kshansen
XS400 Addict
- Messages
- 265
- Reaction score
- 30
- Points
- 28
A few days back I had asked if anyone had or knew of a place to purchase a new front brake cable for this drum brake bike. Did some searching on Ebay but was not sure the ones there were right as they were listing for other, I believe dirt, bikes. Tried Mikes, said NO. Anyone here that had one did not want to part with one which I can completely understand!
Did some searching on Google and found this out fit that sells cables, cable parts and kits:
http://www.venhillusa.com
They did not list any thing for the XS400 but it looked like the parts they sold could be used so I sent an email. Got a pretty fast reply saying they did not have drawing or spec's on the XS400 but Chris suggested that their "clutch cable kit" is what they usually suggest using for these kind of applications. They come with a few extra bits and pieces that should be usable. That kit is:
http://www.venhillusa.com/venhill-universal-motorcycle-clutch-cable-kit.html
So last Friday afternoon I decided to go for it and ordered one. Well Monday around noon the kit was in my mail box!
Routed the outer housing through clips and when it looked good marked it and used cut-off wheel on grinder to get the length I wanted. Then installed the inner cable. The handle bar end cam with the dowel that was a bit small but there are a couple plastic bushings to adapt it to the right size. Estimated the correct length by pulling the front brake lever on the wheel to about where the shoes touched the drum with adjusters all the way in. Snipped with good pair of side cutters.
Removed every thing from bike and assembled it on the bench making sure all components were in place. Anyone who has flare tubing to find fitting sitting on bench after your done knows how important it is to double check! Flared out the end of the inner cable like the instructions, yes comes with those!, say and soldered the little brass part they call a "Trumpet Connector" in place. Cleaned off a little excess solder and flux and installed cable on bike.
AS you may know from my other post the cable I took off was at least 4-5 inches too short and was almost tight enough to play a tune on when front end was lifted. This one has nice smooth bends and closely matches the curve of the speedo cable.
I still have a couple minor projects to do be fore I test run it but it sure looks better right now.
Just felt I should give a shout out for Chris and http://www.venhillusa.com, good looking product and fast replies and shipping. Worth a look for anyone working on any cable application on bikes, they also do throttle cable stuff too. Cable parts are sold separate and housing and inner cable buy the meter so if you are building some crazy XS400 chopper they can fix you up!
Did some searching on Google and found this out fit that sells cables, cable parts and kits:
http://www.venhillusa.com
They did not list any thing for the XS400 but it looked like the parts they sold could be used so I sent an email. Got a pretty fast reply saying they did not have drawing or spec's on the XS400 but Chris suggested that their "clutch cable kit" is what they usually suggest using for these kind of applications. They come with a few extra bits and pieces that should be usable. That kit is:
http://www.venhillusa.com/venhill-universal-motorcycle-clutch-cable-kit.html
So last Friday afternoon I decided to go for it and ordered one. Well Monday around noon the kit was in my mail box!
Routed the outer housing through clips and when it looked good marked it and used cut-off wheel on grinder to get the length I wanted. Then installed the inner cable. The handle bar end cam with the dowel that was a bit small but there are a couple plastic bushings to adapt it to the right size. Estimated the correct length by pulling the front brake lever on the wheel to about where the shoes touched the drum with adjusters all the way in. Snipped with good pair of side cutters.
Removed every thing from bike and assembled it on the bench making sure all components were in place. Anyone who has flare tubing to find fitting sitting on bench after your done knows how important it is to double check! Flared out the end of the inner cable like the instructions, yes comes with those!, say and soldered the little brass part they call a "Trumpet Connector" in place. Cleaned off a little excess solder and flux and installed cable on bike.
AS you may know from my other post the cable I took off was at least 4-5 inches too short and was almost tight enough to play a tune on when front end was lifted. This one has nice smooth bends and closely matches the curve of the speedo cable.
I still have a couple minor projects to do be fore I test run it but it sure looks better right now.
Just felt I should give a shout out for Chris and http://www.venhillusa.com, good looking product and fast replies and shipping. Worth a look for anyone working on any cable application on bikes, they also do throttle cable stuff too. Cable parts are sold separate and housing and inner cable buy the meter so if you are building some crazy XS400 chopper they can fix you up!
