Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

While enjoying a great day riding in the loose NJ sand this weekend I dropped the old bike a couple of times. On the last spill my front cable broke. After removing the dust cover I notice the cylindrical metal piece that is fastened onto the end of the cable that fits into the end of the lever disappeared. Don't have a clue where it went. I notice the end of the cable is shaped like an arrowhead. Guess the impact tore it out. So now I have to find a new cable or repair this one. Does anyone know if the 73/74 CR-250 uses the same cable. If so it would certainly be a lot easier to find.

There is a used one on eBay right now. It is in a mix of parts with oil and gas tank, looks like a coil too.

If you get it I will take some of the other parts off your hands for a reasonable price. Someone here, davorex? asked about an oil tank. Opening bid is only $10 but shipping on a tank will be pricey.

Thanks for the lead Ricortes but I just ordered a 73/76 CR250 cable from Elsinores.com. Thought it would be worth the gamble and besides, I'd rather support these vintage suppliers. I bought the one that broke on Ebay and it was NOS genuine Honda. I'm hoping the aftermarket is a little stronger. I'd hate to have a brake cable fail when I cruising 50 plus with a corner approaching. I actually had it up to 70 a couple of weeks ago. It's been a lot of years since I've had it going that fast. Gee, maybe I should change those wheel bearings before I try that again.

Thought I would post a follow up message on this one. I received and mounted the CR cable on the MT-250. Turns out that the CR and MT have different barrels on the wheel end. The MT has a stepped barrel, which the cable penetrates from the end. The CR penetrates from the side. The lengths are the same and I am able to use it. I slide the barrel up and the round ball on the end of the cable fits in the MT mount. Works for me but I don't recommend it to others.

Does anyone have any experience mounting new barrels on old cables. I would still like to repair my NOS cable that broke. I have run web searches and found reference made to using soldering irons to adjust the barrel position on old BMWs. Are the barrels made of lead? Anybody know how are they installed?

I make a lot of my own cables but I don't trust myself with brake cables yet.

There are outfits that sell kits, but I have no experience with them. What I do is go to the local Ace Hardware store and buy brass rod, solder with some silver content, and some solder flux. The brass is easy to work with and tougher then lead.

After sanding/grinding the brass to the right shape I drill a hole the diameter of the cable all the way through and a lager diameter hole about 1/8 of the way into the brass. I push the cable through and fray the end a bit, then apply flux and sweat it with a propane torch. The silver solder flows really well on brass and if you use right flux it wets the cable perfectly: Just like a plumber sweating a copper pipe.

I'm sure the fittings end up being stronger then stock but I worry about the heat ruining the temper of the cable. Not that it should at the correct temp, just that I sometimes get it a little too hot.

Sounds like the way to go. Is the silver solder any stronger than standard 60/40?

Much stronger in general. They sell several grades and it has a really wide range depending on how much strength you need and how fat is your wallet..

But the main reason I use silver solder is it will actually flow on the steel cable. It's almost like a low grade brazing but at a lower temperature that doesn't kill your metal temper if you are careful. It's about the only way to make transitions from steel to brass. When I got the horse laugh and "It would be $42 for a new petcock if we had one but it is no longer available" I switched several of my steel tanks over to brass valves with in line filters. Tacky but they work so much better then stock petcocks it eases the pain.

jake you will find that 73 to 75 xl 250 and 350 have the same front brake cable

Thanks - That's good to know. I've been riding all summer with the CR-250 cable (by Terry Cable). It's a nice cable that is definitely stronger that the original. Came with a built in dust cover. I'm thinking of getting a matching clutch cable so the covers match. I think the clutch cable will be identical to the CR-250.

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74 MT-250
06 Husky TE-450

yep you will find that the cr clutch cable is the same or very similar to the mt. i have used the mt cable on my xl,s..