# My brake cable was frozen today



## mrmacmusic (30 Nov 2012)

My rear brake was presumably frozen this morning – went to squeeze the lever and it was stuck  A bit more pressure persuaded the lever to move, and the brakes worked fine, however on releasing the lever the brakes were still applied as the inner cable was sticking in the outer, such that the outer popped out from the adjuster at the lever. A bit of lever squeezing whilst holding the outer released the inner OK and I was on my way again.

The brakes are BB5's on my Boardman Hybrid Comp, and the cable is fully enclosed from the lever to the calliper, so how do I combat the stickiness and prevent it happening again? Is releasing the cable and greasing the exposed ends likely to help at all, or is another approach going to be more effective at preventing initially freezing (assuming that's what it was) and re-freezing en-route?


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (30 Nov 2012)

I dont know your bike or brakes, but from experience with both my tourer and my old car (an Audi, my accelerator cable did the same) water is in there somewhere and has frozen. In both instances the cable and casing had to be replaced. (the one with my bike was my gear selector cable on a rohloff hub equiped off road touring bike - a temporary fix for the bike at least was to wrap water pipe insulation around the affected area - not the best looking fix and most likely not what you want to do, but did prove a point!).


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## oliver (30 Nov 2012)

I know it's not a good/permanent fix but I tried dipping the inner in antifreeze, it seemed to work, although it made shifting really slow the rest of the time.


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## jarlrmai (30 Nov 2012)

could there have been water in the cable?


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## fossyant (30 Nov 2012)

Remove inner cable and douse with GT85 or WD40 and work it back in. 

I've had this happen on my MTB in cold weather - not a great deal you can do other than remove moisture. Gets more fun the colder it gets !!

If you can get away with it (missus approval), bring the bike indoors overnight (i.e. not in a cold garage or shed) so it gets chance to dry. I get to bring the bike inside during the day too. If it's outside most of the time, you will get cables freezing.

I was allowed to bring mine in last night - so long as it didn't come to bed with me (wife's words). I said it might be a bit prickly !


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## mrmacmusic (30 Nov 2012)

Thanks folks. The bike is "new" (well, nearly – it's covered 650 miles since the beginning of October), and my concern is if this has happened to one of my cables it could possibly happen to the rest, i.e. my front brake, and both shifters.... Dipping in anti-freeze sounds intriguing, but what about just using regular lube? I've got both wet and dry chain lube handy in the shed.


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## mrmacmusic (30 Nov 2012)

jarlrmai said:


> could there have been water in the cable?


I guess there _could_, but it's been dry commutes all week.


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## mrmacmusic (30 Nov 2012)

fossyant said:


> Remove inner cable and douse with GT85 or WD40 and work it back in.
> 
> I've had this happen on my MTB in cold weather - not a great deal you can do other than remove moisture. Gets more fun the colder it gets !!
> 
> ...


LOL! Cheers Fossyant 

The bike lives in the shed overnight at home I'm afraid, but it does come into the office (hallway) during the day. Does storing indoors not introduce other condensation problems?


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (30 Nov 2012)

mrmacmusic said:


> I guess there _could_, but it's been dry commutes all week.


but what about last week's commute? now it is cold. the water in my cables was there for months before it got cold enough for there to be an issue.


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## jarlrmai (30 Nov 2012)

you need to spay water displacing lube (GT85) in the cable ends semi regularly to keep, if your bike isn't drying fully out moisture can linger in the cables from a while back and when it freezes it expands and locks the cable.


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## mrmacmusic (30 Nov 2012)

SatNavSaysStraightOn said:


> but what about last week's commute? now it is cold. the water in my cables was there for months before it got cold enough for there to be an issue.


Good point – I got properly soaked at least twice last week, so there's every possibility that water has seeped in and hung about waiting for the cold snap to play the freezing game.


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## fossyant (30 Nov 2012)

mrmacmusic said:


> LOL! Cheers Fossyant
> 
> The bike lives in the shed overnight at home I'm afraid, but it does come into the office (hallway) during the day. Does storing indoors not introduce other condensation problems?


 
It can cause condensation issues, but say you bring it in late in the evening, it will dry by morning. Going into the cold won't cause condensation, but coming in does. I wash the bike nearly every day (off road commute in cold conditions) as the bike gets covered in mud, so I let it drip off in the garage, then bring in late on.

Cables do freeze, but I find having the bike inside overnight removes that problem, and that of a frozen freehub. Think about it, if the bike is outside in sub zero temps, and has got wet at somepoint (washing or all the rain last week) then there may be some moisture which can cause a freeze over a number of days.

I've been bringing the bike in during cold snaps - tried and tested over a few years.

