brake noodles for clutch and throttle clearance problems.

GoldenMotor.com

bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
6,537
264
63
living the dream in southern california
i've given this idea to so many people, i figure it deserves it's own thread.

there's a cheap device known as a "brake noodle" that you can buy at any bike shop, for about 5 bucks or less.

it's basically a 90 degree, teflon lined tube that your cable goes into.

they're flexible enough to bend them a little, too.

for the clutch, i took the big bolt that screws into the block out, removed the adjuster, and drilled into the threads just enough for the noodle to push in (about half way.) if you want to go back to the normal cable routing, there's enough threads left to put the adjuster back in.

now you can run your cable straight down into it from the top tube of your frame, and have your throttle and clutch cables ziptied together all pretty.

it works really well, nice and smooth, and looks better, too.

for the throttle, if you have a clearance issue where your cable can't go straight into it because of your frame, you could use a noodle on that, too. you'd have to cut off and solder a new tip on your throttle cable, but that's pretty easy. Norman's got a video how-to, but i can't find it.

there ya go. easy peasy, cheap chinese-y (i love saying that...)
 

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Venice Motor Bikes

Custom Builder / Dealer/Los Angeles
Mar 20, 2008
7,333
1,967
113
Los Angeles, CA.
I did that trick on the 1950 schwinn, it looks a lot better but it made it a little harder to pull.
I was gonna do it to my GFs bike too, but her clutch lever is real hard for her to pull ,so I left it stock...
 

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
I've not seen the teflon lined things. I made mine out of 3/16" stainless tubing. The teflon would probably make it even smoother. Next time I'll check the bike shops for more goodies. Yours look good Bairdco. Thanks for sharing another good idea with the troops.
Tom
 

scotto-

Custom 4-Stroke Bike Builder
Jun 3, 2010
6,505
25
38
Ridin' inSane Diego, CA.
I really like noodles....especially mac-n-cheese. Not wild about easy peasy ez-mac and cheesy however....it tastes kinda funky and chunky.....synthetic.
 

Black_Moons

New Member
Oct 25, 2010
205
2
0
Canada, Bc
I added a noodle to my clutch, Worked real nice. Can't really tell if its any harder.. but I think its about the same or less force required.
 

2lazy2pedal

New Member
Nov 26, 2010
26
1
0
Sarasota
Before mounting my clutch I pull out the cable and put some lubrication oil inside the cover to make it softer we pulling on it.

JJL