Vent: A bike rack at the Denver airport had a weird cable routing issue

I was picking up a friend last week and saw a row of rental bikes locked up outside arrivals. Every single one had the rear brake cable looped over the top tube instead of under it, creating a huge snag point. The rental company must have a new hire building them wrong. Has anyone else seen this kind of factory assembly mistake on a fleet bike?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor.susan3d ago

That cable routing is a classic sign of a bike built upside down on the workstand. I saw a whole batch of kids bikes at a big box store with the same problem last year. If the mechanic flips the frame before running the cables, the rear brake line naturally goes over the top tube. It saves them maybe thirty seconds per bike on the assembly line, but creates a long term issue for the rider.

jamiegreen3d ago

My buddy's kid had that exact problem with his new bike. The rear brake cable kept catching on his backpack strap every time he swung his leg over. Took a proper shop to fix it.