Dia Compe dual brake lever

[Tangoman]

Hi all,

I have a Dia Compe dual brake lever (aero style) on my tandem handlebars - one of which pulls two cables operating the font and rear rim brakes.

My question is this: inside the brake lever housing there is nothing to 'stop' the brake cable outers as they enter the rear of the housing. I would expect there to be some kind of double ferrule for the two cable outers to locate into and bear against when the brake lever is activated. The present arrangement is that the two cable outers are simply bound together with tape and generally bear against the narrowing inner walls of the brake lever housing when the lever is pulled.

This seems unsatisfactory - am I missing some kind of removable double cable stop/ferrule that fits into the rear of the brake body??

Thanks in advance.

Andy.

[Brucey]

I've not used the exact levers in question but the tape/jamming arrangement sounds well dodgy to me. I suspect you are correct and that there is a ferrule missing.

BTW I'm sure you will get a better response to this thread if you include the magic word 'tandem' in the title; it will attract all the (strange...? (*)) folk nicely...

(*) in which group I include myself I expect...

cheers

[jimcrosskell]

I may be wrong and often am.......
I wasn't aware that these were offered in anything other than "top entry" with the cable outer seating in the brake lever body by means of a loose fitting gizmo, somewhat wobbly but kept in place by a combination of tension on the inner wire and the brake hood. the gizmo had a tendancy to crack and disintergrate over time.
The lots of tape leading into the back/bottom of the lever will probably work as the amount of pull you get is rather pathetic by today's standard but hardly ideal. Dia Compe 287's gve a lot of pull for an "aero" cantelever set up or you could try travel agents or the elusive magura hydraulic drop bar option. Alternatively aquire a loud bell or horn and stop less!
Backwinds forever........

[Tangoman]

Thankyou gentlemen for your replies.

I will try my luck on the Tandem Club forum.

Andy.

[breakwellmz]

Just a thought,but how about using a drive chain side plate to act as a pair of outer cable stops?Or even a flat plate with two holes drilled in it for the inners.

Saying that,i`m not familiar with this particular lever.

[LollyKat]

I have these levers on one of my bikes - SJS were out of the solo version and sent me the tandem dual one instead. When I came to fit them to replace my old 'sprouting cable' ones I had the same problem. It was my husband who suggested that there should be a stop/ferrule and that if I hunted in the cupboard of bike bits I might find it. Sure enough, it had fallen out of the original packet and was lurking in a corner. Once I installed it the brake worked fine (with just one cable, of course).

IIRC it is just a strip of thickish aluminium with two holes for the cable end, shaped to fit into a recess in the square block in the image, on the opposite side of the face you see here.



It's only held in place by the pressure of the cables so can easily fall out of a packet. How long have you had your brake lever? It sounds as if either you have lost the bit like I nearly did, or that it was missing in the first place.

AFAIK most tandemists didn't like them, and use better solutions. However without the missing bit you can't use the lever at all.

[Tangoman]

Thankyou all for your helpful replies - much appreciated.

Lollykat you are spot on! I bought a replacement pair of levers and the missing aluminium cable stop was there exactly as you described. Many thanks and no more 'I hope my brakes are working today' for me!

Here are pics of the missing piece - on its own and fitted into the RH lever body.

Thanks again,

Andy.