Getting your mechanical brakes to feel like hydraulic brakes: Update

I’ve talked about this subject quite often for the sole purpose of trying to save a buck. My mechanical Avid BB5s have been great to me and I really don’t see the need to upgrade to hydraulic brakes. For one its too expensive and secondly I’m just poor and frustrated so that means I have to find ways to make what I have work and last. To give you some history on this, it all started because a few guys that I worked with at a LBS told me that you can run 4mm derailleur housing with your brake cables. This process is supposed to give you compression-less braking in which would feel more like you’re using hydraulic brakes.

So with that all said I started my experiment with installing some 4mm der. housing for my rear brake and left the 5mm brake housing for the front. On my first ride out with the new 4mm set up, I was quickly impressed with the modulation that my rear brake provided. Braking was quicker and snappier. To help you understand this…if you’ve ever tried hydraulic brakes…well think back to the first time you tried them. Remember how you first pulled the lever when you were riding the bike. Remember how quick the wheel(s) locked? Well think of that when I’m describing how the 4mm der housing felt when I first pulled the levers. I was actually shocked on how well it worked!

Fast forwarding, Nokon Cables have provided me a set of their wold famous compression-less housing and cables. Gore also provided me some cables as well, but that’s going to be tested later. For now I’ve installed the front brake with the Nokon Cables and left the 4mm der housing in the rear.

Right now the front brakes feel pretty decent, but later this week I’ll testing out this set up on my favorite rock garden, Rock-it in Aliso Woods.

Before you go out and replace your 5mm brake housing with 4mm der housing…you may want to wait a while, just for liability reasons. One of the warnings that my old coworkers as well as Steve Richey of Nokon said was that 4mm der can explode or fail while under braking pressure. So for now, let me take one for the team…cuz’ that’s the kind of guy I am.

I’ll be reporting back soon with some more information to see how this all works for me. Keep checking the site!