Jagwire Ripcord : Out of the Box

May 5th, 2008 by Arleigh

Jagwire Ripcord DIY Brake Kit
MSRP: $25-30
Colors: Too many to list!

Bikes can be very simple things. If you are a constant reader of The Bike Lab you’ll know my slight obsession of making my single speeds bomb proof. Not only bomb proof but feeling good and not too heavy in the process.  Next to your drive train your brakes gets used or felt the most (in my mind.) Every time I pull on that lever if there is any drag, grinding, grabbing or squealing it drives me bonkers. Clicking of a wheel or any other weird noise doesn’t bother me too much, but brakes and drive train do. Sure, many people go with hydraulic brakes for this reason. Every time you ride they feel the same until you have to replace the brake pads or bleed the line. I like hydraulics just fine but something in a good pair of Avid BB7’s I can’t find elsewhere.

Enter in after market brake cables and housing. Get that drag out of your cable, Teflon coated, Kevlar reinforced and loose some weight when you are at it.

Jagwire’s Ripcord ranges from $25-30 for a kit. The kit is enough cable and housing to cover your front and rear brakes. With several nifty colors you can accent, highlight or bling out any bike. The white housing is installed on my new 650b single swizzle. A few more hundred miles and I will check back with a full report on how it is handling my sandy, housing killing, terrain.

7 Responses to “Jagwire Ripcord : Out of the Box”

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  1. 1 Anthony  on May 5th, 2008 at 10:58 pm

    I’m a big fan of the ripcords, I run them on all my bikes, which all have rim brakes.

    My one beef: there are no instructions. I can’t for the life of me figure out what all the various doodads that come in the package do. I have a collection of those little bags, as all I use are the cables, housing and add my own ferrules.

    If you can post something showing how those little rubber and plastic doodads are supposed to be used with the housing, that would be awesome.

  2. 2 Arleigh  on May 6th, 2008 at 6:23 am

    Anthony

    Can you take a photo of what came in your goody bag and I will describe them as best as possible?

    -Arleigh

  3. 3 Jason "Pantz" Grantz  on May 6th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

    Arleigh -

    Thanks for the good words about the Ripcord product. In recent years we’ve come miles with the liner technology and over all spec of that kit.

    To answer Anthony’s question… We have new instructions coming soon. I was working them today as a matter of fact.

    In the meantime, I’m available to answer questions about anything related to Jagwire. Simply dial-up info@jagwireusa.com on you email and we’ll get back to you pronto.

    Cheers!

    Jason “Pantz” Grantz
    The Jagwire Guy

  4. 4 Bikeryder  on May 6th, 2008 at 1:46 pm

    So Arleigh, does that kit have enough housing to run a fully enclosed rear brake line? I also have BB7s and I’m looking for an upgrade.

  5. 5 Arleigh  on May 6th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    Bikeryder,

    Yes, I have BB7’s on my single speed and used full housing through out. The bent top tube probably makes for more used housing and I even had some left over,

    The bike:
    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3243/2438004988_4ab5e6b8fd.jpg

  6. 6 Bikeryder  on May 6th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    Thanks Arleigh, the white looks sweet on the matte black btw…looking forward to the update, I just hope they work as good as they look :P lol

  7. 7 Arleigh  on May 6th, 2008 at 1:58 pm

    So far they are working wonderful. But no matter how much I can throw at them, they have only been on my bike for about 2 weeks. In another 4-6 weeks I’ll know for sure.

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