Wasted $80 on a 'universal' brake cable kit that didn't fit anything

I bought this kit online from a random seller, it claimed to work with any road or mountain bike from 2010 onward. But the cables were too short for my touring frame by about 4 inches on the rear brake. Anyone else get burned by those 'one size fits all' cable packs?

3 comments

3 Comments

dixon.james23d ago

Four inches short... that's rough buddy. I had practically the same thing happen with a "universal" kit last spring, only mine was off by about three inches on the front cable. The packaging showed this big mountain bike and a touring bike both working fine, but the actual cables were maybe for a kid's bike or something. I ended up just buying two individual cables from the local shop for twelve bucks total and they were actually long enough to route properly. One-size-fits-all usually means it fits exactly one size, and that size is never yours.

margaretramirez18d agoMost Upvoted

Universal my foot... those companies think all bikes are built the same as their display models.

nguyen.morgan23d ago

That universal kit nonsense gets me every time. Actually read somewhere that a lot of those "one size fits all" kits are just repackaged commuter bike sets meant for short frames. The guy who tested them found the cables were cut to exactly 155cm which barely works for a 52cm frame. Your touring frame probably needs closer to 170cm for proper routing with those long chainstays. Four inches is a huge gap too, not even close to making it work with a sloppy loop. The packaging always shows some idealized setup but the reality is you get what you pay for. Just stick with buying individual cables by length next time, it saves the headache.