One occasion, got bike from garage in the morning and brought inside as I got changed, walked the bike to the main road due to ice (before I had studded tyres). by the time I'd got to the main road, the freehub had frozen and I had no drive. Wlaked home, got changed and the thing had de-frosted. Cause - moisture in freehub, bike stored in sub zero conditions, bike brought inside for short time (more condensation) taken back into cold = frozen


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (30 Nov 2012)

fossyant said:


> .... Wlaked home, got changed and the thing had de-frosted. Cause - moisture in freehub, bike stored in sub zero conditions, bike brought inside for short time (more condensation) taken back into cold = frozen


 
something like that happened with my car - most annoying because it needed a low-loader to get it to the garage being a fixed four wheel drive and on the low-loader had been sitting in the sun and the frozen accelerator cable defrosted by the time it got to the garage - mechanic rings me up says no problem and anyway never ever heard of a frozen accelerator cable in all his years as a mechanic.... Made them keep the car overnight (harsh frost due again) and sure enough they encountered the same issues the following morning. Next day I get a phone call with the "you have a frozen accelerator cable" as though I had no knowledge of it!


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## mrmacmusic (30 Nov 2012)

fossyant said:


> It can cause condensation issues, but say you bring it in late in the evening, it will dry by morning. Going into the cold won't cause condensation, but coming in does. I wash the bike nearly every day (off road commute in cold conditions) as the bike gets covered in mud, so I let it drip off in the garage, then bring in late on.
> 
> Cables do freeze, but I find having the bike inside overnight removes that problem, and that of a frozen freehub. Think about it, if the bike is outside in sub zero temps, and has got wet at somepoint (washing or all the rain last week) then there may be some moisture which can cause a freeze over a number of days.
> 
> ...


Think I'll definitely try and persuade my wife that indoor storage through the winter months – or at least when there's a cold snap as there is at the moment – would be a good idea. Sounds like the best way to keep things from freezing up and having problems when I'm out and about


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (30 Nov 2012)

mrmacmusic said:


> Think I'll definitely try and persuade my wife that indoor storage through the winter months – or at least when there's a cold snap as there is at the moment – would be a good idea. Sounds like the best way to keep things from freezing up and having problems when I'm out and about


 
just bear in mind that that water is going to cause long term rust issues whether you deal with it or not; I found out the hard way with my bike.


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## Amanda P (30 Nov 2012)

My old Fiesta used to have the throttle freeze open on a long run in cold weather. You'd lift your foot off the throttle to slow down as you came off the motorway - and nothing would happen. The only solution was to declutch and coast off the motorway. You'd stand on the side of the road for a moment, engine screaming away with no load, and with no cold air blowing through, the heat from the engine block would thaw it out and it would suddenly free up and return to idling speed.

No problem once you knew what was happening, but scary the first time!


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## Crankarm (30 Nov 2012)

The solution is hydraulic discs brakes with quality brake fluid which won't freeze.


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## lulubel (30 Nov 2012)

SatNavSaysStraightOn said:


> something like that happened with my car .... Next day I get a phone call with the "you have a frozen accelerator cable" as though I had no knowledge of it!


 
I had the accelerator cable freeze on a bus I was driving in Cornwall. (All it took was one cold snap and the months of rain we'd had previously caused havoc!) I'd been driving it for nearly an hour by the time it gradually gave up and slowed to a stop. Fortunately it happened right outside WHSmith, so I was able to go inside, buy a cycling magazine, and sit in the cab with the heater blowing and drinking tea from my thermos while I waited another hour for a replacement bus. One of our other drivers wasn't so lucky when her brake lines froze, but fortunately she managed to drift to a stop in a layby!


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## mrmacmusic (30 Nov 2012)

Crankarm said:


> The solution is hydraulic discs brakes with quality brake fluid which won't freeze.


I don't doubt that for a second, although I'm quite sure in very cold conditions that brake fluid may well freeze too (as per lulubel's bus story above).... and anyway, freezing gear cables would still be a problem!


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## mrmacmusic (30 Nov 2012)

Uncle Phil said:


> My old Fiesta used to have the throttle freeze open on a long run in cold weather. You'd lift your foot off the throttle to slow down as you came off the motorway - and nothing would happen. The only solution was to declutch and coast off the motorway. You'd stand on the side of the road for a moment, engine screaming away with no load, and with no cold air blowing through, the heat from the engine block would thaw it out and it would suddenly free up and return to idling speed.
> 
> No problem once you knew what was happening, but scary the first time!


I can remember that happening when I was but a boy... not sure what car my dad would've been driving at the time, but I do recall the screaming engine alarming my mum... Dad just calmly dealt with the problem  Also remember him having to hang out the window, pulling on a broken throttle cable so we'd get home, but that's a whole different story!


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## wisdom (1 Dec 2012)

Not frozen as such but as i wheeled the bike out of the garage on Thursdays very frosty morning,i noticed the pedals didnt hang down as normal.
The grease must have gone really thick.All was well though as soon as i started riding.


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## greyhound_dog_1 (2 Dec 2012)

I had my rear mech cable and rear brake cable freeze when it got to -2 degrees last week. Made sure the brake was frozen off, then limped to work using the front brake and front chainring gears quite successfully. Problem is, on my bike, that the rear disc brake cable and the rear derailleur cable run along the chainstays then terminate in an upwards direction, so the water can trickle down the cable and inside the outer cable. Wonderful design, that one. Front cables just go straight down so no issues there.

