Non-rusting or stainless noodles?

[Amanda P]

Mrs Uncle Phil's PDQ has a very short handlebar, and this means that the brake cables, where they exit the levers, take a very tight curve on their way down the stem. This tends to make the brakes rather stiff.

We've cured this by fitting noodles at the levers - makes the cables tidier as well as much more smoothly-operating.

But the noodles we've fitted go rusty very quickly, and up on the handlebars, this is unsightly. They're right in front of her face when she's riding, and understandably, this spoils her enjoyment of the bike.

Where can we get a pair of 90-degree noodles that won't rust? Looking at other people's bikes, there are plenty of non-rusty noodles about, but every time I've bought a pair separate from the brakes, they've gone rusty.

 

[hubgearfreak]

Looking at other people's bikes, there are plenty of non-rusty noodles about.

why not go to bike rescue and buy some clearly old and dirty ones that haven't rusted, and just polish them up?

 

[Amanda P]

Great idea!

 

[Steve Austin]

Avid noodles are good.

Of course the expensive solution is nokon cables. But it will be an expensive solution

 

[02GF74]

make your own from stainless steel tubing?

 

[02GF74]

Mrs Uncle Phil's PDQ has a very short handlebar, and this means that the brake cables,

isn't that rather dangerous? you need to have a certain length so you can apply leverage?

buy a longer handlebar and no more noodles.

 

[Mr Pig]

...and understandably, this spoils her enjoyment of the bike.

Understandably?

Can't you use straight ones and longer cable?

 

[Amanda P]

isn't that rather dangerous? you need to have a certain length so you can apply leverage?

This is a recumbent bike with "praying hamster" bars (I did mention the bike was a PDQ). Leverage is no problem as the steering action is more of a tillering than a twisting.

Trust me, chaps, the handlebar design is fine, and noodles are a neat and elegant solution to the tight cable curves needed (as on many other similar recumbents). We'd just like noodles that don't rust.

Understandably?

Call her fussy, but spending a day on the bike with two rusty bits of metal right in your eyeline might grate on even the most laissez-faire of us. She likes the bike to be clean, tidy, and not visibly corroding. Not completely unreasonable, I would argue.

 

[Fiona N]

Let me have a look in the garage, Uncle Phil - I changed the V brakes on my mtb a while back and seem to remember just bundling all the bits and pieces into the 'spares' cupboard. I'm pretty sure the noodles were in good condition on the old brakes and I can't imagine I'm going to be requiring them myself (new brakes are Avid ).

 

[Amanda P]

Before:

After:

Thanks Fiona N!

(The rusty chromed stem in the background is next on the list).

 

[Landslide]

(The rusty chromed stem in the background is next on the list).

???

 

[Amanda P]

I saw that, too Landers. The chrome plating on the stem is actually peeling off, though, so I think it needs more than polishing. We'll either make a stainless steel one to replace it, or get it powder-coated black to match some of the other bits of the bike.

 

[Fiona N]

Happy to help, Uncle Phil. I'm just glad they turned up, what with all the postal disruptions and whatnot.