Has anyone encountered excessive cable (rear brake) friction due to internal routing on BMC frame? I have just bought this wonderful Pro Machine frame from eBay and was checking out all the internal cabling yesterday to find out a tight spot on the brake cable route. I haven't really installed a brake to test it but just from pulling pushing the cable, I could tell it is not going to work very well. It is so tight that if I only push on one end without pulling, the cable will bend without moving a bit. Is that very common problem for all of you owners out there? I use Campy cable. Would I benefit from using a Teflon coated cable? I have also noticed that apparently, there is an internal housing to guide the route. Wonder if there is away to extract and remove it so that the cable could run more freely. Thanks in advance for your comments.

Lambo

I have a Streetfire, but have not had any problems with the routing. The cable router (the tube inserted in the route) is a little long, which may explain the reason it works. Let us know what helps. (I might switch to Campy!)

BTW, which Pro Machine was it? I had my eyes on a few...

Edit: sorry, I just looked at the frame again and found its nothing like what mine is. Sorry for the non-help in this matter!

I tried putting an old Modolo Speedy brake from my old stock and it seems to work OK. But the single pivot brakes from the 80's have super strong springs so it helps to pull the cable back with brute force. Not sure if the modern lighter brakes work. Maybe I am overly concern here but a sticky brake that locks up the wheel is the the last thing I want during a race.

Hey, Streetfire is a great bike for it's price. I only made the plunge on the Pro Machine (SLC01) since i got such a great deal on eBay that I cannot refuse!

Lambo

Yeah, I love the bike so far. What made it great is that it most places sold it for $1895 last year. This year its down to $1495.00, and I got mine for $1150.00 new.

Can't beat that!

I finally had a chance to fully build up my bike. Turn out that the friction concern is a non issue. The pair of Campy Skeleton brakes have strong enough return springs to pull the cable back. However, I've found out that if you cut your cable and pull it out from the internal route, there is no chance to push it back without fraying the wire. I had to shorten a housing after my first installation and had to pay extra bucks to buy a new cable. And that's Campy specific cable. Ouch!

You could have saved the cable by soldering the end to prevent fraying.

Thanks for the tip and I do need to get a soldering machine for future use. But I didn't disgard the frayed cable. Just cut it shorter for future front brake replacement.