Other than expensive sealed Gore cables which wear out, or routing cables more sensibly, does anyone have any solutions to water ingress? I was going to experiment with something to attach to the cable ends like, say, a thin rubber tube which glues and seals to the cable ferrule and then glues to a point on the exposed cable inner (a point which never goes inside the outer cable), so that no part is exposed to the air. Could use the finger of a latex glove for example to make this.

My father suggested drying the cables and then blocking the end with vaseline. Anyone tried this?  Would it work, or affect the the cables or the shifting?

I was thinking I might accept the water, and make some sort of 2xAA battery heater to clip to the cables to defrost them...


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (2 Dec 2012)

greyhound_dog_1 said:


> ...
> My father suggested drying the cables and then blocking the end with vaseline. Anyone tried this? Would it work, or affect the the cables or the shifting?
> 
> I was thinking I might accept the water, and make some sort of 2xAA battery heater to clip to the cables to defrost them...


 not vaseline. It will effectively holds water against the cable as it absorbs it. lithium grease would be a better option (found out the hard way when the only thing I had available was vaseline and had to replace the grease in the pulley cable on the external gear changer on my rohloff hub).


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## HovR (2 Dec 2012)

I had my gear cables freeze a couple of times last winter, mainly after long climbs when I'd been spinning away in the lowest gear. I reach the top of the hill and go to change up gears.. Nothing, cable just goes slack! A quick stop and a few minutes with a handy lighter solved the issue.


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## mrmacmusic (3 Dec 2012)

greyhound_dog_1 said:


> Problem is, on my bike, that the rear disc brake cable and the rear derailleur cable run along the chainstays then terminate in an upwards direction, so the water can trickle down the cable and inside the outer cable. Wonderful design, that one....


Think you're on to something there.... the rear calliper on my Boardman is fitted inward of the rear stays (to ease fitting a rack), so as you point out, the cable terminates in an upward direction – that design is going to be prone not only to allowing water ingress from the end, but any water that does get in will just sit in the lowest part of the cable (along the section under the rear stay)

Having persuaded my wife that the commuter deserves an indoor home for the next few months, at least it will always get a chance to dry out overnight, but I think it's going to be worth trying to fashion some form of gaiter for the end of the cable to prevent water getting in there in the first place.


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## collswill (30 Nov 2016)

Hi Yesterday and today I took my bike out of a warm garage. Cycled about a mile and the first time I applied my rear brake it was frozen solid. Yesterday I thought I had a cable problem but as the brakes worked later in the day I realized that they must have frozen. I have a specialized tri-cross with disc brakes. The brake and gear cables are housed within the bike frame. Anyone else know how to stop this happening as getting to the cables is difficult


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## jarlrmai (30 Nov 2016)

Hydraulics?


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## Globalti (30 Nov 2016)

New cables.


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## Twizit (30 Nov 2016)

Just had a similar exchange about this with @ianrauk over in the daily commute thread. I had a similar thing with BB7s last year whenever I went through Richmond Park in very cold weather - brake would freeze up by the time I got through the park.

Suggestion was probably water sitting in the bottom loop of cable outer near the rear brake. 

Since solved for me by changing over to hydraulics as already suggested above (but granted, a slightly extreme measure if you've just bought a new bike!!)


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## Flying Dodo (30 Nov 2016)

I have the same issue with the rear BB7 on my Pinnacle. Due to the design, water will run down the inner and freeze as I discovered this morning.


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## furball (30 Nov 2016)

Happened regularly on my step through hybrid due to the back brake cable being routed down the sloping top tube and then back up to the brake. Keeping the bike in the house didn't make any difference. If it was cold enough it froze at five miles which meant ten miles with the brake jammed on or trying to forcibly disconnect the back brake.


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## John the Monkey (30 Nov 2016)

A common issue with the front brake on the Brompton - it enters the brake from the underside, and has a loop of outered cable in which water can sit.


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## andrew_s (30 Nov 2016)

Flying Dodo said:


> I have the same issue with the rear BB7 on my Pinnacle. Due to the design, water will run down the inner and freeze as I discovered this morning.


That's a problem with mounting the rear brake on the chainstay, rather than BB7 specifically. 
If it's on the seatstay, with the cable running down the seatstay, there's no problem. Makes fitting a rear rack & mudguards more difficult though.


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## Judosteffer (2 Dec 2016)

Wow. Same problem here in both my wife's TRP HY/RD brakes and my TRP Spyres. Like you all say, the exit for the cables points upwards. Totally seized up. Really need to sort it out as we rely on these bikes to commute on, and bought them thinking brakes discs and TRP brakes were meant to be the best out there. Reading through various forums this week, loads of people have had this issue.https://www.instagram.com/p/BNfLDKTjggX/


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## grumpyoldwoman (2 Dec 2016)

Think that MAY have been my problem yesterday. Going to get my bike geek friend to check her out tomorrow.


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