I don't know what to do with this. The cable got yanked out when the front wheel was off and the handlebars were twisted the wrong way, so it's the front brake cable. I'm really really really reluctant to mess with anything beyond the wheels and chain on my bike, but I also really don't want to have to bring this to a bike shop. What do I do?
dissassemble the housing it's in there. Starting with the gray bit. That might come off and you can push the cable/cable-sheath in and then put the housing back on. Might have to pull it out and feet it through again somewhere. Hard to say without seeing the whole line.
Fuck around with it and take it apart, don't lose anything, and if you can't fix it, brink it to a shop. The worst you're going to need to do is a get a new cable. and you can probably look up your bike and find a tutorial on youtube to do that if you don't want to pay someone to do it for you.
Might have to play with getting it to appropriate tightness, but it's usually not that complicated.
This is a great opportunity to learn more about your bicycle!
i was hoping for something besides 'just open it up and fuck around!" but using it as a learning experience is a good mindset lol, thank you 🚴♂️
Draw some numbered boxes on a sheet of paper and everything you take off put it in each subsequent box so you can be 100% sure you know the order to reassemble the thing.
oh yeah i mean that's definitely part of why i don't want to fuck with the cables, but that's what I try to do whenever i disassemble anything
yes that is exactly it! and everything was fine until i had it in the back of a car with the front wheel off and my friend was a little rough taking it out and twisted the handlebars the wrong way
Honestly just looks like you have too much slack in the cable now. Make sure your front brake calipers are released, re-seat the end cap of the housing in the brake lever, pull the wire snug at the caliper and tighten it all up. If this sounds wrong it might be because I'm bad at explaining, but any YouTube vid on how to replace your brake cable will show you. Worst case this is something your Friendly Local Bikeshop will be able to fix in 5 minutes for free.
i think i understand what you're saying, but i also think i tried that. every time i used the front brake it came loose again. i'm pretty sure i have to open it up and tighten it up there, unless that is what you meant and then i guess i didn't understand you lol
does the cable move when you pull the brakes? It looks like the eyelet popped out from where it goes in the handle. That or where the cable tightens on the other end is loose and not holding it in place.
i mean i can push it back in so it looks normal but then when i pull it the brake stays closed after releasing. there really isn't anything to tighten on the other end
see the spot where the cable is pinched on the upper left hand side of the picture? That's the adjustment screw. You loosen that, pull the slack from the cable, then tighten it back up.
it's rainy and dark right now and i can't find my tools, but if that's all it takes to fix it when i get around to it tomorrow I'm gonna be so pissed that i missed such an obvious solution , especially when the cable is flattened and obviously not where it used to be
Eh... sometimes obvious things are wrong too. Letting extra eyes look at things is good sometimes.
Don't beat yourself up over it. I spent all of college fixing up shitty bike shaped objects for fun(and one time profit!). I never spent more than 250 dollars on my own bikes so I know how to keep them going. Keep at it and all the parts will start to make sense.
Share a picture of the front brake. Don't mess with the cable tension if it was working properly before (though you did say it got yanked). I suspect you hooked up your front brake wrong
naw i tried multiple times to reattach and adjust the brakes because i really hoped it wasn't something worse. i could get the cable back in but everytime i pulled the brake it just got loose again and wouldn't go back. it's definitely something with the tension 😞
