Curious if anyone ever tried upgrading the standard coiled steel brake line housings on their moped to linear/compressionless ones? I upgraded the mechanical rim brakes on my bicycle with JagWire housings and it made a BIG improvement.
Thinking of trying this on my moped but I'm only seeing it offered in 1.5mm ID
https://shop.odysseybmx.com/collections/odyssey-brake-cables/products/sls-linear-slic-kable
https://jagwire.com/guides/housing (edited)
i've used it in the past, its a pain in the ass to work with, make sure you use the special ferrule or it wont work.
i've used it for throttle and starter cables, being that its too small for brakes.
I put jagwire housing on my bicycle so I'm familiar with the more involved install. Imo getting rid of that spongey feel in the brake was worth it though.
Part of me wants to try that 1.5mm odyssey cable even though in the moped world it would be considered "throttle cable" sized. I find it hard to believe it is that much weaker than a cheapo 2mm line from treats. I also don't think my hand could pull that lever hard enough to snap the cable. You get the same amount of leverage on a bicycle lever. I'd prob crack one of the cast drum brake shoes first, or pull the knarp out.
The other part of me says yeah but if it does snap, you're screwed.
Hmmm, someone has to have tried walmart pedal bike brake cables on their tomos before?!
I feel like a higher quality brake would provide a more responsive brake feel, moped levers are mostly junk, but if you've ever upgraded a bicycle with nicer than stock levers theres an instant difference. The nice ones have a cantilever mechanism which keeps the cable in a straight line as its pulled reducing drag on metal or brake housing.
I don't know whats available nowadays for an upgraded lever, but its just a thought
You are deff right bc I tried like 10 different levers before i finally found settled on the ones on my maxi. I think they are Lusito but not sure. Nice metal ones that don't have loose tolerances or any play in them. I only tried stuff from treats and other mopeds though, maybe i need to look into ones meant for bicycles too.
I noticed the same thing with the actuator arm on the brake plate. The cheap ones on treatland suckkk. They are sloppy and you can feel them flex when u really squeeze the brake. Went back to OEM brake plate and arm, felt way better.
Even the "honda" clone brake levers from amazon leave a lot to be desired, I have em on my spx and they're only O K A Y
I’m running odyssey slic cables on my ciao the cables are the same dia as the stock ones I removed from the bike.
I should have just asked you first haha I always forget you ride BMX!! Did you notice any improvement with the slics?
> - Joe - Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
> I’m running odyssey slic cables on my ciao the cables are the same dia
> as the stock ones I removed from the bike.
I’m just using the standard slic cables(not the linear ones), but they are way smoother feeling than any of the moped cables I’ve used. The brakes feel good on the ciao but I’m using the massive kinetic front brake hub and the wider kinetic pad in the rear.
Gotcha. Well I guess if the regular slics work and haven't snapped on you, the linear ones will be just fine. Probably uses the same inner cable. For $10 bucks it's worth a try.
Vespas/kinetics had awesome brakes right out the gate. I remember riding my buddies kinetic magnum and realizing I could lock up the rear with one finger on the lever. That's the goal with my puch. Idk if I will ever achieve that with an 80mm drum but I feel like i'm pretty darn close. Linear cables might get me there.
It's great, it absolutely improves response. anyone can go pull their brake lever and literally watch the cable housing flex. It's not gonna break the cable, it might pull cable outta knarps if you're not tight enough. One thing though, do NOT use derailleur linear cable housing. only use shit made for brake cables. and obviously need the right ferrules on the ends or the reinforcement wires all just splay out and it's useless.
But yeah, the derailleur stuff (even w proper ferrules) will split if you put alotta force on it. the stuff made for brakes is much stronger reinforced. the cable housing if you use the derailleur stuff can just split open... like picture if you tried to bend a banana in half. It's also kinda more of a pain to work with, you need legit cutters and it doesn't wanna bend as sharp to snake around behind the headlight whatever, but that isn't really a big deal unless you got dumb loops.
