Customer's brake cable snapped mid-test ride, ended up a whole thing

Last Tuesday I had a guy bring in a commuter for a quick tune-up, nothing fancy. I gave it the usual once over, adjusted the rear brake, and took it for a test spin around the block. About 200 feet down the road, that cable snapped with a POP that echoed off the buildings, and the brake lever went completely dead in my hand. I coasted to a stop, walked the bike back, and the customer was standing there watching me the whole time through the shop window. He just laughed and said 'good thing you were on it, not me,' which honestly made the whole thing less awkward. Turns out the cable housing was corroded from the inside, looked perfect on the outside. I swapped in a new cable, added a dab of grease to the ferrule, and gave him a 20% discount for the scare. Anyone else had a hidden corrosion issue that only showed up under load?

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1 Comment

jade7389d ago

Did you always check inside the cable housing before? I used to think clean outer cables were good enough, but after a similar snap on a buddy's bike I started pulling the inner wire fully out on every tune-up. Cheap insurance compared to eating pavement mid-ride.