You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I've recently acquired a used Scott Solace (which I'm extremely pleased with, it must be said!), but it suffers from rattling from the internally routed cables. At this point, I'm not desperate to tear the whole thing apart and re-cable it (although I probably will at some point), so I'm interested in any retrofit solutions for this that you might have.
squirty foam has been known to be used by some.
squirty foam has been known to be used by some.
I'd consider this, but my first thought was that it would solve it this time and then the next re-cable might be more challenging...
we've had cervelos in the shop with a bottle brush shoved down the down tube, customer reckoned it worked a treat. some companies use cable ties with the long bit left on which anchors the cable against the inner wall or anything else in there
Di2 cables come with a handful of bits of plastic that clip on, which look like cable ties with the long end left on. I guess the cable tie thing would work
I've used the cable tie with the tail thing and it works.
sponge door seals from Robert Dyas work too if you get on wtih an appropriate internal diameter.
Thanks all. Think I'll have to take the BB out and have a look at what's in there and then insert an appropriate bodge onto the cable. I suspect it's the rear brake hose that's rattling as it seems that the F+R mech cables are both inner only so shouldn't rattle.
I am swapping shifters and hence recabling a road bike later this week so bookmarking for interest, but when i set it up originally had a pig of a job getting cables through a naked frame and out of the ports.
Any good pro hacks for that task when you have a cable already through the frame?
My Transition rattled like a bastard. I ended up wrapping the cables in Velcro with a few uncut zip ties and it's solved the issue. It is bloody annoying though.
Any good pro hacks for that task when you have a cable already through the frame?
Leave the inner in place and then use it as a guide to run a new outer on.
for hoses - RS do hose joiner that you can use to pull a new hose through as you pull the old one out without losing much fluid but you can tape the ends together and pull through without much trouble/spillage and just rebleed after.
Take the fork out and stuff bits of pipe lagging down the top & down tubes (or wherever the cables are), weighs nowt, costs pennies.
Take the fork out and stuff bits of pipe lagging down the top & down tubes (or wherever the cables are), weighs nowt, costs pennies.
I think this is an excellent idea. And I have piles of the stuff in my garage too...
My Open frame came with a custom length foam liner for the rear brake hose. Just squirted some silicon lube into the foam liner and shoved the hydro hose through. I can't stand rattles. Works a treat. Can probably be found cheaply from somewhere like RS Electrical supplies etc.
I used a drain snake after the cables in this started rattling. Trimmed to length so it fills the downtube and sits well clear of the steerer and BB. Epoxied a loop at each end to hold it together and make it easier to pull in or out. Had to give it a haircut too before it would fit. The paracord you can see hanging down near the bottom bracket is what I used to pull it from the head tube to the BB cable port.
Downtube cable rattle gone. I've had to rerun one brake line since doing this. Used the old hose to pull the new one through with a wrap of electrical tape, didn't have to take the drain snake out.
well... that's certainly out there !
Love the bottle brush, but there's no way I could bring myself to leave it in the frame! Also, on my bike the inners run inside the downtube so I don't think I'd want other stuff in there getting in the way.
In the end, I've bought some of this which I am pretty sure I'll be able to slide on from the bb end with a bit of dismantling. I've been really surprised about how hard it is to find small gauge foam insulation like this, but this should do the job ok.
I'm using this stuff - air con pipe lagging, smallest available is 6mm bore with 6mm wall thickness....cheap enough although postage high, similar can be found on eBay etc.
My solace rattled as well. I pulled the cables taut and used electricians tape just before the grommet so that it stayed taut. Did the trick for mine.
This stuff, something similar came with my vanquish, just slide it over the outer cable and stuff it in.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F251724620014
My last few Scott MTB frames came with lengths of foam 'outer' to keep things quiet.
On my transition I use hockey tape wrapped around the cables/hose just before where I cable tie, pull tight before doing. This way if and when the ties come slightly loose they have the tape to lodge against.
Tried tape on the hose internally but they eventually come loose when they get wet and you end up having to pull it out of the bottom bracket.
Update:
Received the foam tubing I linked to above. Cut a slit along the length of it so it could be retro-fitted without disconnecting the brake hose. After a brief investigation, decided that the easiest way was to feed through the BB shell, so removed one side of the BB from the frame and fed the foam onto the brake hose, up into the downtube. Every couple of inches, I wrapped a layer of insulation tape around foam and hose so it wouldn't come off the hose further up the downtube.
Took about 30 minutes, and some slightly grazed knuckles, but it's all properly de-rattled now, so I'm happy. Would definitely recommend doing it at install time instead though!
I know this thread is getting a little old now, but I found a solution to the rattling brake cables that I've not seen or read about before.
I have a rear brake cable rattling, the outer cable passes inside the length of the top tube through a 7mm hole at both ends, not wishing to remove the outer from the top tube it didn't leave much room to effect a solution.
The answer was bubble wrap (the small bubbles type) cut into strips about 25mm wide and 400mm long and with the aid of a small screwdriver pushed into the hole at the back of the top tube. All in all I used about 20 strips and after every 3 or 4 I used a stiff wire to push the bubble wrap further down the top tube. A few bubble burst, but that didn't matter. The job took 15 minutes and it worked great. It's now quite, no rattling cable. The cost £0, I used a bit of old wrap that came with a package a couple of weeks ago. The weight, almost zero.