How To Replace Your Brake Cables | GCN Tech Monday Maintenance

If your bike has rim brakes, there's no better feeling than a fresh set of brake cables. It's a relatively straightforward job to do yourself so, in this video, Alex shows you how to quickly and simply replace your brake cables to make your braking feel like new!

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Have you ever replaced your own brake cables? Let us know in the comments below!

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Music - licensed by Epidemic Sound:
Hot N' Sweet (Instrumental Version) - Park Lane
Too Much of a Good Thing (Instrumental Version) - Jesse Lawrence
Wrong Girl (Instrumental Version) - Cleo Kelley

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[gcntech]

Have you ever replaced your own brake cables? Let us know in the comments below!

[wanjakoenigsmann]

Integrated cable routing design might look hot, but after watching this video I am pretty sure that the aero time gains will never make up for headaches with fiddling everything back together.

[frazergoodwin]

2 seconds after Olie gets back on his bike: " *loud Yorkshire expletives* .... who's messed up my bar tape?!?"

[muhtah]

Quick-Tipp on internal routed cables: Tape the end of the old and the new one housing together. That way it is much easier to route.

[jamiecrawford]

Great first video for Alex, he has a really nice way of presenting! Big fan already

[Hardi]

Did Oliver cry, when discovered that someone had rewrapped his handlebar correctly?

[tofadeisastart]

Taping the bars to the frame is a good idea. I like that

[thomasblak]

To my eyes, the housing needed to be replaced. You could see it at the stem where it was breaking apart. If you go though all that trouble to replace cables, spend the extra dollars, pounds or rubles and do it correctly.

[stevegeek]

I just replaced rear brake cable but didn’t remove the handlebar tape. It was quite easy to feed the new cable through the outer sheath. I did replace the outer sheath near to the brake, since this was where the cable was sticking. Now feels good as new and a lot quicker than if I had removed the bar tape.

[UKBROOKLYN]

Olly is not wrapping the tape the wrong way. he is showing respect for tradition and avoiding sticky electrical take goop on hot days..

[playandteach]

4:22 cutting the outer. I found that using an old bit of inner cable inside the cut point stopped the outer deforming so much. I've made the mistake of fitting new everything only to have that cut point still grind on the new inner - definitely worth the time to file flat and open up the cut point. I also couldn't work out why you used pliers to take of the end caps rather than just cutting them off, but the reuse of the cable is obviously the reason. Any way - only disc brakes now.

[kevvjj]

So, for a bit of style over substance you need to remove the handlebars and remove the forks JUST to replace a brake cable????

[db]

😂 classic "Ollie did his own thing..."🤣, We have a lot in common

[JMcLeodKC]

Note to self: When a pro mechanic says "you've wrapped your bar tape the wrong way", listen to him or her

[Wildschwein_Jaeger]

That rear brake cable housing looks kinda bad. Should have replaced it since you did most of the work anyway.

[guidospanoghe]

If you let an inner cable in place when removing the housing it's much easier to slide the new housing in. Then remove the old cable and slide the new one in place with a thin layer of fine lube on it.
When cutting housing/outer cable be sure to remove excess plastic and file the metal flat otherwise you'll experience some play every time you pull the brakes.

[TheIhthisvideo]

Alex is great! Looking forward to more from him

[Outsideville]

Bonus tip: Before you rewrap the bars, make sure the handlebars rotate properly.

[lonzomer]

I would attach a small string to the old cable when you pull it out, you can use that string to guide the new cable in. Ever tried guiding a cable around a bend or find a hole?

[zacbenjamin]

#askGCNtech is there such thing as hydrolich rim brakes and if not why