Yeah, I had the same thought. Try some non compression brake housing. Both of my BF have decent rear brake feel, so it’s possible.
Am I using non compression housing? I’m not sure! I can check when I’m home. Eric On Thursday, August 14, 2025, Joe Bernard <[email protected]> wrote: > I've owned several Fridays, v-brake and road caliper, they all had that > squish at the rear. There's a lot of cable housing running a circuitous > route on these frames, I think you've pretty much got whatcha got. > > Joe Bernard > Clearlake CA > > On Thursday, August 14, 2025 at 9:15:53 AM UTC-7 [email protected] > wrote: > >> Hi, all. >> >> Here's a chance to join me in over-thinking something. And a chance for >> those-who-know-stuff to help one-who-doesn't. >> >> To me, "squishy" means the braking action doesn't seem as closely linked >> to my squeeze of the lever as I feel it could be. Definitely subjective, >> definitely "I know it when I see it", and definitely "YMMV" territory. >> >> The context is a diamond-frame (i.e. heavy rider edition) Bike Friday >> 2014 New World Tourist (has canti-/v-brake posts). It's only the rear brake >> (posts on the chainstays). The brake has always worked, just not with the >> solid feel of, say, the Paul Love&Motolite combination on my Hillbornes >> front and rear, nor even of the Paul Canti&MiniMoto front on the Bike >> Friday itself. (So maybe this isn't just "over-thinking" but also >> "whining".) >> >> Squish had been substantial from the beginning and through a couple each >> of pad-changes, brake-changes and lever-changes. The changes were "lateral" >> in the sense that the new stuff wasn't purchased as generally better, just >> different. The squish did vary some over those changes, but not much. >> Finally the squish moved from "substantial" into "moderate" territory when >> I moved to Paul Canti Levers; clearly the levers accounted for some squish. >> >> So... >> >> I have thoughts below on what might be the remaining squish reasons (to >> be ignored by those who know better): >> >> Do I just accept that the brake will have squish because >> >> 1. a brake with 2ish meters of 100% housed brake cable needs >> better-than-Jagwire-Sport housing *- perhaps mitigated by better >> housing* >> 2. the chainstays are flexing *- perhaps mitigated by some kind of >> stiffener ("brake booster"?)* >> 3. the posts are flexing *- (no idea what one could do here)* >> 4. the brakes I've tried so far (nothing special, not super-cheap but >> defintely not expensive) flex(ed) too much *- perhaps mitigated by >> getting a Paul brake to work (I just assume a Paul would introduce less >> squish) or find some low-squish brake which just works as is* >> 5. something else entirely *- (?)* >> >> Can anyone rank likely causes so that I could prioritize mitigation >> efforts? And I would definitely appreciate any suggestions for any >> mitigation choices (e.g. Which "better housing"? What "low-squishy brake"?). >> >> Yours, >> Thomas Lynn Skean >> who does like himself a stiff drink... uh, brake >> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/ > msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/55b9f3ca-c160-4bf0-8395- > da017c92b3dan%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/55b9f3ca-c160-4bf0-8395-da017c92b3dan%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CAHFNW5BZo%3D%2BsNoG%2BL7RS_noFtT9fi8wmz_Dv-bbb7-g3%3DaFKBg%40mail.gmail.com.
