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Swapped cable housing for compressionless, worth the hassle?
After 3 months of fighting brake drag on my old mountain bike, I swapped the standard housing for compressionless on the rear brake line. Took about 2 hours and I snapped one ferrule, but the stopping power feels way more direct now. I picked compressionless over going full hydraulic because I didn't want to bleed lines in my kitchen. Honestly, the difference is noticeable on long descents, less spongy at the lever. Anyone else made this swap and found the cost per meter worth it, or did you just bite the bullet and go hydraulic?
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ray_carr9d ago
I used to roll my eyes at people swapping housings, figured it was just placebo and a waste of cash. Then I did the same thing on my hardtail last summer after fighting a mushy rear brake for way too long. The lever feel changed so much that I actually had to relearn how hard to pull, which sounds dumb but it's true. Wound up doing the front too a month later because the mismatch bugged me. Cost wise it was way cheaper than a whole hydro setup, and I never had to bleed anything in my sink.
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andrewrobinson9d ago
Something nobody talks about is how much cable routing plays into this. If your housing has tight bends or goes through a bunch of frame guides, the difference between cheap and good housing gets way bigger, since the cable drags more in those spots. On a frame with clean straight runs you might not feel much change, but on a noodly setup the upgrade is night and day.
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