I am trying to move away from only panniers and bought an affordable handlebar harness to test out if I like it or not.
I attached it, but as my brake and shifter cables are external, I am now worried if the bag will change my braking/shifting behaviour due to moving the cables out of their natural spot and putting pressure on them.
Can someone check my pictures of give me so general advice on this topic? I would be highly appreciated. 🙂
by serums
12 Comments
I don’t see any issues, I run a similar setup regularly and have for years with no problem. Cable housing is doing its job.
I think that looks totally fine. Pressure on cables is not an issue per se, more kinks or tight bends. Just keep an eye on wear to the outside of the cable housings. Maybe a single wrap of electrical tape if you see any wear after some test riding.
I have similar issues with my set up but put cables over rather than under the straps. This minimised the rubbing for me. I was more worried about rubbing paint & cables & bags but also helped shifting.
Been riding with my cables this way for years, no issues. Just be careful about pressing them against anything painted without protecting the paint with helicopter tape. You’d be amazed how quickly a smooth cable housing can turn in to sand paper with some dirt build up. As said before, the only thing cables really care about are tight bends or kinks in the line. As long as bends are smooth, they’ll be fine.
Can you still use the flats?
It looks pretty good, but there’s only one way to tell for sure. Go ride it and report back. See if the shifting gets muddier, if you lose any gears, if your brakes start rubbing, if you can still rotate the handlebars, etc.
Shouldn’t be a problem, there’s no kinks or sharp bends, so you should be good to ride. One of my rigs was set up very similar and I never had a problem with it for the 2-3 years I rode it that way.
Lots of good tips here. I run my straps beneath cables (My cables exit the bar tape at the bottom). You can remove some bar tape from each side of your stem, to give more room for the strap. Expose more bar.
I still have nightmares from seeing worn and exploded SIS housing from back in the day. The plastic wears enough that the wires blow out through the weak point.
w sigma computer. those things are tanks man, so good and reliable
the only thing i recommend if you didn t, put the measurments by measuring the tire manually.
me one first i just looked at my tires specs and put the cod specific to that, but there are many different type of rims which will fuck up and not result in accurate masurments, i know this bcs i used strava also besides the computer. the computers was for example showing i did 92 kms and strava 95. i did the method B on bottom left corner and now the measurements are 100% exact, what i get on strava i get exactly on the computer too.
https://preview.redd.it/11c9bs0mdl3d1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e4f1feb31bc034c871dcb20492328813ede1559
here s the instructions.
It should be fine. The cables are pretty rugged and won’t get damaged from soft straps like this. You’d want to avoid putting kinks in them, bending them at sharp angles, or pinching them. For example, I once put some tri-bars on my bike and accidentally caught one of the cables in the handlebar clamp as I was tightening it down, which caused the shifter cable to get stuck and not operate.
If you’re worried about aesthetic damage to the paint or peeling up the edge of your handlebar wrap, you can wrap a little electrical tape around wherever the straps contact the bike. As you ride, the straps will vibrate and rub against your frame causing dull spots in the paint. Sometimes you even get sand or dirt caught between the straps and frame causing more rubbing damage.
Yes they are
Any place, and i mean any, where that bag and it’s straps touch your frame, the paint will be gone or matte after a proper trip.
put tape everywhere, unless you don’t mind. (also the black from your handlebar)