the levers comment is totally fair too, plastic levers bend more than the cable housing so that's def a 1st piece to replace, and the cantilevered and longer ones are obviously gonna give you more pull in shorter range. Bike levers usually are shorter than moped which are shorter than motorcycle, and the length is duh proportional to how much lever you've got on there and the cable diameters scale accordingly too. heavier bike longer brake levers bigger brakes thicker cable. I suppose you could got the other way, go full moto and hulking overkill instead of getting smaller high performance bicycle stuff
sometimes the more gradual pull is preferred though, as long as you've got fully taught at the end, it's just a matter of responsiveness.
slic is the brand that sells a 2mm cable?
i bought out a scooter shop years ago and saved like 20 kymco factory brake cables, they are like 2.5mm and make a huge difference over stock moped, in fact late model A55's went to that bigger scooter size too, its a huge improvement, sometimes you gotta drill out the backing plate or whatever mount point to make it fit good
i'd love to find a higher-end version of the 2.0 mm stock maxi stuff, i'm not going to go down a size to fit MTB 1.0 or 1.5 whatever
Have you tried riding like a BMX kid and just running no brakes?
yeah definitely but you wear out your brake shoes quickly.
I tried the 2.5mm one on treatland before and wasn't too impressed. Seemed like there was a lot more drag with it. I routed it with as little bends as possible but still needed to add a 2nd return spring on the brake plate to get it to fully retract. That made pulling the lever harder. I went back to the 2mm because I really saw no benefit from the larger one, the added resistance just made it harder to feel the brakes engagement point. Maybe I should look at higher quality ones though with better lining ?? I dont think the treats one was anything fancy
I guess my rear brake requirements are a little more demanding though since I spend a lot of time on the back wheel. Rear brake is what keeps you from falling back. I need to be able to work that rear brake with just 1 or 2 fingers while keeping the other 2 + thumb wrapped around the bar. So my brake has to pull lightly, smoothly, and fully engage before the lever bottoms out on the top of my fingers. The best solution is get a custom made rear hub for my grimeca 5 star rim with a brake rotor so I can go hydraulic. For now though, I am just trying to squueeeeze the most performance out of my mechanical drum brakes. (pun intended) (edited)
I use jagwire titanium braided brake cables on my drums. They're not totally compression-less, but 100 times better than stock. You can find them on eBay for about $20 without the packaging, and it's enough for at least one bike.
And you can use the derailleur cables for your throttle so it all matches and looks cool.
I groove my brake shoes, sand the inner drum surface, and drilled vent holes, and I can lock them both up, if I wanted to.
Scooter cables and scooter brake handles/throttle are the way to go.
Modern levers and throttles just perform so much better. Makes riding a joy
Where did you drill the vent holes?
> baird co Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
> I groove my brake shoes, sand the inner drum surface, and drilled vent
> holes, and I can lock them both up, if I wanted to.
Get a lil shorty 2 finger lever! If you are adopting bmx bits, they're pretty rad
> baird co Wrote:
>
evil on zeda beach cruiser, lol
"When Black Friday comes
I stand down by the door
And catch the grey men when they
Dive from the fourteenth floor…"
Drilled little holes in the brake plate itself. I'll take a pic when I can.
I'm also using Dia-compe tech 77 bmx levers.
The bike isn't technically a moped. It's a custom 24" bmx race bike with a minarelli V1 I built for motorized bicycle races in kart tracks, but I've done the same mods on mopeds.
Welp I gave the 1.5mm cable + Jagwire housing a try on my Maxi. Good news is; it didn't snap. You're deff safe to use a bicycle brake line in a pinch if you need a replacement for a 2mm one.
However, it didn't give me the noticeable performance increase i was looking for. I was hoping for a more solid feel in engagement point with less squish in the lever pull. While the lever is easier to pull, the feel of engagement is a lot worse compared to the 2mm normal cable. They almost seem spongier to me, like the cable is stretching. I'm a little surprised since the linear compressionless housings i put on my bicycle made a drastic improvement.
Soooooooo im taking Graham / Jbots advice and giving the 2.5mm scooty cable another try. I'll use a secondary return spring to help keep the thicker cable from hanging up and making the brake drag. Also got 7" Lusito levers to replace my 5" ones. Might have to cut them down a bit to keep it from sticking out past my bar, but I should still gain some mechanical advantage.
ps if anyone knows Mike Thomas personally, tell him there is a guy in PA willing to pay $$$ for a REAR version of his 5 star disc brake hub (edited)
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