Thanks for the confirmation on similar experience, JJ. Again, I love the brakes, except for the yokes. My feeling on it is that even if I'm doing something "wrong," if the part is that fiddly and prone to error, then I really don't want to mess with it. Something is wrong at another level and I don't want to be trusting my life to spot-on-perfect adjustments.
For me, too, the Dia Compe style roller yokes work absolutely fine, and even look okay. But even with those, I have a bit of a suspicion about yokes where the cable passes through a hole. I feel a lot better about something like a Paul Moon Unit, where the cable is clamped between a groove and washer. "That's not going ANYwhere," as they say. All this said: obviously people are using the brakes successfully, otherwise we'd have heard of catastrophic failures left and right, and the brakes would be off the market. Right? On Wednesday, September 4, 2024 at 11:32:06 AM UTC-7 J J wrote: > Hi... the same thing happened to me with those Rene Herse yokes on my most > recent build > <https://www.rivbike.com/blogs/customer-bikes/jimmys-hunqapillar>. > (Rivendell did the build for me.) The cable popped out of the front brake > yoke after a couple of super short rides. I tried to put it back together a > few times, following RH directions carefully. And yes, I threaded through > the small hole in the bolt, too. The cable kept popping out no matter how > much or little I torqued the bolt. It's either defective or plain awful > design and manufacturing. > > Since I value safety tremendously I could not continue to risk front brake > failure. I installed some old Dia-Compe yokes instead and they have been > flawless. > > Jim > > On Wednesday, September 4, 2024 at 1:31:17 PM UTC-4 [email protected] > wrote: > >> Hi Michael — I haven't used these yokes before but given your experience >> setting up bikes and your careful descriptions here I'm guessing you're >> just overlooking something. Are the bolts stacked properly inside the yoke? >> Could be a faulty bit of manufacturing? Is there a piece of trash lodged in >> there you haven't seen? Are you threading the cable through the small hole >> in the bolt itself? I'd assume you are and see you address "the hole" >> above. But is that the hole in the yoke *and *the bolt? Or just the >> yoke? Just had to ask as we're troubleshooting. Image below for reference >> >> [image: Screenshot 2024-09-04 at 1.27.01 PM.png] >> >> On Wednesday, September 4, 2024 at 1:12:31 PM UTC-4 Michael Doleman wrote: >> >>> To confirm: yes, absolutely positively passing the cable all the way >>> through so that it protrudes out the other side by the correct amount. I >>> start with the cable all the way through the hole and much longer than >>> needed. I then move the yoke as described in the instructions, cut the >>> cable, and re-attach in the correct position. >>> >>> On Wednesday, September 4, 2024 at 10:01:06 AM UTC-7 lconley wrote: >>> >>>> Are you passing the cable all of the way through the tightening bolt >>>> and fitting so that it grips at both ends of the hole in the tightening >>>> bolt? I also silver solder the ends of my cables. Lots of cut fit repeat >>>> to get the cable length correct. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Laing Conley >>>> Delray Beach FL >>>> >>>> On Wed, Sep 4, 2024 at 11:37 AM Michael Doleman <[email protected]> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> I'm posting this here because I am indeed a Rivendell owner, albeit >>>>> this topic in particular isn't specific to Rivendell, and only "of >>>>> interest" to this particular crowd :-) >>>>> >>>>> I have Rene Herse brakes -- a couple sets of the cantilever style, and >>>>> a set of the center-pulls that I'm about to set-up on a frame I've had >>>>> custom built with direct-mount studs. One set of the cantilevers I'll >>>>> set-up on a Sam Hillborne. >>>>> >>>>> For the life of me I cannot seem to get the little pulley-style >>>>> straddles to properly anchor the cable. I'm hoping someone else has had >>>>> experience with these and can provide some insight into what I might be >>>>> doing wrong. >>>>> >>>>> I first tried the brakes a while back on a test set-up, and here's >>>>> what I experienced: >>>>> >>>>> I tightened the nut which is supposed to anchor the cable to the yoke, >>>>> and gave the brake lever a solid tug -- all seemed to be fine. But after >>>>> a >>>>> few pulls it felt like it was starting to give a bit. And, indeed, with >>>>> one >>>>> more good, hard pull, I was able to completely yank the cable right out >>>>> of >>>>> the yoke -- with surprising ease, actually. I repeated the same process >>>>> with a different cable, with the other brake on the same bike, and got >>>>> pretty-much the same result. >>>>> >>>>> Having had my interest engaged, I decided to do a little "test bed" >>>>> experiment, by making a little wooden jig (of sorts) to lightly hold the >>>>> yoke in a small vice. I did that, with the cable secured very lightly. I >>>>> wanted to see what level of bolt torque was required to hold the cable. >>>>> At >>>>> very light tension (talking maybe 3 Nm), I could not for the life of me >>>>> pull that cable out. It was absolutely rock solid. >>>>> >>>>> So, I'm wondering, now: does the failure occur because I've actually >>>>> OVER tightened the anchor bolt on the yoke? Is over-tightening it somehow >>>>> misshaping the hole through which the cable passes, and therefore it's >>>>> losing its ability to hold? Is there that much more mechanical advantage >>>>> over the cable, with the lever? And, if so, are the brakes even safe to >>>>> use? Am I supposed to set them up such that the lever bottoms-out prior >>>>> to >>>>> the point at which it's possible to pull the cable free? >>>>> >>>>> I ask these questions because after my test-bed experimentation, I did >>>>> another bike mount-up and got the same result -- was very easily able to >>>>> pull the cable free of the yoke after applying the same tension on the >>>>> bolt >>>>> as I had on the one I'd held in the vice. Thought I was losing my mind. >>>>> >>>>> Near as I can tell, there's no specific torque indicated for the >>>>> straddle yoke nut. The instructions provided, in fact, are very basic and >>>>> give no indication that there are any "gotchas" to look out for. >>>>> >>>>> The brakes themselves are, in fact, amazing. I love them. I have a set >>>>> of the cantilevers set-up on another bike, albeit with Dia Compe straddle >>>>> yokes. Works great, stopping power is amazing. But I'd like to be able to >>>>> use the yokes supplied. Seems odd to me that they are seemingly this >>>>> touchy. I feel like I must be doing something wrong. >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>> Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/3d6cf075-c063-4746-a6d1-4b2309ddc0den%40googlegroups.com >>>>> >>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/3d6cf075-c063-4746-a6d1-4b2309ddc0den%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>>> . >>>>> >>>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/159b2551-8a41-4e15-aaee-acaa865c89e9n%40googlegroups.com.
