Six feet of housing will certainly flex, if it’s generic spiral wound housing. If I had to fix the feel, I’d start with Jagwire housing or (other brands I can’t remember; there are several, I think) and top-quality cables.
Problem solvers makes clamp-on housing stops; perhaps cut out 3’ of your housing by using a couple of these? I’ve had enough experience with brake boosters to know that they can indeed make a cantilever feel more “solid.” Paul cantilever *brakes* certainly do feel more “solid” than the Tektro *brakes* they replaced, using the same brake levers for both brakesets. IME, some brake pads feel softer than others. Perhaps thinline pads? Lastly, V brakes …? On Thu, Aug 14, 2025 at 10:15 AM '[email protected]' via RBW Owners Bunch <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, all. > > Here's a chance to join me in over-thinking something. And a chance for > those-who-know-stuff to help one-who-doesn't. > > To me, "squishy" means the braking action doesn't seem as closely linked > to my squeeze of the lever as I feel it could be. Definitely subjective, > definitely "I know it when I see it", and definitely "YMMV" territory. > > The context is a diamond-frame (i.e. heavy rider edition) Bike Friday 2014 > New World Tourist (has canti-/v-brake posts). It's only the rear brake > (posts on the chainstays). The brake has always worked, just not with the > solid feel of, say, the Paul Love&Motolite combination on my Hillbornes > front and rear, nor even of the Paul Canti&MiniMoto front on the Bike > Friday itself. (So maybe this isn't just "over-thinking" but also > "whining".) > > Squish had been substantial from the beginning and through a couple each > of pad-changes, brake-changes and lever-changes. The changes were "lateral" > in the sense that the new stuff wasn't purchased as generally better, just > different. The squish did vary some over those changes, but not much. > Finally the squish moved from "substantial" into "moderate" territory when > I moved to Paul Canti Levers; clearly the levers accounted for some squish. > > So... > > I have thoughts below on what might be the remaining squish reasons (to be > ignored by those who know better): > > Do I just accept that the brake will have squish because > > 1. a brake with 2ish meters of 100% housed brake cable needs > better-than-Jagwire-Sport housing *- perhaps mitigated by better > housing* > 2. the chainstays are flexing *- perhaps mitigated by some kind of > stiffener ("brake booster"?)* > 3. the posts are flexing *- (no idea what one could do here)* > 4. the brakes I've tried so far (nothing special, not super-cheap but > defintely not expensive) flex(ed) too much *- perhaps mitigated by > getting a Paul brake to work (I just assume a Paul would introduce less > squish) or find some low-squish brake which just works as is* > 5. something else entirely *- (?)* > > Can anyone rank likely causes so that I could prioritize mitigation > efforts? And I would definitely appreciate any suggestions for any > mitigation choices (e.g. Which "better housing"? What "low-squishy brake"?). > > Yours, > Thomas Lynn Skean > who does like himself a stiff drink... uh, brake > > -- > 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 visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/3a0cb456-1cd5-480c-a8d2-2840fdf79215n%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/3a0cb456-1cd5-480c-a8d2-2840fdf79215n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *When thou didst not, savage, k**now thine own meaning,* *But wouldst gabble like a** thing most brutish,* *I endowed thy purposes w**ith words that made them known.* -- 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 visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgs1foaX4zgzwpcCd%2BU-OZBAZvVo5Gckw-KpkHU2Z7Kh-g%40mail.gmail.com.
