My brake cable was frozen today

[mrmacmusic]

My rear brake was presumably frozen this morning – went to squeeze the lever and it was stuck A bit more pressure persuaded the lever to move, and the brakes worked fine, however on releasing the lever the brakes were still applied as the inner cable was sticking in the outer, such that the outer popped out from the adjuster at the lever. A bit of lever squeezing whilst holding the outer released the inner OK and I was on my way again.

The brakes are BB5's on my Boardman Hybrid Comp, and the cable is fully enclosed from the lever to the calliper, so how do I combat the stickiness and prevent it happening again? Is releasing the cable and greasing the exposed ends likely to help at all, or is another approach going to be more effective at preventing initially freezing (assuming that's what it was) and re-freezing en-route?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I dont know your bike or brakes, but from experience with both my tourer and my old car (an Audi, my accelerator cable did the same) water is in there somewhere and has frozen. In both instances the cable and casing had to be replaced. (the one with my bike was my gear selector cable on a rohloff hub equiped off road touring bike - a temporary fix for the bike at least was to wrap water pipe insulation around the affected area - not the best looking fix and most likely not what you want to do, but did prove a point!).

 

[oliver]

I know it's not a good/permanent fix but I tried dipping the inner in antifreeze, it seemed to work, although it made shifting really slow the rest of the time.

 

[jarlrmai]

could there have been water in the cable?

 

[fossyant]

Remove inner cable and douse with GT85 or WD40 and work it back in.

I've had this happen on my MTB in cold weather - not a great deal you can do other than remove moisture. Gets more fun the colder it gets !!

If you can get away with it (missus approval), bring the bike indoors overnight (i.e. not in a cold garage or shed) so it gets chance to dry. I get to bring the bike inside during the day too. If it's outside most of the time, you will get cables freezing.

I was allowed to bring mine in last night - so long as it didn't come to bed with me (wife's words). I said it might be a bit prickly !

 

[mrmacmusic]

Thanks folks. The bike is "new" (well, nearly – it's covered 650 miles since the beginning of October), and my concern is if this has happened to one of my cables it could possibly happen to the rest, i.e. my front brake, and both shifters.... Dipping in anti-freeze sounds intriguing, but what about just using regular lube? I've got both wet and dry chain lube handy in the shed.

 

[mrmacmusic]

could there have been water in the cable?

I guess there could, but it's been dry commutes all week.

 

[mrmacmusic]

Remove inner cable and douse with GT85 or WD40 and work it back in.

I've had this happen on my MTB in cold weather - not a great deal you can do other than remove moisture. Gets more fun the colder it gets !!

If you can get away with it (missus approval), bring the bike indoors overnight (i.e. not in a cold garage or shed) so it gets chance to dry. I get to bring the bike inside during the day too. If it's outside most of the time, you will get cables freezing.

I was allowed to bring mine in last night - so long as it didn't come to bed with me (wife's words). I said it might be a bit prickly !

LOL! Cheers Fossyant

The bike lives in the shed overnight at home I'm afraid, but it does come into the office (hallway) during the day. Does storing indoors not introduce other condensation problems?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I guess there could, but it's been dry commutes all week.

but what about last week's commute? now it is cold. the water in my cables was there for months before it got cold enough for there to be an issue.

 

[jarlrmai]

you need to spay water displacing lube (GT85) in the cable ends semi regularly to keep, if your bike isn't drying fully out moisture can linger in the cables from a while back and when it freezes it expands and locks the cable.

 

[mrmacmusic]

but what about last week's commute? now it is cold. the water in my cables was there for months before it got cold enough for there to be an issue.

Good point – I got properly soaked at least twice last week, so there's every possibility that water has seeped in and hung about waiting for the cold snap to play the freezing game.

 

[fossyant]

LOL! Cheers Fossyant

The bike lives in the shed overnight at home I'm afraid, but it does come into the office (hallway) during the day. Does storing indoors not introduce other condensation problems?

It can cause condensation issues, but say you bring it in late in the evening, it will dry by morning. Going into the cold won't cause condensation, but coming in does. I wash the bike nearly every day (off road commute in cold conditions) as the bike gets covered in mud, so I let it drip off in the garage, then bring in late on.

Cables do freeze, but I find having the bike inside overnight removes that problem, and that of a frozen freehub. Think about it, if the bike is outside in sub zero temps, and has got wet at somepoint (washing or all the rain last week) then there may be some moisture which can cause a freeze over a number of days.

I've been bringing the bike in during cold snaps - tried and tested over a few years.

One occasion, got bike from garage in the morning and brought inside as I got changed, walked the bike to the main road due to ice (before I had studded tyres). by the time I'd got to the main road, the freehub had frozen and I had no drive. Wlaked home, got changed and the thing had de-frosted. Cause - moisture in freehub, bike stored in sub zero conditions, bike brought inside for short time (more condensation) taken back into cold = frozen

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

.... Wlaked home, got changed and the thing had de-frosted. Cause - moisture in freehub, bike stored in sub zero conditions, bike brought inside for short time (more condensation) taken back into cold = frozen

something like that happened with my car - most annoying because it needed a low-loader to get it to the garage being a fixed four wheel drive and on the low-loader had been sitting in the sun and the frozen accelerator cable defrosted by the time it got to the garage - mechanic rings me up says no problem and anyway never ever heard of a frozen accelerator cable in all his years as a mechanic.... Made them keep the car overnight (harsh frost due again) and sure enough they encountered the same issues the following morning. Next day I get a phone call with the "you have a frozen accelerator cable" as though I had no knowledge of it!

 

[mrmacmusic]

It can cause condensation issues, but say you bring it in late in the evening, it will dry by morning. Going into the cold won't cause condensation, but coming in does. I wash the bike nearly every day (off road commute in cold conditions) as the bike gets covered in mud, so I let it drip off in the garage, then bring in late on.

Cables do freeze, but I find having the bike inside overnight removes that problem, and that of a frozen freehub. Think about it, if the bike is outside in sub zero temps, and has got wet at somepoint (washing or all the rain last week) then there may be some moisture which can cause a freeze over a number of days.

I've been bringing the bike in during cold snaps - tried and tested over a few years.

One occasion, got bike from garage in the morning and brought inside as I got changed, walked the bike to the main road due to ice (before I had studded tyres). by the time I'd got to the main road, the freehub had frozen and I had no drive. Wlaked home, got changed and the thing had de-frosted. Cause - moisture in freehub, bike stored in sub zero conditions, bike brought inside for short time (more condensation) taken back into cold = frozen

Think I'll definitely try and persuade my wife that indoor storage through the winter months – or at least when there's a cold snap as there is at the moment – would be a good idea. Sounds like the best way to keep things from freezing up and having problems when I'm out and about

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Think I'll definitely try and persuade my wife that indoor storage through the winter months – or at least when there's a cold snap as there is at the moment – would be a good idea. Sounds like the best way to keep things from freezing up and having problems when I'm out and about

just bear in mind that that water is going to cause long term rust issues whether you deal with it or not; I found out the hard way with my bike.