I finally noticed why shop bikes always feel smoother than my own builds

Went to a Trek dealer in Portland last week just to browse and grabbed a handlebar of a floor model. The cables were routed with these little foam donuts inside the housing where they rubbed the frame. I always just ran them straight through and never thought about the vibration damping. My last build had a weird buzz in the hoods at around 18 mph that I could never find. Anyone else put little inserts like that in their cable runs?

2 comments

2 Comments

rileyp499d ago

Wrap a bit of old tube around the rub points before you run the cable...

alicecooper9d ago

Oh nah, I get what you're going for but old tube can get brittle over time and crack. Better to use some split loom or even just electrical tape, lasts way longer and doesn't slip off as easy.