cable had either babbit or some kind of material soldered, brazed or welded to the end.
  I'm curious;     What would the best material to use would be, braze,babbit or ?? when making up cable ends.
   Danke

Raymond
 Down East Pentons

[t20sl]

I use pre-made brass ends.  They wear extremely well and then silver solder them to the wire cable.  Back in the day dealer had cable kit with many type of ends.  They are still available thru Motion Pro and wholesaler like Parts Unlimited and Tucker Rocky.

[DKWRACER]

Very , very good t20sl, and don't forget to splay open the loose strands before silver soldering, this creates a flare against the brass....
Thanks, Tom.....

[Tony Price]

OK, this is kind of spooky.

I spent a fair amount of time today searching the web for cable kits and discussing the cable kit plan with a friend.

I think I am going to try and order some kind of kit due to the growing number of on hand bikes that need new cables.  The question is who offers the best kit for the money.

I also assume one needs some kind of purpose built cutting tool to prevent fraying or bending the outer shaeth/cable tube.

So far, the only thing I have found is from Flanders and you have to piece meal your order in either 50' rolls or by the foot.

Has anyone done this before, and what ends are needed for the Sachs powered bikes?  There are a remakable amount of ends to choose from.

Tony

[Kip Kern]

In the past, I had ordered cable jacket, cable, ends through Dennis Kirk.  To cut cable, I used a Die Grinder with a 1/16" cut off wheel and it works perfect.  Silver Solder the ends and you have it!  Now, if you don't want to mess with that, I have also taken NOS cables with crummy jackets and sent them to Terry Cable to have them install new jackets on NOS cables with original hardware.  Terry Cable did an excellent job, had excellent turn around and was cheap, so now this is how I do it!  I normally send 10 cables at a time, like assemblies to make things simple for everyone;)

[Dennis D]

Kip, does Terry cable have the gray housing material? Dennis D

[TGTech]

I'd agree with Kip on using Terry Cable to do special stuff. Terry Davis (the Terry in Terry Cable) is a friend who's been in the industry for decades, and has all the stuff. I have to think, that he'll have gray sheath, but I doubt that it will be the same as the OEM stuff we used to use.

Another possibility, is Motion Pro. Chris Carter owns that outfit, and he has a soft spot for the vintage stuff, and maybe a little more tenderness for the Penton thing as well. I know that he has gray outer cover, but again, it is all for lined cables, so it is much larger in diameter than the original cables.

Back in the day, Carl Cranke showed me how to make special some special tools that we used, and I've never had any of my cables come apart, even using conventional solder. I still have the tools today and occasionally make stuff for friends, using Terry Cable supplies.

Dane

[Rain Man]

Hey guys, Does Terry cable or Motion pro have an address, phone number or website where we can contact them ?  I've heard of them and have used their products over the last (sshh) years, and know there very good cables.  
Thanks
 


Raymond
 Down East Pentons

[peter kane]

Hi Raymond,

Terry Cable: http://www.terrycable.com/

Motion Pro:  http://www.motionpro.com/

Peter Kane
V3442
[email protected]

[Rain Man]

oooh way cool, thanks Peter, I just added them to my favorites

Raymond
 Down East Pentons

[hrbay]

Man I got lost in the m/p site ... tool junkie nirvana.

GC

[TGTech]

Chris Carter, the guy who owns Motion Pro, is an off roader, so he has some idea of that motorcyclists need in the way of neat tools.

Dane

[wildman]

I buy my cable making supplies from my local bicycle shop. They have bulk grey or black outer housing, even teflon lined, for .50cents/ft. The inner cables are sold seperately in different lengths and gages. They generally come with a different type end on either end, one just like a throttle cable end. They sell the farrells for the outer ends. I use setscrew type ends for the other end. I would like to locate some solder type ends, I'll looks at Motion or Terrycable too. BTW, I just cut off the outer housing with sidecutters, then grind the end flat making sure theres no burr on the end. Wildman

1975 250 Cross Country, 1974 175 Jackpiner, 1975 125

[G Ellis]

I have found a source for bulk cable casings and ends.At my local motorcycle shop, that works on all types of bikes. The casings come in a 100 ft roll, solder type. They also have all types of ends that are solder type. Casings are black, I will know the price Friday. If any body is interested email me at [email protected] Thanks Gary